As a former Product Design Engineer, I’m often asked for advice on how to hire Product Designers (PDs) or mechanical engineers (MEs). In small teams, this is an especially tricky hire because the PD is never “just a PD” – they are often a combination of PD, quality engineer, and engineering program manager (EPM) who will own all the parts of the hardware process. Luckily, many experienced PDs have had broad exposure to the hardware development process, and can usually cover these other roles too, as long as the product design isn’t too complex.
Most PDs will oversee the following, which you’ll want to make sure you cover in your job description:
You’ll also want to reference the specific challenges your product requirements will have in order to attract candidates who are excited about the challenges you are solving (and hopefully have some relevant experience). Some challenges that are considered exciting for PDs might be:
If it’s applicable to your product priorities, it may also be worth mentioning that the PD will be a champion for product quality. Even if you have a dedicated quality engineer — or a quality team — your PD will be in a key position to understand and drive the aspects of quality that matter for your product.
What about experience required? Every PD was a new graduate once, and some of the best ones I know didn’t even study mechanical engineering. I went to graduate school and I don’t feel like I really learned how to be an engineer until I was sitting on the line figuring out how to retool a design to make it more manufacturable. In my personal experience, book learning didn’t prepare me for the education I got in my early years doing high volume consumer electronics with a lot of responsibility. If you’re a small team looking for your first PD, find the most experienced one that you can. If your team already has an experienced PD, hiring someone with less experience can be a great growth opportunity for the new hire and your existing teammate. If you’re a large organization, hiring new graduates gives you first dibs on the best new talent.
The basic goal for the first conversation is to understand the candidate’s depth and breadth. Does the candidate “think like an engineer”?
I remember when I was interviewing to be a PD at Apple, and I was handed the double-shot plastic face of an iPod classic and asked where the gates were in the tools used to make it. It was the first double-shot part that I had ever seen, and even though I had a little experience with injection molding, I couldn’t see any gate marks. It was a trick question: the part was gated in the scroll wheel area, and the evidence was removed in a post-process CNC step. As a candidate, my mind was blown; I wanted to solve problems in clever ways like that. I’m not advocating for trick questions in your process, but having a candidate talk you through their thought process can give you a sense of their background and creativity.
For example, what material should a snap be made out of, and why? Hint: Both sides of a snap interface should never be aluminum. You’ll also want to listen for words like flexibility, fatigue, lubriciousness. These are all considerations.
New graduates will probably not do well on these questions because most university students have only experienced 6061-T6 aluminum, 304 stainless steel, and maybe some plastics like Delrin and acrylic. But if a new graduate remembers the grade of materials they have worked with, and can come up with an exhaustive list of things to test and specifications to look up – this can indicate a thought process that is ready to absorb new learning on the job.
(3) How many samples does the candidate think should be tested in reliability testing and why is that the right amount?
Stellar answers to this line of questioning will consider the use-case scenarios and demonstrate a basic understanding of manufacturing variability and statistics. This is a very revealing question, the why being more important than the number. Except in extreme situations, any answer that is less than five or more than 100 is probably wrong.
PD’s need to have to have a certain amount of grit – spending days on manufacturing lines in China solving hard problem takes a certain kind of character. So in addition to understanding technical depth and breadth, I suggest detailed lines of questioning about a really gnarly engineering challenge he or she had to solve will give you a lot of insight into how the candidate breaks down problems and digs into tough situations.
By now you’ve already determined that your candidate looks like a potential fit based upon their background experience – now it’s time to see how that candidate applies their experience and intuition to solving design problems. This part of the interview can be particularly challenging if you are hiring your first PD, because you need a PD to help to design and grade the test.
You’ll want to make a design problem that is deceptively simple, but due to trade-offs that must be made, is actually quite difficult. As with all interview questions, you want to create a spread between candidates – and that difficulty will do that. What determines pass or fail in the interview isn’t whether or not the design will “work”, but rather whether the candidate took into consideration all the facets and trade-offs and made good decisions. Here’s several examples:
While it may seem like a PD should be spending most of his or her day doing CAD, doing failure analysis, or watching parts going down the line (all pretty solitary activities) – the role is often incredibly cross-functional, and interpersonal skills like communication and collaboration are just as important.
