Broadcom Principal Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 8 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Broadcom.
Broadcom
Principal Engineer
Staff Average Positive experience Accept offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Case
The first interview was with two managers and one engineer, lasting an hour. They wanted me to detail my past experiences and projects. They also asked scenario-based questions to gauge my responses, and it wasn't technically very deep. The second interview was with a Director for another hour. It was similar to the first interview, but I didn't have to speak as much; he did most of the talking.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Suppose you are going to start to do this project, what are the first 3 tasks that you will do?
Broadcom
Principal Engineer
Staff Difficult Neutral experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding
I applied online and then the hiring manager called me to set up a phone chat. I have interviewed with Broadcom before, a few times actually, but didn't get an offer. Broadcom seems to really focus on C programming for all their roles, which isn't ideal for me since I'm not into super intense coding. They tend to overlook other experience and just hammer on coding skills.
Confirmed questions8 questions
- How do you access a static variable from outside its file?
- What is the size of a structure on an ARM processor?
- Can you write a macro to clear bits m to n in a 32-bit integer?
Broadcom
Senior Principal Engineer
Senior Difficult Positive experience Accept offer 6 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Onsite
Interview formats
Technical Coding Behavioral System Design
Applied online and after a couple of weeks, I was asked for a phone interview. It was technical and I had to send them some C code for linked list operations. They also asked about my wireless experience since it was for an embedded wireless firmware job, although that business doesn't exist anymore. The onsite interview happened a week later, which was quick. Around 6 people interviewed me, each for an hour. The schedule was a bit flexible because they were busy, so some interviewers were swapped out last minute. This could seem disorganized, but you can spin it as a sign of how busy the team is and how well you handle pressure. All the interviews were very technical, except for the initial HR call which had behavioral questions. Two interviewers asked embedded C questions like 'what is volatile', 'what is static', 'RTOS characteristics', and 'setting bits in an int'. One gave me a brain teaser about a bird flying between two trains. Another asked about wireless protocols like WCDMA and LTE, focusing on initial access and control channels. They all reviewed my resume during the interview and asked about my past work. The last interviewer was the hiring manager, who presented a math problem. I didn't solve it immediately but explained my approach, and he mentioned the job can be stressful.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Two trains are approaching each other with a known relative speed and separation distance. A bird travels back and forth between the two trains at a constant speed, reversing direction upon reaching either train. What is the total distance the bird covers until the trains collide?
Broadcom Principal Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Broadcom interview reports.
“What's the difference between memcpy and memmove?”
Read reports →“What is the expected output of malloc(0)?”
Read reports →“Describe the I2C start and stop conditions.”
Read reports →“How does I2C multimaster operation work?”
Read reports →“Two trains are approaching each other with a known relative speed and separation distance. A bird travels back and forth between the two trains at a constant speed, reversing direction upon reaching either train. What is the total distance the bird covers until the trains collide?”
Read report →“What is the size of a structure on an ARM processor?”
Read report →“Can you write a macro to clear bits m to n in a 32-bit integer?”
Read report →“What constitutes a dangling pointer?”
Read report →“How do you access a static variable from outside its file?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 8 Broadcom interview reports.