Systems Software Engineer Interview Questions

641 systems software engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Round-2: (technical design) 1. Interviewer showed a board block diagram. Say there are two GPUs on a single graphic card board. Design such a way that one of the GPUs enumerates as VGA device, then detect and enumerate the monitor to SBIOS. 2. Follow up questions on previous questions about GPIO pins, firmware, communication between two GPIOs and SBIOS.
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Systems Software Engineer

Interviewed at NVIDIA

4.4
Sep 20, 2025

Round-2: (technical design) 1. Interviewer showed a board block diagram. Say there are two GPUs on a single graphic card board. Design such a way that one of the GPUs enumerates as VGA device, then detect and enumerate the monitor to SBIOS. 2. Follow up questions on previous questions about GPIO pins, firmware, communication between two GPIOs and SBIOS.

Round-3: (technical + DSA) 1. How does GPU communicate with SBIOS saying its ready? Follow up questions on ucode implementation high-level design. 2. How to automate driver code implementation of register definitions, that are provided in HW spec? 3. For multiple SKUs in same generation, how do you implement code? (Answer: use device-id. Define bits of device-id to differentiate features and SKUs) 4. Implement code for checking if a matrix is chess board or not. 5. Given a function SetBits(value, endBit, startBit). Write the function implementation and handle corner cases.
avatar

Systems Software Engineer

Interviewed at NVIDIA

4.4
Sep 20, 2025

Round-3: (technical + DSA) 1. How does GPU communicate with SBIOS saying its ready? Follow up questions on ucode implementation high-level design. 2. How to automate driver code implementation of register definitions, that are provided in HW spec? 3. For multiple SKUs in same generation, how do you implement code? (Answer: use device-id. Define bits of device-id to differentiate features and SKUs) 4. Implement code for checking if a matrix is chess board or not. 5. Given a function SetBits(value, endBit, startBit). Write the function implementation and handle corner cases.

I won't spoil the process, however, be prepared for anything. Focus on everything from your personal approach to answers, to algorithmic based questions. Many of the customers are government based, so if you cannot describe technical terms to a layman, this might not be the place for you.
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Software Systems Engineer

Interviewed at MITRE

3.2
Dec 23, 2017

I won't spoil the process, however, be prepared for anything. Focus on everything from your personal approach to answers, to algorithmic based questions. Many of the customers are government based, so if you cannot describe technical terms to a layman, this might not be the place for you.

A few technical questions about firmware such as what happens during interrupts. Questions about my past projects. One person wanted to verify what I have done and listed in my CV. How do I relate to this position? Questions about my future plans. How do I handle different situation at the work environment.
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Software Systems Principal Engineer (Firmware)

Interviewed at Dell Technologies

3.7
May 20, 2016

A few technical questions about firmware such as what happens during interrupts. Questions about my past projects. One person wanted to verify what I have done and listed in my CV. How do I relate to this position? Questions about my future plans. How do I handle different situation at the work environment.

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