3-stage interview: tec final round of three back-to-back 30-min interviews with different engineers
Must have:
Look at what "reproduce customer environments" and "identify root causes" actually mean in this stack:
VxWorks is an RTOS written in C. Its kernel, drivers, BSPs (board support packages) - all C, with some C++ in newer components. If a customer reports a kernel panic, a driver hang, or a timing bug, you're reading disassembly, stack traces, and C source to figure out what broke.
Wind River Linux - same story at the kernel/driver level (C), though more of the userspace tooling (systemd, udev, Yocto build layers) is scriptable.
BSPs and drivers - this is entirely C/C++. You cannot debug a device driver interacting incorrectly with hardware without reading (and often instrumenting or patching) that C/C++ code directly.
Toolchains like Diab, GCC, Clang, Workbench - these compile C/C++. Understanding compiler behavior, optimization bugs, linker issues, or toolchain diagnostics requires fluency in what the C/C++ source is supposed to produce at the binary level.
Simics/QEMU simulation - used to simulate hardware behavior so you can step through C/C++ code in a debugger without needing physical hardware.
What you'd actually do:
This is deep technical support, not a help desk - think tier-3/escalation engineering:
Reproduce customer environments in internal labs
Debug across OS, hardware, networking, virtualization, and embedded/real-time systems
Find root causes, build workarounds, document suspected product defects
Own customer-facing communication on critical/escalated cases
Build knowledge-base content and mentor junior support engineers
Act as a liaison between Support, Product Management, and Engineering
Nice-to-haves:
Direct Wind River product experience
Aerospace/defense/telecom/industrial (safety-critical) domain background
Kubernetes, OpenStack, DevOps, cloud/container experience
Experience authoring knowledge-base articles or leading escalations
Bottom line: They want a senior embedded systems/RTOS troubleshooter - someone who's lived in VxWorks and Wind River Linux internals, can debug down to the driver/kernel level, and can also communicate well enough to manage high-stakes customer escalations and mentor others. It's a niche, deep-specialist role, not a generalist IT support
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