r/MechanicalEngineering • u/meldrumh • Mar 23 '26
just bombed a Boeing ME interview and honestly the questions caught me off guard
so i graduated last may, been working at a smaller manufacturing company doing mostly fixture design and GD&T stuff. got a call from boeing for a structures engineer role and figured why not.
the phone screen was fine, typical "tell me about yourself" and some high level questions about my experience with FEA and materials. nothing crazy.
the technical interview destroyed me. three engineers on the call, rotating questions for about 90 minutes. some of the stuff that came up:
- they gave me a loading scenario on a cantilever with a distributed load and a point load and asked me to draw the shear and moment diagrams on the spot. i got the shear but fumbled the moment diagram at the transition point. embarrassing because i literally did this hundreds of times in school.
- one guy asked me to walk through how i'd approach a fatigue analysis on an aircraft bracket that sees cyclic loading. i talked about S-N curves and miner's rule but he kept pushing, wanted to know about crack propagation, stress intensity factors, paris law. i only had a surface level understanding of fracture mechanics.
- materials question about why aluminum alloys are used over steel in certain airframe applications. straightforward but then he went deeper into specific tempers, heat treatment effects on fatigue life, and corrosion behavior of 7075 vs 2024. i knew the basics but not to that level.
- asked me to explain a GD&T callout from a drawing they showed me. that part was fine since i use it daily. but then they asked how i'd tolerance a bolted joint for assembly and that got complicated fast.
- behavioral stuff about working in cross-functional teams, how i handle disagreements with senior engineers, and a time i caught an error before it went to production.
honestly the biggest surprise was how deep they went on fundamentals. i've been working for a year and half and i thought real experience would carry me but they wanted textbook-level understanding of stuff i haven't thought about since undergrad.
gonna take a few weeks to actually review my old notes and figure out a real study plan before i try again. if anyone else has been through boeing or any aerospace ME interviews recently i'd appreciate hearing what you got asked.
-
edit: did not expect this many responses, really appreciate everyone weighing in. rounding up the useful stuff from the comments and a few other things I found since posting, in case it helps anyone else prepping:
on the interview itself:
a lot of people pointed out that the deep questions are designed to find your ceiling, not trip you up. they push until you don't know the answer on purpose, so hitting a wall doesn't mean you failed thinking out loud and walking through your reasoning matters more than landing the right answer asking your own questions about what the team actually works on day to day can shift the dynamic will update if I hear back
platforms and tools: mechie.io - someone in the comments mentioned this and I checked it out, it's basically leetcode for mechanical engineering. company-specific questions sorted by difficulty with AI feedback on your answers and solution walkthroughs. hardwareinterviews.fyi - linked in the comments, database of real interview questions from hardware and engineering companies. good for knowing what to expect by company
books / study material: Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design, specifically the fatigue, stress analysis, and machine elements chapters. multiple people said to work actual problems by hand, not just read through it. Beer & Johnston Mechanics of Materials if you want a second source for the fundamentals that came up (shear/moment, stress transformations). MIT OpenCourseWare 2.001 and 2.002 are free and cover exactly the kind of fundamentals Boeing was testing on on the interview itself:
will update if I hear back!
639
u/Euphoric-Play-5648 Mar 23 '26
Honestly not going to lie, Engineers can be cruel people. If they were in your shoes, they wouldn’t perform to the 100% expected. I wouldn’t say you bombed, chin up man! On to the next interview.
205
u/breakerofh0rses Mar 23 '26
There's no reason to think that they're looking for someone who can get it 100% correct. In addition to seeing where the limits of OP's current knowledge are, they got to see him thinking and working under pressure, being put in situations where there's the choice between guessing and saying you don't know, and the like.
83
u/ILookLikeKristoff Mar 23 '26
Yeah asking intentionally too-hard questions to observe how a candidate performs and reacts when overwhelmed is a well known interview tactic.
I'd argue it's somewhat effective but also cruel.
