Senior Systems Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Qualcomm with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 56% positive. To compare, the company-average is 62.4% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Senior Systems Engineer roles take an average of 26 days to get hired, when considering 19 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Qualcomm overall takes an average of 22 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Qualcomm as a Senior Systems Engineer according to 19 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 25%
One on one interview: 20%
Presentation: 12%
Skills test: 10%
Background check: 8%
Personality test: 8%
Group panel interview: 8%
IQ intelligence test: 8%
Drug test: 2%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Qualcomm (San Diego, CA) in Jan 2012
Interview
Some basic probability/stochastic process questions about lossy wireless channels.
The last question the interview asked was: "Suppose we make 10 packet transmissions per second over a wireless channel, the channel is lossy such that with probability 1/10 a packet transmission will fail. The transmitter knows perfectly whether a transmission succeeds or fails. When it fails, the transmitter retransmit the packet, until it finally succeeds. So what is the throughput we can get?"
This was a VERY VERY simple question that the throughput should be 9 packets/second! The interview didn't agree and simply emphasized "because of retransmission, throughput should be reduced more than 1/10" repeatedly.
Couldn't achieve a consensus with him after a long debate and that's it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given a wireless channel with loss rate 0.1, what's the throughput one can get with retransmission.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Qualcomm (San Diego, CA) in Apr 2021
Interview
I got an email about a phone (screening) interview about two weeks after application. Then, one week later, I was invited for an on-site interview along with 1-hour presentation about my recent research. After one week, I had a virtual (on-site) interview consisting of five individual one-on-one interviews (four technical + 1 HR) right after my research presentation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- First-round question: I was asked about what I have done in detail from my resume.
- Second-round question: 1-hour research presentation and several technical questions on LTE RAN protocols and some basic questions on OFDM and difference between EPC and 5GC, and a few behavioral questions (only during the interview with one HR interviewer)
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Qualcomm in Mar 2020
Interview
Overall, it was a great experience. First round was a phone screen. After clearing that, you are required to provide a 1-hour presentation on your PhD work. This is followed by back-to-back interviews.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The questions were primarily related to probability and statistics, queuing theory, optimization, and wireless communications and networking. A strong foundation in mathematics is needed.
It was a one hour phone interview that included first introducing yourself, then your previous work experience and for the last 20 minutes included few questions on basic signal processing and wireless communications.