Technical practice questions
Computer Engineering Interview Questions
Real Computer Engineering interview questions with answers. Filter by sub-field and difficulty, then drill them in practice mode.
Showing 33 of 33 questions
Beginner
Fundamentals, definitions, expected of any candidate
Intermediate
Applied reasoning, design tradeoffs, calculations
Advanced
Deeper scenario / system-design questions and edge cases (stretch material)
BeginnerFundamentals
What is Big-O notation and why does it matter?
fundamental knowledgeBig-Ocomplexityscalability
BeginnerFundamentals
Compare an array and a linked list.
fundamental knowledgearraylinked listdata structures
BeginnerFundamentals
What's the difference between a stack and a queue?
fundamental knowledgestackqueueLIFOFIFO
BeginnerFundamentals
What is a hash table and what are its tradeoffs?
fundamental knowledgehash tablecollisionsO(1)
BeginnerFundamentals
What's the difference between a compiled and an interpreted language?
fundamental knowledgecompiledinterpretedruntime
BeginnerFundamentals
Explain the difference between value and reference semantics.
fundamental knowledgevaluereferencealiasing
BeginnerFundamentals
What is recursion and when would you avoid it?
fundamental knowledgerecursionbase casestack
BeginnerFundamentals
What is the difference between TCP and UDP?
fundamental knowledgeTCPUDPnetworking
IntermediateAlgorithms & Data Structures
When would you use a hash map vs. a tree map?
hash maptree maporderingrange queries
IntermediateAlgorithms & Data Structures
Explain BFS vs. DFS and when to use each.
BFSDFSgraph traversal
IntermediateSystems & OS
What's the difference between a process and a thread?
processthreadconcurrencyIPC
AdvancedSystems & OS
What is a deadlock and how do you prevent it?
deadlocklocksconcurrencysynchronization
BeginnerEmbedded / Firmware
What does the 'volatile' keyword do in embedded C?
volatileembedded CISRregisters
IntermediateEmbedded / Firmware
Compare I2C, SPI, and UART.
I2CSPIUARTprotocols
IntermediateAlgorithms & Data Structures
Given an array of integers, find two numbers that add up to a target. How do you optimize it?
two sumhash mapoptimizationedge cases
IntermediateAlgorithms & Data Structures
How do you reverse a linked list, iteratively and recursively?
linked listreversepointersrecursion
AdvancedAlgorithms & Data Structures
How would you detect a cycle in a linked list?
cycle detectionFloydtwo pointers
BeginnerAlgorithms & Data Structures
Explain binary search and its time complexity.
binary searchsortedO(log n)
BeginnerSystems & OS
Explain the four pillars of object-oriented programming with an example.
OOPencapsulationabstractioninheritancepolymorphism
IntermediateSystems & OS
What's the difference between stack and heap memory?
stackheapmemoryallocation
IntermediateSystems & OS
What is a RESTful API and how does it differ from SOAP?
RESTSOAPAPIHTTP
BeginnerSystems & OS
What's the difference between HTTP GET and POST?
HTTPGETPOSTidempotent
IntermediateSystems & OS
What is a database index and what's the tradeoff?
databaseindexB-treequery performance
IntermediateSystems & OS
Compare SQL and NoSQL databases.
SQLNoSQLACIDscaling
BeginnerSystems & OS
How do you use Git branching and merging in a team?
Gitbranchingmergingpull request
IntermediateEmbedded / Firmware
Explain polling vs. interrupt-driven I/O.
pollinginterruptsI/Oefficiency
BeginnerAlgorithms & Data Structures
How would you check if a string is a palindrome?
palindrometwo pointersstrings
IntermediateAlgorithms & Data Structures
What is a stack overflow and what commonly causes it?
stack overflowrecursionbase case
IntermediateAlgorithms & Data Structures
What's the difference between a breadth-first and depth-first tree traversal, and name the depth-first orders?
BFSDFStraversalin-orderpre-orderpost-order
IntermediateSystems & OS
What is a race condition and how do you prevent it?
race conditionconcurrencymutexsynchronization
IntermediateSystems & OS
What happens when you type a URL into a browser and press enter?
DNSTCPHTTPTLSrendering
IntermediateSystems & OS
What is caching and what problems does it introduce?
cachinginvalidationlatencyLRU
IntermediateEmbedded / Firmware
What is a watchdog timer and why is it used?
watchdog timerresetreliabilityembedded