Mechanical engineer Interview Questions in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

"When interviewing candidates for the role of mechanical engineer, employers look for candidates who are enthusiastic to create innovative designs, analyses, and methods of production for mechanical systems. Expect to answer engineering questions that will assess your knowledge of the field as well as your creative problem-solving abilities to turn a theoretical device into a real product. In addition, come ready to discuss examples of past projects or designs and how you would excel in a team-oriented setting."

Mechanical engineer Interview Questions in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

Mechanical engineer Interview Questions in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

"When interviewing candidates for the role of mechanical engineer, employers look for candidates who are enthusiastic to create innovative designs, analyses, and methods of production for mechanical systems. Expect to answer engineering questions that will assess your knowledge of the field as well as your creative problem-solving abilities to turn a theoretical device into a real product. In addition, come ready to discuss examples of past projects or designs and how you would excel in a team-oriented setting."

9,831 Mechanical Engineer interview questions shared by candidates

Top Mechanical Engineer Interview Questions & How to Answer

Here are three top mechanical engineer interview questions and how to answer them:

Question #1: What's a project you worked on that you are proud of?

How to answer: Choose a project that demonstrates your technical knowledge, your analytical skills, and your teamwork. It can be a small or large project, or even a university project. Be confident, but don't boast. Instead, talk about challenges and outcomes and why you felt a sense of achievement at the end.

Question #2: What is your approach to problem-solving?

How to answer: Start with a general overview of what techniques you use to discover, assess, prioritize, and monitor problems. Then talk about a specific problem and outline what methods you used to solve it. Finish your answer by highlighting what lessons you learned from the experience.

Question #3: How do you see this role fitting into your overall career?

How to answer: Mechanical engineers are in high demand. Employers may worry that you see this role as a stepping stone to something else and so will ask you about your long-term career goals. Reassure them by talking about the new skills you hope to learn and the potential for new experiences. Mention any mentors you hope to work with in the company and show a commitment to follow projects through to the end.

Top Interview Questions

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Tesla
Mechanical Engineer was asked...September 7, 2015

Asked how the strength to weight ratio of aluminum and steel compared.

4 Answers

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Strength to weight ratio can be defined properly by the Yield strength (which defines the maximum stress that a material can handle before plastic deformation) to Density (mass/volume). Aluminum (6061) yield strength : density is 250MPa : 2080 kg/m^3 Stainless Steel cold rolled yield strength : density is 500MPa : 8000kg/m^3 For the same volume of material, the ratios are 1/8 for aluminum to 1/16 for stainless steel. You're getting twice as much the amount of strength on the aluminum per given volume than on the steel. Less

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This is a question on how well you think of a problem. Don't think theres a wrong answer. But Gallieo(Name check) already answered this with his famous rolling experiment (so did NASA on the hammer vs feather drop on the moon -- same concept). Ignoring air resistant, they should get there at the same time. Falling objects arrive at the same point regardless of mass. The hills in this case acts as gravity. Less

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Other two answers here are kinda wrong and honestly I think they're missing the point of the question. Strength is entirely dependent on alloy. Some aluminum alloys will have a higher strength/weight than some steel alloys, and vice versa. Unless the interview specifies specific alloys, you really can't make a blanket statement about "steel vs aluminum." You can, however, make general statements about stiffness. Almost all the densities and elastic moduli of aluminum or steel are nearly constant across the alloys, and actually for straight tension they have very similar stiffness/weight. The difference comes in bending. The same weight of aluminum has a much large cross section, and therefore a much larger moment of inertia, so an aluminum beam in buckling or bending will be stiffer than steel. Hope this helps. Less

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Northrop Grumman
Senior Mechanical Engineer I was asked...April 26, 2014

What has been your active role in the team process you're currently working with?

2 Answers

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Explained details of daily involvement, software used, level of completion of initial input received, and final deliverable. Less

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I quote the repairs and write up the job router steps to include R & R parts, inspection. Testing, and FAA 8130 Less

Stanley Black & Decker
Mechanical Engineer was asked...November 16, 2013

You will likely be asked simple technical questions (e.g. solve an equation or diagnose an issue). As an example for a mechanical engineer, "how does an easy bake oven work?" The point is to answer the question as fully as possible

1 Answers

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Explain about how the light bulb generates heat through the filament which provides both radiation and convection heating to bake the item. The oven provides insulation maintaining the heat. Write out the appropriate equation for bonus points Less

US Patent and Trademark Office
Patent Examiner Mechanical Engineer was asked...April 14, 2016

If given four projects of equal importance with the same due date, what would you do. Be specific

251 Answers

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just some more info while we all wait(i know this process is painful- ive been through it a few times without good luck, unfortunately) June 13th is the tentative start date for ALL examiners for this round of hiring so that should tell you a lot. i just heard this today and apparently the Supervisors are apparently suppose to turn in their lists by tomorrow so calls/emails obviously follow after that is done. We might hear something later since the start date would be further down the road. i'll keep updating if i find out more or hear back from them. btw, the chemicals and computers i think hear back first and the electrical and mechanicals may hear back later as their interviews were conducted in that order. Less

