Six weeks of waiting and the rejection email said nothing useful. Phone screen with a team lead on circuit analysis and PCB layout. Technical round had Verilog questions plus a hardware debugging project discussion
Questions Asked
1.“Whats the difference between UART, SPI and I2C communication protocols?”
2.“Explain what a watchdog timer does and why it's important in embedded systems”
IBM
Hardware Engineer
Summer 2026Accepted
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · Electrical Engineering
2nd year · 3.7+ GPA · 0 past internships
VirtualConversationalResume Review
Single round, mostly behavioral questions, technical questions about experiences and skills listed on resume. Interviewed directly with team and hiring manager
Intel
Hardware Engineer
San Jose, CA
Winter 2026No Offer
Purdue University · Electrical Engineering
4th year · 3.3-3.6 GPA · 2 past internships
Hard Interview
TechnicalVirtual
Domain stuff matters more than coding here. Phone screen, then technical on semiconductor processes and VLSI design. Got a question about propagation delay and power tradeoffs I only partially answered. Coding at the end was easier
Questions Asked
1.“What causes priority inversion and how do you solve it?”
2.“What is JTAG used for in hardware development?”