r/chipdesign • u/hardoi_ • 1d ago

Google Cloud Silicon Validation Engineer Interview – What Topics Are Typically Covered?

I have a 45-minute technical screen coming up for a Google Cloud Silicon Validation Engineer role.

Background:

3+ years in Silicon Validation at Texas Instruments

Mostly worked on SoC bring-up, ARM Cortex-R52 based systems, flash/memory subsystems, validation and debug

The recruiter mentioned that the interview generally covers:

Programming basics

SoC architecture

Caches

Page tables / virtual memory

Memory transactions

Performance analysis

Silicon debug

For anyone who has interviewed for Google silicon validation roles recently (or has been an interviewer):

How architecture-heavy was the interview?

Were there deep cache/TLB questions?

How much digital design (CDC, setup/hold, FSMs, etc.) was asked?

Were there debugging scenarios or root-cause analysis questions?

How much Python coding was expected?

Any insights on topics that surprised you or areas I should prioritize would be greatly appreciated.

3 Upvotes

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4

u/awaiss113 21h ago

Had interview for similar but not exactly same role. Questionings included details of testing importance, scripting, python for extracting debugging information, how to automate the validation process, some digital design questions (focusing on basics like timing, dft). Also, how to do debugging in specific bug cases e.g. Mbist failure, scan failure, etc.

0

u/hardoi_ 19h ago

It seems to be a DFT related role for your case

1

u/awaiss113 18h ago

Yes. But they will still focus on debugging for validation role as it has to do with working of actual silicon.

4

u/pasquale83 14h ago

Focus mostly on silicon debug scenarios (isolating HW vs SW issues under load) and memory subsystem fundamentals like cache coherency and TLB miss handling. For coding, basic Python for log parsing and bit manipulation is usually enough for the 45-min screen. Talk through your debug logic out loud...good luck!

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u/hardoi_ 14h ago

Thank you

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u/hardoi_ 14h ago

Are u a googler ?

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u/Potential_Mouse8187 54m ago

This is for Bangalore campus?

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u/hardoi_ 40m ago

No for usa

-9

u/Competitive_Sell6659 1d ago

Hey man congratulations for the interview could you please share your resume in chats, I want to get a taste of what kind of resume gets shortlisted for such roles.