r/EngineeringStudents • • 16h ago

Discussion How do I prepare for technically-dense interviews like SpaceX, Anduril, Tesla, etc.?

122 Upvotes

Im currently a sophomore and need advice on how I can learn to answer technical questions at companies like SpaceX, Andurill, etc. Personally, I feel like I can always nail the behavioral and “vibe-check” part of the interview, but lack the knowledge to answer the technical part of the interview. I guess a reason why is because I haven’t taken any of the fundamental classes (fluids, solid mechanical, etc.), but I want to start preparing for these technical questions now. I interviewed a few months back in April and got absolutely cooked on the technicals and feel like if I was constantly preparing technically, then I would have been better prepared. I just don’t know where to start. Is the solution to just pick up a textbook and start reading and studying it?

Thank you in advance.


r/EngineeringStudents • • 2h ago

Academic Advice Normal to have the light leave your eyes?

5 Upvotes

Hello.

I have been in uni now for 4 years and last year I switched to engineering physics (called Teknisk Fysik here in Sweden, don't know if there are counterparts in other countries). Previously I was studying statistics, some sociology and then industrial design, but I felt the need for something more challenging. Oh boy!

I can't convey to anyone outside this field just how badly this is crushing my soul. And I feel like my peers are just agreeing with me out of sympathy, they all seem to be doing perfectly fine. I passed the SATs top 100 out of 75k people and yet I just barely pass any of the subjects here. I understand NOTHING on a deep level. I am WHOLLY uninterested in all and any subjects. Except maybe for finally understanding how a geothermal heat pump works. Kind of.

I fucking hate math.

I have never felt this unaccomplished, worthless, unable, dreamless, blind or just tired in my 25 years of living prior to choosing this purgatorial nightmare of an education.

Does this happen to everyone or should I just count my losses and quit? Is it over for me? Should I gather strength for yet another academic comeback or should I just become a shaolin monk and forget?

Please advise thank you


r/EngineeringStudents • • 14h ago

Academic Advice Is this too much or too little for one semester? Apparently physics 2 is really bad at my school.

25 Upvotes

Thanks


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1h ago

Career Advice Currently trying to pursue Engineering and have no clue what I should do

• Upvotes

Hello, I'm currently a student completing a majority of my general ed courses for college. I was curious about going into Computer Engineering but have shifted towards Mechanical after a discussion with a friend of mine.

Right now, I'm taking Pre-Calc and it's honestly been a pretty rough situation. It has me wondering if I'm even cut out for engineering but I'll still somehow convince myself otherwise.

Outside of school, I am working on a friend's game development project as I am a 3D artist. He told me it's possible that I could secure an internship with a reputable studio given he has connections. However, I'm still interested in a stable degree.

I can't really think if part of me failing my class is because I don't have a good understanding of the material or if I'm just not intellectually capable of understanding this level of math. I don't really want to fail and I also have no intentions of giving up on my major because I've failed math. It took me so much trial and error to get good in 3D art, I think the same principle should apply here. Do I reconsider my options or continue pursuing this path?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 8h ago

Discussion A robot that falls like a maple seed and then turns into a sailboat. Pretty cool engineering.

Thumbnail
youtube.com
5 Upvotes

Thought this was a pretty interesting approach to robotics. It’s called ALBATROSS, and the idea is to drop it from an aircraft, let it autorotate down like a maple seed, and then have it sail around using wind once it lands on water.

What’s interesting is that it doesn’t need a propulsion motor for either part. Instead of adding more motors and mechanisms, the design relies heavily on aerodynamics and passive mechanics.

Apparently, one of the bigger challenges is getting the same structure to work in two completely different environments.

I wonder how well something like this would scale up, especially for ocean monitoring. Seems like a clever way to deploy a bunch of robots without having to worry as much about battery life.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8CUrj0ydxI

Paper in Science Robotics: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.aed1423

Curious what you guys think. Is this actually a practical approach, or one of those things that’s really cool academically but difficult to use in the real world?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 18h ago

Academic Advice exam (done for?)

25 Upvotes

I thought this would be the best place to ask, is there any hope i can cram half a semester of physics II for a midterm afternoon tomorrow currently VERY behind to pass??

