I was happy to get an interview at a pump/hydraulics company here near LA. I was scheduled to have an interview on that day at 9 AM. I was so excited to get an interview and try to prepared as best as I could. In that afternoon, in my univ, there's also a job fair which I also prepared my resume and printed them.
Anyway, i should be more prepared since I know that I was going to be interviewed by the engineering manager. I think I blew the interview, basically even some of the fundamental laws I forgot either because I was nervous or what not. But yeah I just totally blew that thing off. I hate myself.
Just a side note: a mechanical engineer who's going to graduate this june should be more prepared for all these stuffs. He should review thermo, fluids, heat transfer. All which I already taken about 1-2 years ago. Currently I am just finishing up senior project and HVAC class before graduating. Man...really, I hate myself. I think i blew that interview for good.
Basically here's the rundown of the interview:
1. The first manager asked about my background, status to work in US, etc.
2. Background of working experience which I told them I worked for 2 summers at a chemical company as a lab technician before I transferred to univ from junior college.
3. They nodded and seemingly pleased at this moment.
4. Then the other manager started to ask me, "So what's your fav subject in school? I said heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and stress analysis.
5. He said ,"Ok, let me test you on that"
6. I said ok, first question he said: Can you explain the inner working of AC, how are we feeling cold right now.
7. I said, "well, the unit removed heat from the environment so in which then our body will feel cold.
8. Then he tricked me by asking,"So you think cold air is blowing the AC?
9. Damn me, I think for a moment, then I said yes. His eyes glared for abit then said you know right that the unit removed the hot air from the environment. Damn me, i'm such a fool.
10. Then he drew me 1 reservoir with difference in height from the outlet connected to a pipe. He asked me what parameter affect this system? I said well, rougness of the pipe, flow rate, pressure at the reservoir and outlet. I didnt mentioned velocity of the fluid. I totally forgot about bernoulli eqn at this point. Then he said again, what conservation energy worked on this system? I said well the reservoir has potential energy and the outlet has kinetic energy. He seems pleased with the answer.
11. Update: Then the other guy started again with another question, what kind of heat transfer exist in this room so that we feel cold? I said, well, if you count the cool air (it was cool outside) goes into the room through conduction from the wall and insulation and heat convected to our skin so that we feel hot or cold. He nodded.
12. Then the other manager drew two boxes, one smaller than the other. The smaller box is inside the big one. He said if there's a fluid inside the big box and the small box was just taken from a hot burner at 350C, then placed into the big box with liquid at 100C, what's the final temperature after there's no more heat transfer? I was gonna said Q=mcdT, but i kept quiet and kept on thinking for a moment, was it really a heat transfer question regarding insulation of the boxes or it's just merely simple question? I said again, well right now i dont know what's the box made off and what's the thickness of the wall, what's the liquid convection coefficient, etc. He nodded abit, and asked more, what happened if the the density of the fluid increased, what happened with the final temperature. Then i said, well if that's the case, then the final temperature will decrease. He smiled and said that's right. But then he took the paper and wrote Q=mcdT, grrr...i was annoyed at myself at this point.
13. Last question: the other guy asked me, so if there's a big tank with given diameter and height, filled with liquid. How can you find the weight? I was almost going to say, well take the tank and dropped it into a commercial weight metere LOL. But i didnt say that, and i said well W=mg, but then my head started to asked...damn it, how can i get the mass of that tank? I totally forgot about the volume and density of the tank at this moment. Supposedly if the tank if filled with water, and the weight of the tank itself is negligible compared to the liquid, one can say that after calculating the volume, you can get the mass by multiplying the volume and density. Yep, i was dumb to completely missed that.
Man, there're tons of questions regarding technical/fundamental stuffs that I should have known, dammit. He asked me again what is stress? I said well pressure over area. Then he said what's the formula for bending stress? I said MC/I, he said what's M, C and I? M is moment i said (force x length), C is the distance from the center of gravity, and I, at this point i forgot what is I, *sigh* (yes, I stand for moment of inertia).
After awhile, two of them knew that I forgot most of the stuffs that I should have known, and it was so dumb of me to forget those. Lesson learned: Remember your ****** if you're interviewing specially for technical/engineering job, dont just go ahead and try to wing it, cause you'll fail miserably.
