Roles they hire for
- Embedded firmware engineer (PIC, AVR, SAM)
- Connectivity and security software engineer
What they emphasise
- PIC, AVR and SAM MCUs with MPLAB Harmony
- CAN, Ethernet and USB stacks
- Secure elements for provisioning
Brush up on
MPLAB Harmony8-bit vs 32-bit trade-offsCAN FDEthernet PHYsSecure elements
How the rounds usually run
A typical silicon vendor loop for embedded roles. Companies vary by team and seniority.
Online assessment or screen
- C output prediction, pointers and bit manipulation
- Digital logic and OS basics
- For experienced hires, often a recruiter and hiring-manager screen instead
Example: What does this print: an unsigned char set to 200 plus 100, printed as an integer?
Technical 1: C and embedded fundamentals
- Pointers, volatile, const, alignment and endianness
- Interrupts, stacks and memory layout
- Live C coding on bit fields, ring buffers or string handling
Example: Implement a lock-free single-producer, single-consumer ring buffer.
Technical 2: Drivers and architecture
- Designing a peripheral driver and its API
- DMA, caches and interrupt priorities
- RTOS internals and debugging stories
Example: Design a SPI driver that supports blocking, interrupt and DMA modes behind one API.
Technical 3 or hiring manager: system design and projects
- Deep dive into a past project and your design choices
- System-level trade-offs: power, memory, performance
- Sometimes a short presentation on a project
Example: Walk through the hardest bug you've fixed, and what you changed in the process afterwards.
HR and behavioural
- Motivation, teamwork and conflict
- Relocation, notice period and compensation
Example: Tell me about a time you disagreed with a design decision.
Practice questions
Original questions written for Microchip's focus areas, not leaked ones.
- When would you still choose an 8-bit MCU over a 32-bit one in a new design?
- Design an Ethernet driver's receive path using DMA descriptors. What can go wrong under load?
- How does a secure element simplify cloud provisioning compared with storing keys in MCU flash?
- Explain how you'd make a configuration generator's output safe to edit by hand.
- A CAN node goes bus-off in the field. Walk through the error counters and recovery rules.
Your prep playlist
Design rounds to practise
Themes are inferred from Microchip's public product lines.
Take an AI mock round styled on Microchip, with follow-ups that probe what you missed.
Start a mock round