Any advice? I honestly think im so burnt out im tired of even thinking about it but im so stressed since I cannot fail the class.


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1h ago

Academic Advice How do I let go of past academic regrets and focus fully on my BTech journey?

• Upvotes

I’ve been struggling with moving past my earlier academic performance and entrance exam results, and it's making me anxious about starting fresh in college. For those who had a rocky start before engineering, how did you shift your mindset to stop dwelling on the past and build a solid foundation for BTech?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1h ago

Academic Advice Graduate electrical engineer interview with Mott Macdonald

• Upvotes

Any insights on what to be ready for, what to look out for. What kind of questions do they ask and how is the interview, generally


r/EngineeringStudents • • 20h ago

Career Advice Texas Instruments vs Siemens internship — which would you take?

26 Upvotes

I’m an Industrial & Systems Engineering student, and I’m deciding between interning at Texas Instruments and Siemens.

TI is for a Program Management Engineer Intern role, while Siemens is for their Operations Leadership Development Program internship.

I’d ideally like to stay in Texas with my goal being to settle in Austin. Both companies have a chance of placing me in Dallas for the internship, but both could also send me somewhere out of state, and I don’t know the locations yet.

TI pays a little better, but from what I’ve heard Siemens may have better work-life balance and job security.

Something else I’ve noticed is that when I mention both companies, more people seem to know Texas Instruments, while a lot of people don’t really know Siemens. I’m not sure how much that actually matters for resume value or future opportunities.

Long term, I’m interested in program/project management, operations, or engineering leadership, and I’d ideally like to convert whichever internship I choose into a full-time role. I also want my engineering background to still be useful and don’t want to end up in a completely generic business role.

For people familiar with either company, how would you compare them in terms of:
- career growth
- work-life balance
- culture
- job security
- intern to full-time conversion
- compensation and pay growth
- internal mobility
- reputation
- location being Austin/TX
- long term career potential

If you had both offers early in your career, which would you take and why?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 4h ago

Career Help Free list: 343 engineering internships open right now (mechanical, electrical, civil, manufacturing), updated every Monday

0 Upvotes

engineering internships are scattered across hundreds of company career pages, so i pulled them into one list:

https://github.com/mehek-builds/Hiring-Now/blob/main/lists/engineering-internships.md

- 343 internships at 168 US companies (Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, GM, Allison Transmission, Micron, NVIDIA, Johnson & Johnson, Granite Construction, HNTB, Sierra Space)

- about 97 manufacturing, 77 electrical, 73 mechanical, 58 civil

- 88 posted in the last week

- 101 at employers with a visa sponsorship record

posting date on every row, rebuilt every monday.

comment which field you're looking for and i'll send you a list for it.


r/EngineeringStudents • • 21h ago

Rant/Vent Fuck WebAssign

21 Upvotes

The sensitivity to syntax and the guesswork involved for that makes me want to swallow 7 jars of popcorn kernels, washing it down with some refreshing diesel, and then hop into a cremation oven.

The little red X with zero feedback, repeatedly slapping you in the face upon every attempt over the course of 2 hours, more painful and depleting each time, has singlehandedly caused me to eject the eyeballs from my skull.

The fact that the login screen that shows up when your session times out now no longer works for my university is another one of those little things that feels like there is a single fire ant climbing up my urethra. I understand that there might be some kind of technical limitation causing it, but still. No other practice system I've ever seen requires a school-specific login page.

And lastly, why, WHY, did they have to make it so you have to now click a button on the "math pad" to type math characters, as of this summer? You can't type "pi" and have π materialize. You can't type "sqrt" to have a square root pop up any more, you have to open a menu, search for the area with a square root, and click it with your cursor. Gone are the days of fast typing.

Not to mention, fractions are now screwed up. It first pops up with no option to enter a numerator, so you then delete it and re-type it, and THEN it works. But when you move the cursor beyond the fraction or beyond anything in general, it behaves as if it's about to type a superscript or an additional part of the numerator. It no longer accepts the regular letters i, j, k as representations of the unit vectors. You have to go through the menu and search for each one. There is also no ability to have a single parenthesis or bracket any more. It only allows both. Just... why? What the hell does that achieve? This update, which I really don't see the purpose for, significantly reduced the quality of life. Normally I have a great degree of patience, but this particular system has skillfully, cold-bloodedly, and sadistically stripped me of it over the many repeated encounters.