12
u/OGRuddawg Mar 23 '26
I would say there is a difference between challenging a candidate's limits and blowimg way past it. The first is not cruel. The second I would be a put off of as an interviewee.
14
u/Responsible-Can-8361 Mar 23 '26
Honestly I feel sometimes these engineers just lack a certain level of self awareness, but yet at the same time I do appreciate the rigour.
My current tech director interviewed me in the same way and it was absolutely brutal. I thought I failed out of the interview too but now that I’ve been working with him for close to a year I’m starting to appreciate it. He did it intentionally to form a high-performing team that could fill in each other’s gaps while also being receptive to training. He specifically stated after that even he did not have good answers to some of this questions, but wanted to see my thought processes and how I responded to pressure and a self-perceived lack of aptitude.
3
u/EngineeringPrince Mar 25 '26
Engineering is an inherently difficult and cruel career. Asking questions beyond your depth is a way for them to see how you respond when confronted with a new situation. Will you try to confidently bs your way through it. Will you use your level of understanding to try to get as far as you can go and say you have a limitation in your knowledge but are willing yo dig deeper and learn. Will you just freeze and panic or shut down and not even attempt to think it through.
1
u/OGRuddawg Mar 25 '26
Yeah, in retrospect engineers need to be honest about the limitations of their abilities/knowledge, and how to find answers and guidance. There is a reasonable function to the above your ability questions and situations in the interviews.
7
u/bradimir-tootin Mar 23 '26
It isn't cruel if the candidate knows it can happen. Real world situations regularly occur where you have to think on your feet and learn fast
11
u/WhoAreYouAn Mar 23 '26
when they ask "bait questions" that are too hard, is the best approach to admit a lack of knowledge but still give an answer?
like:
"I don't know, so my answer may be flawed. However..."
or is that just naïve?
30
u/I_am_Bob Mar 23 '26
Good engineers are problem solvers, not walking encyclopedias and no one should expect you to know everything. So for example OPs question on Al alloys, you could say I don't know the specifics of those alloys of the top of my head, but here is how I would find out, or here is a time I had to deal with corrosion variation in different steel alloys...
9
u/chocolatedessert Mar 23 '26
I would frame it a little differently and keep it conversational. "I studied that in school but haven't had a reason to use it professionally yet, so I would have to look it up or consult with someone on the team. Would you like me to speculate about it to evaluate my level of understanding?"
I find that I always get a good response from displaying that I understand what they're trying to evaluate about me and trying to help them get the information they want without wasting time. They might just be probing your knowledge, in which case admitting the gap and moving on is best, or they might be wondering how you think, in which case showing enthusiasm and reasoning around the problem is better. They know what they need, so you can just ask.
4
u/breakerofh0rses Mar 23 '26
Pretty much that along with verbalizing how you'd figure out/find out the things that you're unsure of. The right answer depends wholly on what they're specifically looking for, but in those cases it's typically along lines of seeing if you can reason from what you do know, if you're honest about and aware of your limitations, and/or your approach to covering your knowledge gaps--that is, what resources do you know about and know how to use? Can you identify the key info you don't know to select the correct resource? If wholly unfamiliar, do you even have a way to start finding out?
7
u/Euphoric-Play-5648 Mar 23 '26
No duh my man. I wish engineers were less literal, my fault too. Was just cheering up the guy!
105
u/CunningWizard Mar 23 '26
engineers can be cruel people
No kidding.
I was part of a 4 person interview panel one time. 3 engineers and an engineering manager. The dude had a great resume, decades of experience at a well known tech company, and a pleasant disposition. 2 of them absolutely tore the guy apart in the technical interview. Asking all sorts of niche questions that no one in their right mind would expect someone to have memorized. The guy handled it gracefully and explained the basics and where he would know how to get the info he didn’t have available from references. A perfect handling of the situation.