Anyway, i am just pouring my heart to you guys, flame it so be it. Not the right forum, removed it or what not.
So yea, pretty much I screwed my own interview.
Anyway, i should be more prepared since I know that I was going to be interviewed by the engineering manager. I think I blew the interview, basically even some of the fundamental laws I forgot either because I was nervous or what not. But yeah I just totally blew that thing off. I hate myself.
Just a side note: a mechanical engineer who's going to graduate this june should be more prepared for all these stuffs. He should review thermo, fluids, heat transfer. All which I already taken about 1-2 years ago. Currently I am just finishing up senior project and HVAC class before graduating. Man...really, I hate myself. I think i blew that interview for good.
Basically here's the rundown of the interview:
1. The first manager asked about my background, status to work in US, etc.
2. Background of working experience which I told them I worked for 2 summers at a chemical company as a lab technician before I transferred to univ from junior college.
3. They nodded and seemingly pleased at this moment.
4. Then the other manager started to ask me, "So what's your fav subject in school? I said heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and stress analysis.
5. He said ,"Ok, let me test you on that"
6. I said ok, first question he said: Can you explain the inner working of AC, how are we feeling cold right now.
7. I said, "well, the unit removed heat from the environment so in which then our body will feel cold.
8. Then he tricked me by asking,"So you think cold air is blowing the AC?
9. Damn me, I think for a moment, then I said yes. His eyes glared for abit then said you know right that the unit removed the hot air from the environment. Damn me, i'm such a fool.
10. Then he drew me 1 reservoir with difference in height from the outlet connected to a pipe. He asked me what parameter affect this system? I said well, rougness of the pipe, flow rate, pressure at the reservoir and outlet. I didnt mentioned velocity of the fluid. I totally forgot about bernoulli eqn at this point. Then he said again, what conservation energy worked on this system? I said well the reservoir has potential energy and the outlet has kinetic energy. He seems pleased with the answer.
11. Update: Then the other guy started again with another question, what kind of heat transfer exist in this room so that we feel cold? I said, well, if you count the cool air (it was cool outside) goes into the room through conduction from the wall and insulation and heat convected to our skin so that we feel hot or cold. He nodded.
12. Then the other manager drew two boxes, one smaller than the other. The smaller box is inside the big one. He said if there's a fluid inside the big box and the small box was just taken from a hot burner at 350C, then placed into the big box with liquid at 100C, what's the final temperature after there's no more heat transfer? I was gonna said Q=mcdT, but i kept quiet and kept on thinking for a moment, was it really a heat transfer question regarding insulation of the boxes or it's just merely simple question? I said again, well right now i dont know what's the box made off and what's the thickness of the wall, what's the liquid convection coefficient, etc. He nodded abit, and asked more, what happened if the the density of the fluid increased, what happened with the final temperature. Then i said, well if that's the case, then the final temperature will decrease. He smiled and said that's right. But then he took the paper and wrote Q=mcdT, grrr...i was annoyed at myself at this point.
13. Last question: the other guy asked me, so if there's a big tank with given diameter and height, filled with liquid. How can you find the weight? I was almost going to say, well take the tank and dropped it into a commercial weight metere LOL. But i didnt say that, and i said well W=mg, but then my head started to asked...damn it, how can i get the mass of that tank? I totally forgot about the volume and density of the tank at this moment. Supposedly if the tank if filled with water, and the weight of the tank itself is negligible compared to the liquid, one can say that after calculating the volume, you can get the mass by multiplying the volume and density. Yep, i was dumb to completely missed that.
Man, there're tons of questions regarding technical/fundamental stuffs that I should have known, dammit. He asked me again what is stress? I said well pressure over area. Then he said what's the formula for bending stress? I said MC/I, he said what's M, C and I? M is moment i said (force x length), C is the distance from the center of gravity, and I, at this point i forgot what is I, *sigh* (yes, I stand for moment of inertia).
After awhile, two of them knew that I forgot most of the stuffs that I should have known, and it was so dumb of me to forget those. Lesson learned: Remember your ****** if you're interviewing specially for technical/engineering job, dont just go ahead and try to wing it, cause you'll fail miserably.
Anyway, i am just pouring my heart to you guys, flame it so be it. Not the right forum, removed it or what not.
So yea, pretty much I screwed my own interview.
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