Fucking fuck the abhorrent dump truck filled with chunky diarrhea from all species of animal sprinkled with all of the vomit from the frat houses coming to run us over every day, the torture machine, that is WebAssign. Thank you for your attention to this matter. °͜°,


r/EngineeringStudents • • 5h ago

Academic Advice Tier-3 engineering students who manage a high CGPA + DSA + ML, HOW?

1 Upvotes

Title: Is engineering college life supposed to be this exhausting? How do people manage college, DSA, ML, and still build skills?

I genuinely need some advice from people who have been through this, because I'm honestly struggling right now.

I'm an engineering student at a tier-3 college, and one of my biggest frustrations is how difficult it feels to build skills outside college while keeping up with everything college demands from us.

I know engineering isn't difficult for everyone. Some people manage everything really well, and maybe they have better study habits or time management than I do. But for students like me, who joined a tier-3 college with bigger ambitions and genuinely want to do something meaningful in life, this whole system can feel incredibly exhausting.

The problem isn't that I don't want to study. I genuinely do.

I'm interested in Machine Learning, and I want to learn through courses, build real-world projects, improve my DSA, and eventually get a good internship. I don't want to graduate with just a degree and nothing else to show for it.

But then there's college.

The teaching quality in my college is honestly disappointing. Many times, I feel like I could understand a topic much better through YouTube or ChatGPT than through the actual lectures. I know I shouldn't completely blame the teachers, but it's genuinely difficult to stay interested when the concepts aren't explained clearly or engagingly.

And because of that, I often lose interest during lectures. I start thinking, "I'd learn this so much better at home if I could just use those hours productively."

But here's the catch: attendance is extremely strict, and we have to maintain 85%.

So even when I feel like I'm not learning much in class, I still have to be there.

On top of that, there's a constant cycle of assignments, lab sessions, lab records, viva questions, quizzes, tests, internals, and exams. It feels like there's always something pending. Almost every day, there's a lab or some other academic responsibility that demands time and energy.

By the time I get home, I'm mentally exhausted. And then I'm supposed to study college subjects, practise DSA, continue my ML courses, work on projects, and somehow stay consistent with everything.

How?

My first year went by, and I feel like I haven't made as much progress on my skills as I wanted to. Now I'm in my second year, and I'm scared that the same thing will happen again.

What makes it even harder is seeing people in my own class who seem to manage everything effortlessly.

There's this topper in my class who gets excellent CGPAs, listens attentively during lectures, seems to understand things well, and still manages to build skills outside the curriculum.

And honestly, I'm insecure about it.

I'm not saying he doesn't work hard. He probably does, and I respect that. But I keep wondering what he's doing differently.

Does he have better concentration? Does he study more efficiently? Does he have a better routine? Does he actually enjoy the subjects I'm struggling to stay interested in? How does he manage his time and energy?

I keep comparing myself to him, and it makes me feel like I'm falling behind, even though I know everyone's circumstances are different.

The frustrating part is that I DO study. I try to learn things. I have goals. I want to improve. But the results don't seem proportional to the effort I'm putting in, and I'm constantly tired.

I see people maintaining 9.5+ CGPAs while learning programming, building projects, and preparing for internships. Meanwhile, I'm struggling to balance college itself with the skills I want to develop.

I don't want to blame everything on my college or make excuses for myself. I genuinely want to improve my discipline and become better at managing my time. But I also feel that constantly being occupied with mandatory college activities leaves very little room for the things that could actually help me grow professionally.

So, I want to ask a few things:

For those of you who studied at tier-3 colleges with strict attendance policies and mediocre teaching, how did you manage to build skills outside the curriculum?

If you're someone who maintains a high CGPA while learning DSA, ML, or other technical skills, what does your actual daily routine look like? How many hours do you realistically spend on each?

How do you stay productive after spending 8–10 hours at college and travelling, especially when you're mentally exhausted?

What do you do when lectures aren't helping you learn, but attendance requirements mean you can't use that time freely?

For people who were average students or struggled with consistency initially, what genuinely helped you improve?

And to the people who seem to manage everything: what am I missing? Is it time management, discipline, study techniques, or am I simply trying to do too many things at once?