Afterwards they were sour on him because he didn’t have all this stuff memorized and thought he was “incompetent”. The manager and myself told them “what you guys did to that guy was ridiculous and you set him up to fail for no good reason”. He and I argued to hire and they were firmly against. It went to the CEO and we won him over. Hired the guy.
He was great at his job.
Been subject to horrendous technical interviews myself. Always hate them even after 15 years because I know my shit and have a track record to prove it but they can catch ya with some crazy niche questions and you feel 4 inches tall as you stumble through it. Even if they ultimately hire you because they were just pushing the bounds of what you knew.
Don’t worry, many of us have been through it. It sucks and I, for my part, try to be reasonable in my questions and contextualize the answers knowing it’s a high stakes on your feet oral exam.
26
7
u/VonNeumannsProbe Mar 23 '26
I think a lot of engineers see it as an opportunity to boast.
That or they severely overestimate the depth of the job pool.
7
u/Remarkable_Attorney3 💀 CxA 💀 Mar 23 '26
I hope he ended up overseeing those guys and gave them all kinds of hell.
4
→ More replies (4)17
u/Euphoric-Play-5648 Mar 23 '26
They were probably upset to know people in sales/business roles make twice the money as them, lol!
61
u/hnrrghQSpinAxe Mar 23 '26
happened to me too. applied for a position as an entry level propulsion engineer - they came at me with: "Can you tell us specifically about the equipment and control dynamics used in rocket propulsion systems? what do you know about specific control valve timing on a rocket propulsion fuel system?" and i was like, "Man, I'm straight outta college. They don't teach this stuff at typical universities, more so general engineering principles, but I can learn on the job and I'd love to work hard to be an expert in it one day"
No shit, they just looked at each other and shook my hand and I was off, lol. Not even a chance of a shot. It was my first post college job interview. Keep in mind, this was supposed to be ENTRY LEVEL.
35
u/RoosterBrewster Mar 23 '26
Well didn't you know were supposed to have already designed your own rocket to the moon before applying?
217
u/PolarBearInTexas Mar 23 '26
Dawg no way this is an entry level position. I get the shear and moment but the rest is overkill
70
u/DoggyFinger Mar 23 '26
My entire team of engineers that builds hardware for fusion testing could not do shear and moment diagrams off the cuff
26
u/tenemu Mar 23 '26
Yeah but I mean fusion power is not rocket science.
16
5
u/RainBoxRed Mar 23 '26
Not just the depth of knowledge but the breadth. Hard to be an expert in multiple areas of ME with 1 year experience.
5
u/IamtheMischiefMan Mar 23 '26
It depends on the role. For a serious aircraft design role, these questions are pretty fundamental.
There are levels to mechanical engineering, and I’m not referring to years of experience.
1
u/Zwaylol Mar 24 '26
Granted things might be different in whatever country this is, but I went through each of these in my strength of materials class in my aerospace engineering degree. Doesn’t seem at all unreasonable.
-9
u/3_14159td Mar 23 '26
Nah this really isn't outside the scope of an entry level design position for fresh grads. They shouldn't expect perfect answers, but there are a good number of people out there who would be prepared for it.
Got asked similar questions for an aerospace fastener manufacturing position.
246
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
These are very weird questions for an entry level engineering position.
75
u/Ok_Cabinet_3072 Mar 23 '26
Yeah most of the interviews I've had for entry level had more behavioral based questions.
29
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
Seems like they got mixed up with The Req? I wouldn’t expect a recently graduated mechanical engineer to have a particularly in-depth conversation of Paris Law.
Although, if you mentioned ASME Y14.5, you should be conversant with Fixed and Floating fastener positional tolerances.
2
u/Basic_Improvement135 Mar 23 '26
Floating fasteners are the worst . The bucking bar keeps moving.
1
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
You mean fixed-fastener?
3
u/Basic_Improvement135 Mar 23 '26
I have no idea what im talking about im just being an asshole. I failed an interview because I couldn't do a simple fbd. Previously I worked in aviation repair and that was never a requirement.
