I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 months. I interviewed at Apple (Livorno) in Jun 2020
Interview
Applied through referral in the middle of lockdown in Europe. Had a first chat with HR, went through my CV and my motivations.
After 3 weeks got a phone interview. This was inline whith the position requirements: a lot of SystemVerilog and UVM questions in a row. Not much time to answer but they were all quicj questions.
After another 3 weeks I had the 5h30m interview, it was online due to Covid19. 6 interviewers, one after the other. All of them were from different sites than the one I applied for. Each of them looked to be specialized on some particular topic. Had questions on UVM and SystemVerilog, but also questions on algorithms and mixed-signal verification (not among requirements).
Interviewers were quite fast, not much time to think on a problem. Didn't look like any of them was happy to be there interviewing me and only one of them showed interest in what I've done or would want to do. The rest of them were just asking questions. I understand they work for Apple but maybe they would need a better approach with applicants.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
45 mins phone interview:
task vs function
associative arrays
packed vs unpacked
scoreboard structures
`uvm_do
sequencer structure
coverage: code vs functional
functional cov: module and collector
number of automatic bins for an int
code coverage metrics
uvm_object vs uvm_component
concurrent vs immediate assertions
5hrs interview:
reg model in uvm
adapter and predictor
scoreboard structure
how to use some of the phases
exercise on how to verify a DUT that gets data from 2 sensors
list of quick questions on systemverilog
how to verify req ack interfaces, also which assertions
how to verify in a mixed signal enviroment
find errors in given code (like missing "virtual" in parent/child sequences, or missing "automatic" in for loop with fork join_none)
optimized way to generate Fibonacci's sequence
recursive function to generate a given sequence
shortest path algorithm: given starting point and destination point in a 2D matrix, get the shortest path from one to the other, including some non valid coordinates
what kind of functional coverage I have done, how I've done scoreboards, some other questions about CV experiences
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Apple
Interview
I was contacted by an Apple recruiter. I was asked if I was interested in the role and asked me apply for the position on apple website
It was my first interview. The interview started off directly with technical questions. After 3 questions, interviewer lost hope
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Online interview:
1. What is polymorphism ?
2. Design a 3 bit shift register in verilog RTL ?
3. For a FIFO design, what kind of assertions will you write(what conditions would you check for proper functioning of the FIFO) ?
I think it is good. Just tell me about the group introduction and ask me whether willing to relocate. The interview finished very quickly. Basically it is a general information collection.