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Linux Kernel Developer Interview Questions

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61 linux kernel developer interview questions shared by candidates

Engineering Experience What kinds of software projects have you worked on before? Which operating systems, development environments, languages, databases? That is not a checklist, just some suggestions of what to describe you have worked with. Would you describe yourself as a high quality coder? Why? Would you describe yourself as an architect of resilient software? If so, why, and in which sorts of applications? What software products have you yourself lead which shipped many releases to multiple customers? What was your role? What is your most senior role in a software engineering organisation? Describe your span of control, and the diversity of products, functions and teams you led. What is your proudest success as an engineering leader? Outline your thoughts on open source software development. What is important to get right in open source projects? What open source projects have you worked on? Have you been an open source maintainer, on which projects, and what was your role? How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of a Linux distribution is, from the kernel up? How familiar are you with low-level system architecture, runtimes and Linux distro packaging? How have you gained this knowledge? Describe any experience you have with low-level embedded systems engineering, on Linux or other embedded operating systems Outline your thoughts on quality in software development. What practices are most effective to drive improvements in quality? Describe your experience with public cloud based operations Outline your thoughts on documentation in large software projects. What practices should teams follow? What are great examples of open source docs? Outline your thoughts on performance in software engineering. How do you ensure that your product is fast? Outline your thoughts on security in software engineering. How do you lead your engineers to improve their security posture and awareness? The Linux kernel is heavily entwined with the Git DVCS, can you describe your level of Git experience? Have you worked in real-time systems? In Linux or other RTOS and if the latter which one(s)? Can you elaborate on some of the challenges real-time programming faces, and your experiences with them? Please describe any experience you have working in operating system kernel internals, Linux or other. How extensive is your experience with C? What type of software components have you used it in? What about C++? Why would you use one over the other? How extensive is your experience of Python software engineering? How do you test Python applications? Outline the applications that you have led in Python, and your takeaways from that experience. Describe any experience you have with Rust Have you ever worked directly with ACPI and/or DeviceTree? Can you elaborate? What kind of packaging and container formats, such as debian or snap, have you created and/or maintained? Can you describe your experiences and challenges? This is actually working with the format, not experience as a consumer. Education In high school, how did you rank competitively in maths and hard sciences? Which was your strongest? In high school, how did you rank competitively in languages and the arts? Which was your strongest? What sort of high school student were you? Outside of class, what were your interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you for, if we asked them? Which university and degree did you choose? What others did you consider, and why did you select that one? At university, did you do particularly well at any area of your degree? Overall, what was your degree result and how did that reflect on your ability? In high school and university, what did you achieve that was exceptional? What leadership roles did you take on during your education? Context Outline your thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the company's purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What do you see as risky or unappealing? Who are Canonical's key competitors, and how should Canonical set about winning? Why do you most want to work for Canonical? What would you most want to change about Canonical? What gets you most excited about this role?
avatar

Linux Kernel Engineer

Interviewed at Canonical

3.2★
Nov 17, 2023

Engineering Experience What kinds of software projects have you worked on before? Which operating systems, development environments, languages, databases? That is not a checklist, just some suggestions of what to describe you have worked with. Would you describe yourself as a high quality coder? Why? Would you describe yourself as an architect of resilient software? If so, why, and in which sorts of applications? What software products have you yourself lead which shipped many releases to multiple customers? What was your role? What is your most senior role in a software engineering organisation? Describe your span of control, and the diversity of products, functions and teams you led. What is your proudest success as an engineering leader? Outline your thoughts on open source software development. What is important to get right in open source projects? What open source projects have you worked on? Have you been an open source maintainer, on which projects, and what was your role? How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of a Linux distribution is, from the kernel up? How familiar are you with low-level system architecture, runtimes and Linux distro packaging? How have you gained this knowledge? Describe any experience you have with low-level embedded systems engineering, on Linux or other embedded operating systems Outline your thoughts on quality in software development. What practices are most effective to drive improvements in quality? Describe your experience with public cloud based operations Outline your thoughts on documentation in large software projects. What practices should teams follow? What are great examples of open source docs? Outline your thoughts on performance in software engineering. How do you ensure that your product is fast? Outline your thoughts on security in software engineering. How do you lead your engineers to improve their security posture and awareness? The Linux kernel is heavily entwined with the Git DVCS, can you describe your level of Git experience? Have you worked in real-time systems? In Linux or other RTOS and if the latter which one(s)? Can you elaborate on some of the challenges real-time programming faces, and your experiences with them? Please describe any experience you have working in operating system kernel internals, Linux or other. How extensive is your experience with C? What type of software components have you used it in? What about C++? Why would you use one over the other? How extensive is your experience of Python software engineering? How do you test Python applications? Outline the applications that you have led in Python, and your takeaways from that experience. Describe any experience you have with Rust Have you ever worked directly with ACPI and/or DeviceTree? Can you elaborate? What kind of packaging and container formats, such as debian or snap, have you created and/or maintained? Can you describe your experiences and challenges? This is actually working with the format, not experience as a consumer. Education In high school, how did you rank competitively in maths and hard sciences? Which was your strongest? In high school, how did you rank competitively in languages and the arts? Which was your strongest? What sort of high school student were you? Outside of class, what were your interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you for, if we asked them? Which university and degree did you choose? What others did you consider, and why did you select that one? At university, did you do particularly well at any area of your degree? Overall, what was your degree result and how did that reflect on your ability? In high school and university, what did you achieve that was exceptional? What leadership roles did you take on during your education? Context Outline your thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the company's purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What do you see as risky or unappealing? Who are Canonical's key competitors, and how should Canonical set about winning? Why do you most want to work for Canonical? What would you most want to change about Canonical? What gets you most excited about this role?

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