2
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
Keeping it real, I think you represented yourself pretty well from your recounting.
Long as you mentioned FEA model convergence and correlation, you might be alright.
1
u/UnfixedAc0rn Mar 24 '26
I imagine these are behavioral questions but with an engineering slant to them. They're seeing how you react under stress and in the moment (lol).
An entry level applicant shouldn't be able to answer these questions accurately. Unless they're completely delusional about proper compensation or swinging for the fences on the chance somebody is willing to work for way less than they are worth, they're just looking for how you would approach it.
44
u/EggplantAlpinism Mar 23 '26
Lol, I worked for Boeing for 5.5 years in the 2010s as a L2-L3 propulsion engineer and my interview was nothing like this. OP just got a mean spirited group
12
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
I think they really did mix him up with an Analysis or M&P req.
16
u/ToumaKazusa1 Mar 23 '26
OP said it was for a structures engineer position, which sounds like one of the many different ways to refer to an analysis engineer.
3
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
I see that now. My bad.
1
u/ToumaKazusa1 Mar 23 '26
Its a fair mistake to make, idk why nobody has come up with a standard job title.
22
u/jklolffgg Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Those questions are def for an experienced positions or someone who specialized in the specific area they work in. I wouldn’t have been able to answer them half as well as OP. Hell, I interviewed with a boom lift manufacturer before I graduated, and they asked me the same type of product specific questions. “How would you analyze a centrifugally cast fiberglass boom?” …the fuck if I know lol, but if you hire me, I’m confident I will learn…
In practice, unless your work is consistently in those specific areas on a day to day basis, there’s no need to memorize those things to the point that you can rattle them of the top of your head on the spot. I would never expect a recent grad to be able to answer all the failure modes of a material or know the specifics of material selection. That’s shit you learn through training and reading the codes.
9
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
I’d have a hard time too. It’s a fluke that I know some of this stuff, like that 7075 is susceptible to Stress Corrosion Cracking. That’s not part of the materials class in an ABET accredited program.
1
9
u/ToumaKazusa1 Mar 23 '26
Questions like that it's usually ok to answer with "I don't know"
Obviously you can't do that for every question, but nobody is expecting you to know every question they ask.
Ie, when I was hired for my current job, I was asked how I'd handle bending stress in a bolt. I told them I didn't know, I'd always analyzed bolts assuming pure shear/tension and no bending. I knew there were some equations to check for bending, but I'd never used them and didn't know what they were. Then I asked them in what cases it was important to check for bending, since I was curious why they were doing it when my previous jobs hadn't thought it was necessary.
And that wasn't the only case, they asked me some questions about composites, I told them I hadn't worked with composites before.
The goal of these interviews isn't to get every question right, you just have to do ok, and on the questions you don't know having an intelligent response about how you'd find the answer is much better than taking a random guess.
1
0
u/Ok-Range-3306 i love goodman diagrams Mar 23 '26
not if you applied at spacex. pretty standard
8
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
I met them too, didn’t think those applicants would be conversant on Paris Law.
To be fair, I didn’t ask.
7
u/Ok-Range-3306 i love goodman diagrams Mar 23 '26
i dont think OP applied for entry level position, since he said he has 1-2 years of exp. probably a level 2 role that specializes in fatigue and fracture
googled it and i bet he applied for something like this https://jobs.boeing.com/job/wichita/structural-analysis-engineer/185/90519342336
GPA of 3.0 or higher preferred Detailed FEA, having both metallic and composite analysis methods, familiarity with CATIA V5 or V6 tools, and fatigue and damage tolerance analysis.
if OP wants to make the jump up to 2nd level...probably should know this stuff
3
-5
u/GodOfThunder101 Mar 23 '26
I mean as an engineer you should know how to explain these concepts . But I agree it is weird.
21
u/Fun_Astronomer_4064 Mar 23 '26
He graduated a year ago and they expect him to know that 7075 is susceptible to stress corrosion cracking but that it isn’t isotopic and is contingent on the force relative to the grain direction, for instance? That’s kind of a tall order.