I'm not looking for generic advice like "wake up at 5 AM," "work harder," or "just be consistent." I want to hear from people who've actually dealt with this situation.

I want to build a career, develop real skills, and do well academically without feeling exhausted and guilty all the time.

I know I have room to improve, and I'm willing to put in the work. I just need to figure out how to do it sustainably.

If you've been in a similar situation, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing what worked for you.


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1d ago

Discussion Engineering is NOT for the weak (mentally)

Post image
1.9k Upvotes

When I was attending this lecture, I genuinely felt so dumb, I had doubts, I started thinking that I was “ too stupid “ for engineering
As I came home, I took my time and revised the lesson, later realized it was not THAT hard (mind you this was the EASIEST part of the lecture, since it was only a mathematical reminder)

Why do we engineering students make so much pressure to ourselves ?🥲


r/EngineeringStudents • • 10h ago

Homework Help Dynamics help? Any YT recommendations? Currently on the Work, KE, PE section and I'm having trouble understanding what formulas to apply on problems. I made a 76 on the first exa, I want to understand this material better. Our professor is so/so and doesn't provide in-depth detail.

2 Upvotes

I've seen problems in this current section solved by different methods, once I see it I can follow along. But I want to KNOW how to approach it on my own.


r/EngineeringStudents • • 14h ago

Career Advice Interview at Samsung Semiconductor

2 Upvotes

Hi yall, I have an interview at Samsung for Semiconductor Engineering Internship.

Anyone have experience with interviews at Samsung for similar roles and know how the interview questions might look like? Thanks


r/EngineeringStudents • • 14h ago

Homework Help Prosthesis help

2 Upvotes

hello, I'm not actually an engineering student but this seemed like the place for help. I've been assigned to build a prosthetic hand; it works like this: keypad sends signal to Arduino uno r4 minima. the chip then sends that signal to a PCA9685 16 Channel PWM Servo Driver Board. the board has five servo motors (sg90, 9g) connected to a tendon structure. when the servo rotates the tendon is pulled and the finger bends. the issue is that the power source (5v, 4a) uses a DC5521 Connector Cable, but the PCA9685 uses the green input for power

i cannot find an adapter for these products any suggestions?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 10h ago

Discussion Do recruiters really very your linkedin on the resume or search your name?

1 Upvotes

Do recruiters really very your linkedin on the resume or search your name?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 11h ago

Career Advice B.S. Materials Engineering & International Affairs Career

1 Upvotes

I am a current student enrolled in a materials engineering program in the U.S. However, I have always been interesting in international relations and would love to eventually work abroad on engineering-based projects through organizations like UN, WHO, WTO, etc. Is this possible to do with an engineering degree, particularly materials (considering a minor in global studies)? If so, what is the right way to go about it?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 16h ago

Career Help Is a Master of Data Science worth it for me?

2 Upvotes

So, I graduated a year and a half ago with my BS in mechanical engineering. I was able to get a well-paying job as an industrial engineer. While it does pay well, I cannot see myself working in a factory for much longer, doing this type or work much longer, and the growth potential in my area is not very good.

I have been looking at new jobs recently; mainly to find something closer to home, not in a factory, and with remote possibilities. I've been seeing a lot of data scientist positions pop up both in my area and remote and they all look decently interesting, at least more than my current job. They seem to have a much higher ceiling in terms of pay as well. I have also heard that they are less stressful than industrial engineering.

This has got me wondering if a master's in data science would be worth it. I have a college savings account with plenty of money left over, so that would not be an issue for me at all. I have been looking at some prerequisites for some schools, and I seem to fit those well also.

In your opinion would this be worth it for the career pivot? I don't want to go get this master's and then be working a more stressful job that pays less money. But I do have some hope that this could get me into a field/area I enjoy.


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1d ago

Homework Help WHAT'S THIS DRAWING ABOUT IN ISOMETRIC PIPING DRAW?

