Broadcom Coding Interview Questions
25 Broadcom coding interview problems with full optimal solutions — 8 easy, 12 medium, 5 hard. Every problem ships with multiple approaches (brute-force first, then the optimal), complexity tables for each, company-specific tips on what an Broadcom interviewer values, and a FAQ section.
Showing 7 problems of 25
- #20easyfrequently asked
20. Valid Parentheses
Determine whether a string of brackets is balanced. Broadcom asks this because stack-based parsing is the foundation of protocol-frame validation and command-line parsers inside embedded firmware — a real problem the team encounters when parsing network management commands.
- #21easyfrequently asked
21. Merge Two Sorted Lists
Merge two sorted linked lists into one sorted list. Broadcom asks this because the merge step of merge sort appears directly in multi-queue packet scheduling algorithms used in Broadcom's network switch ASICs — merging sorted priority queues is a real hardware concern.
- #53easyfrequently asked
53. Maximum Subarray
Find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum. Broadcom asks Kadane's algorithm to verify that candidates understand linear-scan optimisation — directly applicable to signal-burst detection in network traffic analysis and time-series monitoring of chip telemetry.
- #70easyfrequently asked
70. Climbing Stairs
Count the number of ways to climb n stairs taking 1 or 2 steps at a time. Broadcom uses this as an entry point to dynamic programming — the same recurrence structure appears in firmware retry-path enumeration and error-correction code design.
- #121easyfrequently asked
121. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock
Find the maximum profit from a single buy-sell window in a price series. Broadcom asks this to see whether you can recognise a sliding-minimum scan — the same algorithmic pattern used in latency-window analysis for network performance monitoring.
- #141easyfrequently asked
141. Linked List Cycle
Detect whether a linked list contains a cycle. Broadcom tests this because cycle detection is a foundational technique in routing-loop detection — a real operational concern in Broadcom's switch and router ASIC software for protocols like STP and BGP path validation.
- #206easyfrequently asked
206. Reverse Linked List
Reverse a singly-linked list in place. Broadcom uses this to assess whether candidates can manipulate pointer arithmetic cleanly — a skill that maps directly to working with descriptor rings and buffer chains in network interface card drivers.