Roles they hire for
- Embedded C and C++ engineer for 32-bit MCUs
- Embedded Linux, Yocto and device driver engineer
- AUTOSAR embedded engineer
- Medical firmware engineer (RTOS and bare metal)
What they emphasise
- Drivers for SPI, UART, I2C and USB on STM, NXP and other 32-bit MCUs
- Yocto-based Linux BSPs, kernel drivers, JTAG and dump analysis
- AUTOSAR BSW configuration and low-level MCU drivers for safety-critical ECUs
- RTOS and bare-metal firmware on Cortex-M for medical equipment
Brush up on
YoctoLinux kernel driversDevice treeAUTOSAR BSWFreeRTOS and VxWorksUnit testing and CI
How the rounds usually run
A typical engineering services loop for embedded roles. Companies vary by team and seniority.
Online test
- Aptitude and reasoning
- C programming, electronics and OS basics
Example: What does sizeof return for a struct with a char, an int and a char, and why?
Technical 1: C and fundamentals
- Pointers, memory, data structures in C
- Your projects and the tools you used
Example: Reverse a singly linked list in place.
Technical 2: Domain for the project
- Depends on the project: AUTOSAR, Linux drivers, RTOS or protocols
- Scenario questions from real client work
Example: Explain how you'd add a new peripheral driver in the stack you know best.
Client interview (for project roles)
- The client's own technical screen for their programme
- Communication and ownership
Example: Explain your last module's design to someone who didn't build it.
HR
- Notice period, location and compensation
Example: Are you open to onsite assignments?
Practice questions
Original questions written for Tata Elxsi's focus areas, not leaked ones.
- Walk through writing a Linux character driver for a SPI sensor, from device tree to user space.
- Your Yocto image grew by 200 MB. How do you find out why and trim it?
- How do you debug a kernel oops on a board with no display and only a serial console?
- Compare bare-metal, RTOS and Linux for a medical pump controller and justify your choice.
- How would you port a working STM32 driver to an NXP part with minimal changes?
Your prep playlist
UART receive ring bufferDrivers & ISRs · Medium · 4 bugs · ~6 minFreeRTOS sensor pipelineRTOS · Hard · 5 bugs · ~8 minIndependent watchdog usageDrivers & ISRs · Medium · 3 bugs · ~5 minPeriodic control loopRTOS · Medium · 3 bugs · ~5 minSaving settings to internal flashBoot & OTA · Medium · 3 bugs · ~5 minCharacter driver read()Embedded Linux · Medium · 3 bugs · ~7 minNested mutexes under loadRTOS · Hard · 3 bugs · ~8 minTask check-in watchdogRTOS · Medium · 3 bugs · ~7 minOS sanity watchdog hooksRTOS · Hard · 3 bugs · ~7 min
Design rounds to practise
Sources
Take an AI mock round styled on Tata Elxsi, with follow-ups that probe what you missed.
Start a mock round