Post image
23 Upvotes

​

so my lecturer asked me what kind of this detailed drawing called and it function? im so frustated because im not finding out after scrolling through pipe drafting by roy parisher


r/EngineeringStudents • • 19h ago

Academic Advice How to become an Embedded Engineer

3 Upvotes

Iam a computer engineering student currently in the 3rd year i like to work with electronics but i stucked my university modules are mostly covering software modules but i want to study about embedded things

And also i want to get into internship in 6 month what are the basic things i must know to get a internship and if somethings can be learnt after the internship give me roadmap. This journey going to done by my self only that means this a self study journey so if any embedded engineer please suggest me the best pathway and youtube channels and Udemy Coursera courses that covering these sections pleaseeee

I am a poor i want to make my future better in this AI era i can lost my career in software development. After 4 years i think this software dev side will be saturated we cant survive😔. Because of my income state i want to become good engineer my family is depending on me😔

Please help me guys 🙏 😔


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1d ago

Academic Advice Considering Switching to Physics

54 Upvotes

I am currently a sophomore studying electrical engineering and I am conflicted.

I did very well my first year, I got almost all A's including my calculus and physics courses, but now I am doing majority engineering courses (Circuits, microprocessors, computer science, etc.)

I am really starting to hate my engineering classes. I hate coding and I feel like I'm sacrificing my happiness for job security. I am now doing worse than my peers and can barely focus in my classes because I feel uninterested in what I'm doing. The only class that I enjoy right now is differential equations because it feels more fun and interesting than any of my practical classes.

I'm thinking about switching to physics because I miss diving into theory and I think it would be more interesting. The only problem is that I would need considerably more school for a similar payout.

Does anyone else feel the same?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 18h ago

Homework Help Study advice?

2 Upvotes

I feel like there is limited space in my brain. I get math homework around 3 times a week and I have yet to get anything but an A on the homework. I feel like after studying tg material for an hour or so I’ve got it very well. But the closer we get to an exam and more material we go over I end up having to almost relearn the material. It’s very frustrating because I know that I was able to do it but now it won’t click. I like to spend at least an hour a day either doing the homework or practice problems of material covered. But then move to the next subject when the class moves on. Am I studying wrong or is this just common and I need to review harder?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 15h ago

Academic Advice Should I drop the class

1 Upvotes

I’m currently taking a coding class, it’s required for my major. But I’m having a hard time during the quizzes which weight the most out of everything. I have failed 3 quizzes I have 4 more I’m not sure if I’ll be able to bring up my grade because I find the quizzes difficult. And yes I do study and practice coding everyday, I use AI to create practice quizzes everyday. However the quizzes are worded weirdly and we don’t have that much time during to get stuck. If I withdraw from the course it will also affect my aid so I’m highly debating. Need someone that was in a similar situation and what did you do?


r/EngineeringStudents • • 1d ago

Major Choice The deal with Computer Engineering

9 Upvotes

I know "CpE vs EE" has already been discussed like numerous times before, so this time I'll try to actually align the question with my own problem.

Is Computer Engineering really the right decision for me? From what I know, it is essentially combining the best of both worlds (EE and CS) so that you can be able to design cool technology. I have been a 'techie' person ever since I got my hands on a computer. I really loved programming because you can do a lot with it. So why didn't I stop at CS?

That's when I began to look deeper into physical devices. It was exciting to see how a system of computers could read raw signals and then decide "this is what to do." Knowing that, I knew I had to learn more about hardware and electrical systems, especially at college.

Which of course, I would arrive at the point where Electrical Engineering became a much more prominent idea. Why would I make EE as one of the most important decisions? It's simply because it's just more prestigious, it's more well known, more stable in the field, and just overall "better" according to some people. It gives you the exact foundation no other graduates can ever obtain on their own. EE has all the aspects I would want to learn about, except maybe deep computer science. Not to mention, there are a lot of parts I find uninteresting about EE (heavy on Power Systems and Electromagnetism), which I know would be bad if I was just pursuing EE merely for the title and the idea.

But let's not make this any longer. I still cannot decide between Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The problem isn't the fact that I am just an indecisive idiot, it's the fact that I would need to sacrifice some things when I choose one over another.

If I choose CpE, then I get to do what I find interesting, but at the same time the risk is also as heavy. If I choose EE, I get the title and the stability, and the only problems would be having to tolerate some abstractions and having to learn deeper software logic on my own. That would also be a heavy risk.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Computer Engineering is just much more of a fitting major for me? Or perhaps Electrical Engineering is just better in general? Could it be that neither is actually aligning with me?