You’ll want to understand whether your candidate will work well with your existing team. In order to do this at Instrumental, all roles have a “team exercise” portion where we seriously work together on a made up problem. If you are building in China, you’ll want to consider the candidate’s experience working with remote teams and communicating with non-native speakers and writers of English.
You’ll want to see you candidate defend his or her ideas. One easy way to do this is to have him or her present the design test to a broader panel of engineers and face some questioning. This can take on whatever culture your company has and whatever level of intensity is required for success in the role. At Instrumental, this is a friendly discussion where the candidate takes the lead and panelists ask thoughtful questions along the way to probe depth of understanding. At Apple, the panel was much more pointed and perhaps at times could be considered a bit brutal (by design), because withstanding intense scrutiny was what the team believed was required for success in the role.
If the role is going to be multi-faceted, you’ll want to test instincts around quality, program management, general program organization, etc.
I also always want to ask a PD about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T). One might think something as boring as GD&T wouldn’t create controversy, but depending on your industry, it can. The key reason is because Chinese manufacturers don’t follow it. It doesn’t matter if you have specified the flatness of a surface or a profile callout on a drawing using formal GD&T if your vendor won’t (or cannot) measure it. If that’s an environment that you work in, you’ll want to get a sense for the candidate’s intuition about what really matters to get the desired outcome. In consumer electronics, this usually means using “simple dimensions” (which is a term of art). I usually dig into issues around GD&T by asking a series of questions around defining datums for a complex part. My go-to part is an iPod home button: how do you define the datums to reduce the gap and offset between the button and the glass, and the tilt of the icon with respect to the glass? I usually draw a few views of the button on the whiteboard and have the candidate explain his or her thought process. This question is not easy, but the decisions your PD makes when making drawings will dictate how tools are made, which dimensions are actually being controlled, and ultimately the final fit and finish of your product.
Specialized backgrounds give candidates specialized experience. Think about what you need for your product and consider targeting candidates from specific industries. For example, candidates from the medical device industry will be trained to design things to be robust and to conduct extensive sub-component testing to make sure the first build is good (because medical devices usually only get two builds). Whereas, engineers from a BigCo consumer electronics background will have been trained that schedule is king, often preferring to kick off many backup versions in parallel to each other. Candidates from startups will be used to working with a budget and fewer resources to do experiments, and so may be scrappier. All of these candidates can bring different kinds of experience to your team, so you may consider sourcing directly from a pool of talent most likely to have the skills you need.
Share this article with your friends who are building out their hardware teams, and drop us a line to tell us what your thoughts are on hiring PDs! If you’ve found this article useful, don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter below.
Technical Questions Asked in Mechanical Engineering Job Interviews
Interviews for Top Jobs at Apple
Mechanical Engineer Interview
I interviewed at Apple (San Diego, CA)
Interview
Started out by receiving an email from HR with some housekeeping questions. Then I was scheduled with a hiring manager and passed that round and was taken to the next round with another hiring manager.
- Stress/strain and mechanics of materials questions
Mechanical Engineer Interview
I applied through college or university. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Apple in Jan 2022
Interview
1st interview was purely behavioral and asked about my previous projects. The recruiter mentioned that it takes about 1-6 weeks to schedule a second interview. So I am waiting on that.
- What project or internship experience you would like to talk about throughout our phone call?
“How would you plan a hand gliding trip for your colleagues to North Korea?” — Hardware Test Design Lead
PILOT INTERVIEW Questions And Answers! (How to PASS an Airline Pilot Interview)
1. What is CRM process as Airline Pilot? The systematic and effective use of all available resources to ensure a desirable outcome and completion of the flight. Focusing on communication, teamwork, task allocation, decision-making and situational awareness. The major contributors in the CRM process are: Dispatchers, flight attendants, maintenance, ATC and of course the cockpit crew.
2. What is the MAP on a non-precision approach? Non-precision: MAP is usually visually identified by a capitol and bold “M” in the Jepps or at the end of the solid line on NOS. There are several ways to id the MAP: Published DME at the MAP, Navaid such as the middle marker (MM), or timing from the FAF
3. What is the importance of proficiency in several languages for a pilot? A private pilot may limit himself to knowledge of English good enough to understand control towers. Other pilots, being more publicly involved figures by necessity, greatly benefit from knowing more than one language.
