Electrical Design Career Tips
Introduction
Welcome to the Electrical Design Interview Mini-Guide. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of key topics to help you prepare for your electrical design interviews.
It's crucial to understand the inner workings of hiring managers' minds when evaluating and selecting potential candidates. In this captivating collection, we delve into what hiring managers seek in successful candidates and provide invaluable advice to help you excel in esteemed companies such as Waymo, Google, Apple, and Facebook.
Beyond expanding their teams, managers hold the vital responsibility of fostering excellent team dynamics, ensuring the happiness and support of each team member. Moreover, it's their duty to actively seek opportunities for personal career growth.
Note: Permission to post has been obtained and granted.
Background
These hiring managers possess extensive managerial experience, leading world-class hardware engineering teams at top companies, with their groundbreaking products prominently displayed in popular electronic retail stores.
Career Advice
Q: What qualities do you look for in young engineers?
Hiring Manager Willis:
Knowledge: Strong fundamentals and problem-solving abilities based on solid knowledge.
Passion and enthusiasm for engineering: A desire to uncover the root causes of problems and find solutions.
Creativity: A willingness to explore new approaches, challenge existing design philosophies, and optimize current practices.
Curiosity: A thirst for knowledge, always eager to delve deeper and improve understanding.
Honesty: The ability to admit what is not known, relying on data and problem-solving when faced with challenges.
Hiring Manager Alexander:
Strong engineering fundamentals.
Excitement about the job and the industry.
Honesty and openness: Willingness to admit areas of uncertainty and provide strategies for acquiring missing knowledge.
Good listening skills.
Keeping in touch with recruiters to gather insights about the interview process.
Proficiency in discussing every aspect of their CV/resume.
Hiring Manager Ross:
Curiosity: Demonstrating an inquisitive nature, going beyond traditional academic coursework to explore and understand real-world applications.
Emphasis on hands-on experience: A passion for disassembling, building, and fixing things from an early age, valuing practical skills over academic degrees.
Hiring Manager Jon:
Positive attitude and willingness to learn.
Proactivity and self-guidance.
Eagerness to acquire knowledge and skills.
Hiring Manager Peter:
Strong fundamentals: Solid understanding of power, transmission lines, and L/R/C characteristics.
Thorough knowledge of experiences mentioned in the resume, demonstrating intuitive and fundamental comprehension rather than mere memorization.
Effective communication skills, including the ability to engage in non-technical discussions.
Curiosity that extends beyond the core scope of work, reflecting a broader perspective.
Q: What are some common mistakes made by entry engineers that hinder their work efficiency and growth?
Hiring Manager Willis:
Fear of asking questions: Failing to address areas of concern or confusion promptly, hindering progress.
Ignoring problems, hoping they will disappear on their own: Delaying or neglecting problem resolution only worsens the situation.
Decision-making without sufficient data: Cognitive biases leading to the overlooking of "one-off" problems, dismissal of unexpected behaviors, or cherry-picking data to fit preconceived notions.
Hiring Manager Alexander:
Fearlessly admitting lack of understanding or uncertainty when faced with a question.
Emphasizing critical thinking: Demonstrating the ability to devise strategies for obtaining answers.
Honesty and transparency: Never pretending or lying.
Avoiding insistence on being right.
Recognizing the interview process as a tool for success.
Showing respect by dressing appropriately, maintaining orderliness, making eye contact without staring, and projecting a relaxed demeanor.
Embracing failure as a valuable learning experience. Understanding that failures are stepping stones to growth, and smiling in the face of adversity.
Hiring Manager Ross:
Attempting to tackle everything simultaneously: Successful engineers embrace humility, starting with less glamorous tasks and gradually working their way up to leadership roles within a team.
Hiring Manager Jon:
Overcoming timidity and self-doubt.
Embracing challenges: Tackling difficult problems head-on from the early stages.
Openness to new experiences: Most problems have not been encountered before, so being comfortable in unfamiliar situations and eager to learn is crucial.
Hiring Manager Peter:
Guarding against time fragmentation: Allocating dedicated hours for focused work by leveraging strategies like blocking out specific time slots on the calendar.
Emphasizing growth: Seeking insights from more senior engineers, understanding not just what they do, but why they do it. Demonstrating curiosity beyond the immediate scope of work.
Going beyond the bare minimum: Resumes often highlight experience with multiple digital bus systems, but true expertise lies in the ability to route differential signals while possessing an in-depth understanding of the underlying protocols.
Q: What advice do you give to students searching for jobs and preparing for interviews?
Hiring Manager Willis:
Master the basics: While domain-specific knowledge isn't expected from new college graduates, a deep understanding of fundamentals and their applicability to new problems is paramount.
Customize your resume and research for each job interview: Thoroughly read the job posting, conduct research on the company, the technologies they employ, their competitors, and contemplate how you would approach engineering their products/services. Gain familiarity with the system you would be working on to better comprehend contextual questions during the interview.
Remain open to new areas and industries: Pursue your passion, but also embrace new opportunities beyond your initial focus.
