I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Apple in Aug 2015
Interview
I applied months back, and got an email from a technical recruiter in August. A "30 minute" phone interview was scheduled about a week later. I prepared for the interview, including reading the prior interviews on Glassdoor, and when they called (5 to 10 minutes late from the scheduled time), I was interviewed by an Asian lady from outside San Diego who was extremely difficult to understand. Panic sets in as I don't have a clue what she is asking me, despite my years of experience of working with engineers from foreign (Asian) countries. I had to have her repeat questions a couple of times due to the broken English. The interview only lasted 10 minutes.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
When working with ADS (Agilent's Advanced Design System), what "inputs" do you use? (Hint: my response of setting the dielectric constant, loss tangent, microstrip lines/stripline, resistors, inductors, capacitors didn't seem to be the right answer. If anyone has any clue what this question means, I'm all ears.)
First I had a short interview with the Team Lead, who explained the role in more detail while I provided an overview of my background and experience. This was followed by four detailed technical interviews focused on my technical expertise and problem-solving approach.
It was a day long interview with 4 different people. But the hiring process was so not professional that hiring manager forgot to be included. Then they decided to include her and she was working from home and could not establish a decent connection to the call...
The interview process was structured yet welcoming, including technical and behavioral questions, a practical project, and open dialogue, allowing me to showcase my skills while understanding the organization’s goals. Nice!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Explain how you would design and optimize a receiver front-end for a high-frequency communication system. What trade-offs would you consider between noise figure, linearity, and power consumption?