Semtech Silicon / Chip Design Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for the Physical Design Engineer job in Ottawa. First, HR guy Tom Anderson did an initial interview with behavioral questions. Then, I had an interview with the hiring manager. We mostly talked about my resume, and they asked basic questions on digital electronics and flip-flops. After a couple of weeks, I had the final interview with 4 engineers and 1 HR at Semtech. They asked about basic VLSI concepts, setup/hold time, design constraints, and how to fix constraint violations. It seemed like the interviewers asked similar questions and didn't have a clear plan for who evaluates what. The HR person was new and didn't know much about the company or benefits. Tom said I'd hear back in a week, but it's been a month with no response, and they're ignoring my follow-ups. I guess they found someone else or the job's gone, but not communicating after 3 interviews is bad. Felt like a waste of my time.

HR gave me a ring, then I had a phone chat with the mixed signal manager. After that, it was the team interview - the whole gang (5 or 6 engineers - analog, digital, test) plus the manager all at once. It went okay, except for the technical bit - which I totally messed up. A simple question - design a 3-bit ripple-counter. I wanted to write Verilog code, rather than draw the gates. A total brain ****. :( Advice - do your homework beforehand - like some practice interview problems .....

It was about 30-45 minutes long. They had this multi-page booklet with tons of questions, from basic unit prefixes all the way to differential amplifiers. Most of them were electrical engineering questions, covering things like basic circuit symbols, capacitors, inductors, MOSFETs, and BJTs. They also asked about circuits like current mirrors, op amps, and differential amplifiers. The whole interview was technical, and they said the results didn't really matter as long as you seemed interested in their work. It was a pretty unusual interview, but in a good way!