4. What is your Proudest accomplishment? Becoming a pilot and graduating from college as to be the biggest accomplish so far.
5. What is the 1-2-3 rule? Requirements for filing an alternate. 1-2-3: 1hr before to 1hr after estimated time of arrival, the weather must be forecast to be 2000′ ceiling and 3SM vis.
6. What makes a good captain or what do you expect from a Captain? one that is knowledgeable, decisive, conservative and safety conscious, good people skills, superior communication skills, solid piloting skills, can manage stress and avoid confrontation
7. List your qualifications as a pilot? Besides relevant college degree(s), pilots graduate from flying school and participate in annual additional training.
8. What is GRID MORA? It’s an altitude derived by Jepp or provided by state authorities. If derived by Jepp, Grid MORA clear all terrain and structures by 1000′ in areas where highest elevations are 5000′ MSL or lower. MORA values clear all terrain and structures by 2000′ in areas where highest elevations are 5001′ MSL or higher. Grid MORA (State) altitude supplied by the State Authority provides 2000′ clearance in mountainous areas and 1000′ in non-mountainous areas. Also… a +/- denote doubtful accuracy but are believed to provide sufficient reference point clearance.
9. What is the definition of CRM? CRM is a system which allows optimum use of all available resources – equipment, procedures, interpersonal communication, team work – all to promote safety and enhance efficiency in operations
10. What is Vso of your most recent aircraft? Cessna 172 is 41Kts
11. What is the max distance from the runway if you were to circle to land? Depends on your speed
12. Have you applied anywhere else? Just be honest on this one. If you are in the job hunt, it’s normal to apply to several companies. It’s great to tell them that Cathay is your top choice, but it would be suspect to say Cathay is your only choice.
13. What is mach tuck? As the aircraft reaches critical mach the nose of the aircraft tends to pitch downwards due to the flow of air over the wing reaching supersonic speeds producing additional life and center of pressure moving rearward. As the center of pressure moves rearward the elevators become less effective, pushing the aircraft into a potentially unrecoverable dive.
14. What is tower’s NORDO signal to be cleared to land? Steady green
15. What is VMCG? minimum speed control in the ground
16. What is the difference between Blue, Green Airports? blue is IFR (has approaches) green is VFR (no approaches)
17. What is GRADIENT CLIMB? 3%
18. What is VMCA? Minimun Speed Control in the Air
19. What is windshear? its a change on direction and speed of the wind
20. What is MOCA? Minimum Obstacle Clearance that provides obstable clearance between Vor airways. It also ensures VOR coverage 22nm from the nearest VOR
21. What is hyperventilation? hyperventilation is when the body has too much Oxygen and not enough Co2
22. Ever had an emergency? yes, many over the years
23. Pilots have many simultaneous responsibilities during the flight. What can you tell me about this? Pilots navigate the flight, observe and direct the activities of the crew, check instruments, keep an eye on the weather, and monitor altitude and air traffic. Doing all these and more, often simultaneously, requires outstanding multi-tasking skills and power of concentration.
24. What are the max airspeeds in C airspace? 200 KIAS within 4 NM of Primary Class C Airport
25. How would you behave as the pilot of a plane during an emergency? Describe first what your emotional response would be. It is important to demonstrate, preferably through examples, that you can maintain your poise during such events, and that you possess enough presence of mind to activate emergency procedures and delegate duties among crew members as necessary.
26. Where do you see yourself in 6 months? with your company
27. Did you ever have to modify the flight course in the past? Pilots are able to modify the course in flight, if this is dictated by internal or external conditions. This is not a small responsibility and needs careful coordination with control towers and scrupulous attention to detail.
28. What Is V2? takeoff safety speed
29. What Is Max A/s In Class C? Airspeed maximum of 200 knots indicated within 4 nautical or 5 statute miles and 2500 feet above the ground of the primary airport.