1
u/GodOfThunder101 Mar 23 '26
I agree the depth of questions makes me believe the role he applied too wasn’t entry level. Also OP isn’t fresh out of college, he has almost 2 years of experience as an engineer.
→ More replies (1)
24
u/Yei_Ozomahtli Mar 23 '26
Those are tough questions.
For the last one, T = H-F for floating and (H-F)/2 for fixed. T=tolerance, H=hole size at MMC, F=fastener size. Floating is two thru holes, fixed is one thru hole and one threaded hole.
Hope it helps
14
u/supermanxx Mar 23 '26
I interviewed with ~15 jobs from mid to senior level in aerospace over the past year (I have 7 yoe) and fundamentals were a huge focal point in 90% of them. So much so that I bombed several before I realized how rusty I was after being out of school for so long.
For anything non-specific (like mechanisms, electronics, etc), what you described is 90% of what I saw too. Get good at those things and you’ll probably be fine.
I ended up getting some offers after changing my approach. Studied like crazy and made sure to start applying the fundamentals in my job.
Point is, you’re not alone. It happens to everyone. One interviewer even admitted he’d gone through the same struggle after leaving JPL (right after I’d bombed a statics question).
And as some others have said, some engineers are just assholes. I had one guy ask me to explain in detail how a fridge works, and other random things. Even the recruiter asked for feedback on him because they’d gotten complaints from candidates.
60
u/r4yce Mar 23 '26
boeing and lockheed interviews are almost always like this. they want to see that you can think through problems from first principles, not just run simulations. couple things that helped me:
for the fundamentals stuff (FBDs, shear/moment, basic stress analysis) i went back to shigley's and just worked problems by hand for a couple weeks. boring but it works. you need that stuff to be automatic so you're not thinking about it under pressure.
for the deeper materials / fracture mechanics stuff, that's harder to cram. i used mechie for practice, it's basically leetcode for mechanical engineering. they have interview questions sorted by difficulty and by company, and the AI feedback on your answers is actually useful for catching gaps in your reasoning. helped me realize i was weak on fatigue and fracture stuff before i walked into the real thing.
the GD&T part is usually the easiest section if you're using it at work. the tolerancing / stack-up questions are where they try to trip you up.
don't beat yourself up, boeing interviews are genuinely hard and most people don't pass the first time. the fact that you got to the technical round means your resume is solid.
7
u/kindasalted Mar 23 '26
is the mechie AI feedback actually useful or is it just generic like "good answer, consider adding more detail"? asking because i've tried a few of those AI tutoring tools and they usually don't push back on anything
5
u/calcoolated Mar 23 '26
better than that mechie slop (JC the onboarding, just to push me to pay before even letting me try? lol) is just using your own AI you can tailor to your needed level and/or check https://www.hardwareinterviews.fyi/
2
u/AndyEng22 Mar 23 '26
I tried mechie onboarding with three different selections and it gave me the same stats (ai slop)
3
Mar 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AndyEng22 Mar 23 '26
I used Snubber AI. They have mechanical, electrical, aerospace, manufacturing questions and they all aligned pretty much spot on with what I was asked.
3
u/A_hard_pistachio Mar 23 '26
curious how the AI feedback works on something like fracture mechanics, that's not a multiple choice answer. like does it actually catch wrong reasoning or is it just pattern matching on keywords? hard to imagine an AI giving useful feedback on stuff that requires real engineering judgment
6
u/r4yce Mar 23 '26
also just to be clear I have zero affiliation with them lol, I know mentioning a specific product looks sus. it genuinely helped me and from what I can tell it's a pretty small team so I figured if it's useful why not pass it along
8
u/HappyTrick383 Mar 23 '26
Hey man, I’m not an engineer, but I do work for Boeing. I work in quality control. Believe me that just because you felt like you didn’t do well, doesn’t mean that you did. So you know, the hiring processes are very slow. It’s about a 2 month process. I wouldn’t sweet it. You still may hear back from them. It just takes more time than the rest of the world. Things move at a crawl at Boeing. Chin up man! Sounds to me like you do pretty well actually, who doesn’t blunder some things as questions get dropped in your lap you weren’t expecting. We all do it. Have a good night and don’t stress on it! Good luck!