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I applied for EE position and just received notification that I have been selected. Last name starts with "C" and interviewed on April 13th. It seems that the selections for EE and Comp Science will begin to be sent today. It may take until Friday for HR to finish sending all decisions to the applicants. Best of luck to everyone and very grateful to all who have contributed to this posting. Less

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I interviewed on 4/13 for a BME position and received notification on 5/2 that I was selected. In a follow up email for the Declaration of Federal Employment form, they indicated a tentative start date of 6/13. Hope this info is helpful for those still waiting - good luck! Less

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SLB
REMS, Mechanical Engineer was asked...February 22, 2013

If you were in a dark closet with 49 white socks and 1 black one.how many socks would you pick so as to ensure that you exit the closet with a pair of similar colored socks

18 Answers

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3 socks

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All of them. In a dark closet it is hard to distinguish colors.

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One pair. My socks are always bundled in matching pairs. In the dark, I can tell the diff between a bundled sock pair and a single unmatched sock. Less

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Tesla
Mechanical Engineer was asked...October 20, 2011

If two vehicles are identical, except for one weighing twice as much as the other vehicle, and they roll down a hill, which car reaches the bottom first? Neglect air resistance. Assume the extra mass is in the body of the vehicle.

14 Answers

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The heavier car reaches the bottom first because the rotating inertia (wheels) of that car makes up a smaller percentage of of its mass. This is why the question mention /where/ the extra mass of the heavier car is. Less

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Same time... Don't listen to the rest of the shmos what we are really worried about here are the cars acceleration From FDB: F = ma = mgcos(theta) - FrictionForce = mgcos(theta) - mu*NormalForce = mgcos(theta) - mu*mgsin(theta) Divide both sides by m, and there is no mass left in equation... just a = gcos(theta) - mu*gsin(theta) Therefore, the equation is independent of mass and they arrive at the same time. Less

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They reach at the same time. Assuming the mass is included in the body and minimal friction and no air resistance, mass will not be a factor. PE will be completely transformed to KE by the bottom of hill meaning mgh=.5mv^2, mass cancels out meaning mass doesn't matter. This is similar to dropping a feather and a bowling ball on the moon. No air resistance so they hit the ground at same time. Don't over think it. That's the worst thing you can do in an interview. Less

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Pertamina
Mechanical Engineer was asked...April 17, 2011

Whats your experience?

7 Answers

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just explain your experience based on your summary.

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ingin berkerja di pertamina

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yes i'm want join to pertamina

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PARI
Mechanical Design Engineer was asked...November 5, 2013

need to join tomorrow are you ready?

13 Answers

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yes

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Yes sir

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Yes I am ready to join

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Nokia
Mechanical Engineer Intern was asked...March 9, 2012

If you have a refrigerator in an isolated room (no heat in or out) and left the door to the refrigerator open, what would happen to the temperature to the room? Would it go up, down or say the same?

11 Answers

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The refrigerator will warm up the room. If you look on the back of the refrigerator, you will see metal grating. Touch it. Its warm! A refrigerator is transporting heat from the inside cavity to the outside. However, the power cord running from the wall is pumping energy into the refrigerator/room. Energy is powering the refrigerator. It is also running an irreversible process, the energy dissipates out as heat and work (mostly heat), making the net temperature of the room increase. Less

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In this case, there is a net gain of energy from the refrigerator outlet into the room and no loss of energy out of the room. Thus, the room will warm up since there is a gain of energy. Less

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The temperature and overall heat content of the room will increase. Yes, the fridge it providing cooling, but it is doing this by removing heat from part of the air and dumping it into other parts of the air, all while doing work which is harnessed from the power input (electricity) from the wall. In other words, the heat in the air is just displaced from one area of air to another, so no loss nor gain of net heat, HOWEVER the work used to do this creates additional heat. If you consider this from a total energy standpoint, all energy within the room is fixed, except there's energy being added through the power input, so there's an increase in energy with time. I'm shocked at some of the other answers here, I hope those saying the temperature remains the same do not have mechanical engineering degrees. Less

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Intel Corporation
Mechanical Engineer was asked...December 6, 2013

in a boat on a lake with a rock, throw the rock in the water which way does the water level move? here is a memory card- what is it made out of and how was it made?

9 Answers

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no change in water level. it will be the same as it was when the rock was on the boat. Less

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the water level goes down. Think about an extreme case. You have an small item made of the worlds most dense material in the hull of the boat. Even though the volume of the item is small the weight is very heavy. This pulls the boat down and since the volume that the boat displaces will be much higher then that of the small item, when the item is thrown over board, the boat lifts further out of the water displacing less water causing the level to decrease. Less

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Archimedes Principal. Weight of rock is displacing water upwards when in the boat. When in the water it is displacing its volume. Water has to go down since the density of most rocks > water Less

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