You need to know the protocol well for any interviews. It can be ethernet or usb, they deal with data transfer. For both the designs, one side there will be a standard bus interface(AHB/PCI/OCP ...etc). On the other side, both will have PHY layer .
In ethernet the main part is transmission & reception of data to & from mac layer. Complete data flow should be understood. Few questions in ethernet include
1. Full/Half duplex difference
2. Ethernet in OSI model
3. Clock frequencies at which ur ethernet is working(10MBPS/FAST/Gigabit)
4. Auto Negotiation concept on phy side etc....
From USB point of view, again the protocol plays the important part:
1. How data is flowing from one end to other end( bus interface to phy & viceversa)
2. Bit stuffing, NRZI etc.
3. Latest evolutions in USB(like OTG)
4. What host is doing & what device is doing etc.
5. Serial Interface Engine part of your USB design
Hope I answered your query in a right way.
DTN