I had a single technical phone screen with the hiring manager for an OS development role. The interview started with questions about my OS dev experience and knowledge of internals. For context, I’m a Linux kernel contributor, regularly patch OpenWRT, have formal training from the Linux Foundation in kernel development, and contribute to SerenityOS, an open-source x86 hobbyist OS. So, OS development is definitely in my wheelhouse.
Then he asks, “What happens when you call malloc?”
Perfect, I dive into the technical details—explaining how it’s handled by `libc`, potentially calling `sbrk()` or `mmap()`, trapping into kernel space, with the MMU mapping pages, and possibly involving the page fault handler. It’s an OS dev interview, so I go into the nitty-gritty.
But he cuts me off, keeps repeating, “No, what happens when you call malloc?” without any further clarification. It felt like he was looking for a much simpler answer—maybe something like “you get a pointer to memory”—but I was genuinely confused given the technical nature of the role. I mean, this was a position for _OS internals_. The communication just wasn’t there, and it made the whole conversation feel frustrating.
Curious about the interviewer's background, I checked out his LinkedIn afterward. Turns out he’s been with Intel for over two decades. Maybe that explains some of the disconnect—a bit rusty after lounging at a single company for your entire career.
Then, out of nowhere, I was told that if hired, I’d have to stop contributing to open-source projects. That was a deal-breaker for me, especially in a field like OS development where open-source contributions are so valuable.
Overall, it was a very odd experience, entire thing felt like a fever dream.