30. What Are The Cdi/raim Sensitivities Of A Gps Outside 30nm? Inside 30nm? +- 5 mi +- 1 mi
31. What Is The Effect Of Aft Cg On Performance? rearward Cg gives better fuel efficiency
32. What Is An Lda? a precision approach that is offset from the runway, it may have GS
33. Where Is The Faf On A Vor/ils Approach? On a VOR approach, the FAP is whenever you are established on course inbound and the final decent may be started. For non-precision approaches, the FAF is the “Maltese Cross” and for precision, the arrow which identifies the GS intercept.
34. Why Cape Air? big airline paneer
35. What Kind Of Airspace Is Around Lax? Class B. Very congested airspace.
36. What Is V1? Take off decision speed
37. What is hypoxia? Lack of oxygen to body tissues
38. Why do you like Compass? I like the new modern equipment and I like the fact that it’s got flow through to/ is part of Northwest.
39. What is a squall line? It is a continuous narrow line active of thunderstorms ahead of cold front but can develop far removed of any front. May be too long to detour, too thick to penetrate. It forms very rapidly reach Max intensity in late afternoon or early evening. IT IS THE SINGLE MOST INTENSE WEATHER HAZARD FOR AIRCRAFT.
40. Why do you want to work for Allegiant? growing company, day trips, upgrade potential
41. Why Ameriflight? I’d like to fly cargo and gain the single-pilot IFR experience
42. Did you ever have a problem with an F/O? Yes
43. What is your clearance limit when cleared for the approach and then you loose coms? The published hold on the missed.
44. What is MEA? Minimum En Route Altitude, lowest altitude on that airway that assures obstacle clearance and acceptable navigational reception.
45. What is Definition of V2? Single engine climb speed until safe altitude or clear of obstacles
46. What is Definition of V1? on a balance runway it is the last chance for you to decide not to go if you have and emergency and still stop on the runway according to the air data
47. What is the definition of Hypoxia? Not enough Oxygen
48. What is the seating capacity of the Dash 8 100 and 300 and how many flight attendants you need? DA-100 (37) DA-300 (50) FA 1
49. Tell me the biggest factor as far as fuel conservation goes as it relates to a jet engine? TSFC thrust specific fuel consumption which directly inperpolates to power setting and altitude. Higher you climb the less fuel required. Throttle settings also have a say in conservation and relates more to maintenance issues which is why full throttle takeoffs are rarely done.
50. What qualities make a good captain? Confident, Diligent, Good CRM skills, Good Problem Solver
51. What’s your choice of base? PDX or Seattle
52. World Airways Pilot Interview Questions:
53. Flight Express Airline Pilot Interview Questions:
54. Lion Air Airline Pilot Interview Questions:
55. LAN Airline Pilot Interview Questions:
56. Miami Air International Airline Pilot Interview Questions:
57. Mokulele Airlines Pilot Interview Questions:
58. Ryan International Airlines Airline Pilot Interview Questions:
59. Seaborne Airlines Pilot Interview Questions:
60. XOJET Airline Pilot Interview Questions:
Top Apple Interview Questions You Need to Prepareby Interview Kickstart Team in
Our tried & tested strategy for cracking interviews
How FAANG hiring process works
The 4 areas you must prepare for
How you can accelerate your learnings
Apple is the worlds largest tech company by market cap. A major driver of Appleâs success is its carefully assembled team of world-class engineering talent. Apple interview questions are specially designed to find and hire only the best software engineers. This is why Appleâs technical interviews are considered the hardest and the most unique among all FAANG interviews.Â
Infamous for its secrecy, Apple keeps its hiring and interviewing process under tight wraps, making it hard to know what type of Apple interview questions to expect at an Apple technical interview. Employees are dissuaded from revealing details about the interview process, even under total anonymity on popular review portals. This allows Apple to assess candidates on the basis of their actual skills and knowledge as opposed to candidates who try to game the interview process by preparing only on expected Apple interview questions.
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Strategic practice is the key to cracking tech interviews. In this article, weâll list Apple interview questions and cover some important information to help you with your prep, including:Â
FAQ
Does Apple employ mechanical engineers?
- Why did you choose to study mechanical engineering? …
- Talk about your first engineering design. …
- What is the top skill a mechanical engineer must have? …
- What is your CAD system of choice? …
- Name an engineering skill have you learned recently?
What do mechanical engineers do at Apple?
What questions does Apple ask in interviews?
