applied for a senior embedded SW role on the vehicle firmware side. wanted to write this up while it's fresh.
rounds: recruiter call, 20 min. mostly timeline and relocation questions. she was blunt and efficient, no fluff. technical screen with a hiring manager. ~45 min. they had me walk through a past project, deep on specifics: bus protocols, interrupt handling, how I debugged a timing issue. not high-level. be ready to get into the weeds. on-site: 4 rounds in one day. two coding sessions (C/C++, embedded patterns, memory management), one systems design covering hardware/software interface, one behavioral with a senior director.
the behavioral was the part people underestimate. they asked for a specific time I disagreed with a product decision and what happened. "we discussed it as a team" was clearly not going to land. they wanted my decision, my argument, the outcome.
took 8 business days from on-site to verbal offer. not bad.
one thing: the interviewers were clearly busy. one joined 10 min late and didn't apologize. you just have to roll with that culture and not take it personally.