Western Digital Firmware Engineer Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Aptitude was 1 hr video monitered.
Standard level C/C++ questions like pointers, structures and constructors.
Other apti questions were easy.

Q1. What is structure padding and why it happens?
Ans. 
Structure padding is the insertion of unused bytes between members of a structure to align the data in memory.
• Padding is added to ensure that each member of the structure is aligned to a memory address that is a multiple of its size.

• Padding can be compiler-dependent and can vary based on the target architecture.

• Padding can affect the size of the structure and the performance of the program.

• Example: struct MyStruct { ch...read more
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Q2. Questions on bit manipulation and other questions were puzzle based question that can be found in geeksforgeeks archive.
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Q3. Code for fibonacci series
Ans. 
Fibonacci series is a sequence of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones.
• Declare variables for first, second and next numbers

• Initialize first and second numbers as 0 and 1 respectively

• Loop through the desired number of terms and calculate the next number as the sum of the previous two

• Store the result in an array

• Return the array
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Q1. Indepth questions on memory management like how stack is maintained, questions on heap memory and ways to optimise it.
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Q2. Output based questions where interviewer shared his screen.
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Q3. Again indepth questions on C. so keep your C theory strong
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Q4. In DSA part, 1. Code for merge sort 2. Check if two trees are mirror 3. Find element in rotated sorted array 4. Check if linked list is palindrome 5. Detect a loop in linked list 6. Remove loop in linked ...read more
Ans. 
List of DSA questions including merge sort, tree mirror check, rotated sorted array search, linked list palindrome and loop detection and removal.
• Merge sort is a divide and conquer algorithm that sorts an array in O(nlogn) time complexity.

• To check if two trees are mirror, we need to compare their left and right subtrees recursively.

• To find an element in a rotated sorted array, we can use binary search algorithm.

• To chec...read more
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Q1. Easy to medium questions on electronics and communication like gaussian noise, filters, and subjects like DSP
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Q2. Easy to medium puzzle questions from geeksforgeeks
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Q1. Standard HR questions, how are you? introduce your self etc
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Q2. Situation based questions where you have to incorporate companies policies while answering. To those who dont know western digital principles are: Think big, make it happen, work it together.
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Q1. Explain dynamic polymorphism
Ans. 
Dynamic polymorphism is the ability of an object to take on multiple forms during runtime.
• It allows objects of different classes to be treated as if they are of the same class.

• It is achieved through virtual functions and inheritance.

• Examples include function overriding and templates in C++.
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Q2. Types of casts in C++
Ans. 
C++ has four types of casts: static_cast, dynamic_cast, const_cast, and reinterpret_cast.
• static_cast is used for implicit conversions between related types

• dynamic_cast is used for runtime type checking and casting of polymorphic types

• const_cast is used to remove const or volatile qualifiers from a variable

• reinterpret_cast is used for low-level casting between unrelated types

• Examples: static_cast(3.14), dynamic_cast
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Q3. IPC mechanisms in Linux
Ans. 
IPC mechanisms in Linux are used for inter-process communication between processes running on the same system.
• IPC mechanisms include pipes, message queues, shared memory, and semaphores.

• Pipes are used for one-way communication between two processes.

• Message queues allow for asynchronous communication between processes.

• Shared memory allows multiple processes to access the same memory space.

• Semaphores are used for synchro...read more
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Q4. Map vs unordered_map, vector vs list
Ans. 
map and unordered_map are associative containers while vector and list are sequence containers.
• map and unordered_map are used to store key-value pairs while vector and list are used to store sequences of elements.

• map and unordered_map provide faster search and insertion of elements while vector and list provide faster insertion and deletion of elements.

• map and unordered_map use red-black trees and hash tables respectiv...read more
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Q1. Functors in C++, uses
Ans. 
Functors are objects that can be treated as functions in C++. They are used for generic programming and can be passed as arguments.
• Functors are often used in algorithms that require a function object as a parameter.

• They can be used to implement callbacks and event handlers.

• Functors can be used to create custom comparators for sorting algorithms.

• They can also be used to implement function objects for mathematical operat...read more
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Q2. Synchronisation mechanisms
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Q3. Move constructor, rvalues and const
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Q4. Synchronisation of given thread blocks
Ans. 
Synchronizing thread blocks is important for efficient and correct execution of parallel programs.
• Thread blocks must be synchronized to avoid race conditions and ensure correct program output.

• Synchronization can be achieved using locks, semaphores, or barriers.

• Examples of synchronization include ensuring that shared resources are accessed by only one thread at a time, or that threads wait for each other before proceedi...read more
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Q5. Fault diagnosis on Linux system, gdb experience
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