i'm a new grad with an offer deadline from another company in 3 weeks and i have a first round at NVIDIA scheduled. my background is totally standard: web backend internship, some ML coursework, no GPU programming whatsoever.
i keep reading that NVIDIA expects you to know CUDA and parallel programming even for non-GPU SWE roles. is that actually true for new grads or is that more of a senior-level thing? i don't want to waste their time or mine if i'm fundamentally unqualified. recruiter said the role is on a developer tools team, not GPU compute directly.
3 replies
careerveteran
for developer tools at the new grad level, CUDA depth is probably not required. they'll test CS fundamentals and maybe some concurrency concepts, but the heavy GPU programming expectations usually live on the CUDA core teams and inference infra. ask your recruiter directly what the technical focus is for this specific role. they'll tell you.
tired_recruiter
recruiter here. the JD and the actual interview are often two different things. DM your recruiter and ask: what technical areas should i focus on for the phone screen? a good recruiter will tell you exactly what the first round covers. if they won't, that's also useful information.
newgrad_neil
following. i have an nvidia screen in two weeks and same concern. backend focused role, no GPU background at all. not sure if i should be reading nvidia architecture whitepapers or just grinding LC.