Explore diverse fields:
If you haven't found your passion yet, keep searching. There are great jobs in a wide variety of industries, and don't dismiss any engineering problem as uninteresting.
Hiring Manager Alexander:
Address job requirements.
Consider the industry prospects: Is your chosen industry on the rise?
Have a life goal: Determine how you want to shape the world and the problems you want to address for society.
Research the company and its opportunities.
Stay truthful on your CV, but it's okay to have multiple CVs tailored to each position.
Learn about the interview process and best preparation practices from recruiters.
Hiring Manager Ross:
Work on projects and be able to explain them in full technical depth.
Gain experience working in teams and describe your role and responsibilities, showcasing your ability to collaborate effectively.
Hiring Manager Jon:
Research the company, its products, and teams ahead of time.
Conduct background research and come prepared with prior knowledge about the company's work, asking specific questions about their future projects and company direction. This demonstrates initiative and shows that you care about their work.
Hiring Manager Peter:
Preparation is key. Study hard and have a deep understanding of everything mentioned in your resume. When reaching out to hiring managers or recruiters, make sure you have read the job description and show genuine interest rather than a generic application.
Assess your knowledge in each category based on the job requirements. Don't be afraid to apply if you meet at least 40% of the requirements.
Q: What are things students should do while in school to find the right career path?
Hiring Manager Willis:
Apply what you've learned to new problems. This will help you discover interesting engineering challenges that align with your interests. When learning something new, explore how that skill might be useful, seek out problems that require that skill, and apply it to small projects, experiments, or real-world challenges.
Find an intersection between engineering and your interests. For example, if you're passionate about cars, explore how motor drivers and ECUs work. If you love cooking, consider building a digital scale, thermometer, or timer to enhance your culinary experience. If you enjoy music, try your hand at circuit bending or amplifier design.
Build connections and friendships. Help others and seek support from those willing to assist you.
Try as many things as possible to explore various fields and discover your passions.
Hiring Manager Alexander:
Pursue your passion and engage in exciting, challenging endeavors.
Make an impact and consider how your work contributes to making the world a better place.
Take pride in your accomplishments and ask yourself if you would proudly share them with your parents and future children.
Consider the job prospects. Will the chosen field still be relevant in the next decade or could it be disrupted by technologies like AI?
Evaluate the environmental sustainability of your chosen path and how it contributes to nature.
Hiring Manager Ross:
Stay true to yourself and your interests. You may excel in coding but have limited practical skills in the lab.
Assess your tolerance for risk. Certain industries, like the automotive industry, may offer lower pay but greater long-term stability compared to consumer electronics.
Take risks while you're young. Explore different roles and industries, knowing that there's time to course-correct if a certain role doesn't suit you.
Network as much as possible. Never miss an opportunity to connect with others in your field.
Hiring Manager Jon:
Avoid specializing too early. Electrical Engineering is a vast field. Gain a broad education and consider specialization once you have a good overview of the entire EE landscape. Engineers who only focus on one specific role may find it challenging to transition to other jobs.
Consider specialization based on industry trends. Look into emerging specializations that are more industry-specific. For example, if you're interested in AR/VR, gaining experience in graphics and optics could be beneficial.
Hiring Manager Peter:
Internships are extremely valuable. Try out different roles and immerse yourself in the company culture. Internships also provide opportunities to build strong networks with fellow interns, so maintain those contacts.
Summary & Conclusion
Career Tips:
Q1: What qualities do you look for in young engineers? Solid fundamentals, curiosity, honesty, willingness to learn, good listener, and good communicator.
Q2: What are some common mistakes made by entry engineers that hinder their work efficiency and growth? Afraid to ask questions, trying to do everything at once, not being open to problems, pretending to know it all, lack of prioritization, and doing the minimum.
Q3: What advice do you give to students searching for jobs and preparing for interviews? Preparation is key! Research the company and its products ahead of the interview, address job requirements, tailor your resume for the role while staying truthful, and be open to different roles and industries.
Q4: What are things students should do while in school to find the right career path? Apply what you've learned, find your interests, build connections and friendships, avoid over-specializing too early, understand industry trends, take risks while young, pursue internships, and evaluate job prospects.
Career Trajectory:
Entry Level -> Mid Level -> Senior Level
Entry Level: Work on small designs as part of a larger system and provide support for existing designs.
Mid Level: Serve as a tech lead for subsystem design, manage relationships with chip vendors, and take on cross-functional tasks.
Senior Level (qualified for managerial positions): Lead the design of a single system with moderate complexity, drive improvement over existing designs and practices, and mentor others.
Hiring managers are not intimidating, and the work environment is not a rigid hierarchy. Great managers also serve as mentors for career and personal growth.
As a student or young professional, finding the right fit with the right managers is as important as finding the right company. It's a mutual search for both parties, not just the hiring managers.
Different engineering levels come with different responsibilities. Excel at each step, understand the scope of problems, foster creative problem-solving skills, manage stress effectively, and develop leadership abilities early on to have a successful career.