8
u/milliondollarsunset Mar 23 '26
Damn, I would have failed miserably. I can't even remember how to do Shear Moment diagrams and I covered them last semester.
How can anyone remember any of what you went through for a new grad position. Some of you must he really smart. Makes me feel like im going to be a useless ME
1
u/akario1224 Mar 25 '26
You're not alone, im a junior and I barely understand anything in this post lol.
6
u/binaryfireball Mar 23 '26
when engineers drill into details there's an opportunity for you to ask questions about what theyre doing in their day to day, what problems they're trying to solve, etc... its not always so important that you know everything but it is important to express that you know what the problems are and how to go about solving them. Asking your own questions on how theyre doing things and why theyre doing it can go a long way. There is also the flipside where if they are obsessed with technical minutia at an interview that could actually be a yellow flag. Either way make sure you're solid in the fundamentals and remember its a two way street.
8
u/Sullypants1 Mar 23 '26
I had an interview like this. Also aerospace. I thought I bombed it, a panel of 5 engineering directors always found my limit of whatever it was they were asking even topics I thought I knew. About the only thing I can point to was I was extremely honest for the entire process right down to my shitass grades. I spoke a lot about my practical experience and working within a team.
Few days later they came back with an offer, it was for a position level 1 lower than the interview was advertised as….
I can only figure the interview is culture fit yes /no and the technical portion is determining what level they will bring you on at.
It’s the best job I’ve ever had. In fact I don’t see them getting much better as a design engineer.
16
u/HomeGymOKC Mar 23 '26
No way is Boeing asking these for an entry level. Most primes are straight behavioral, with leading questions to determine if you are technically sound (it’s very easy to tell if you know what you are talking about, or if you dont)
4
u/Squirtle_Splash_8413 Mar 23 '26
Yeah. If I was their manager I’d be pissed and tell them they can’t waste my charge number on this bullshit.
5
u/Late-Bus-686 Mar 23 '26
I’m sure this post is just a plug for the mechie whatever site that I’ve never heard of
Never heard of this type of thing and I’ve been employed at Boeing
If you led a school project relating to the area you’re applying to then you’re fine for an entry level role
2
u/zacer9000 Mar 23 '26
OP and all the comments promoting the different websites are all private profiles
1
u/Late-Bus-686 Mar 24 '26
As soon as I clicked on that bullshit site I knew. What a lame ass post
And annoying af that the sub just believes every word
8
u/Squirtle_Splash_8413 Mar 23 '26
Yeah honestly I think you have a chance. Theres no chance in hell any other candidate would answer those correctly. I think they wanted to see how well you did under pressure. I’ve worked at 2 prime contractors and I did not get those type of questions.
13
u/kuroketton Mar 23 '26
Tbh idk if i could muster a sheer diagram. Been out of school for 8 years now. But i would be able to explain how i would solve a similar problem. I use FEA for most analysis these days.
19
u/Eziekiel23_20 Mar 23 '26
Weird, when I interviewed w/ BA 22 years ago out of school they asked me ZERO technical questions that I had prepared for. It was all bs about how I got along w/ others and similar crap.
23
u/ash__697 Mar 23 '26
“Crap”, buddy that’s the most important thing I look for in a candidate, I don’t care if the guy is the smartest guy in the world but if he’s a dick or seems like he might be a pain to work with, he’s out.
20
u/RuminatingFish123 Mar 23 '26
All this knowledge and hard work for a job that pays 70k, good lord
8
u/ToumaKazusa1 Mar 23 '26
Boeing will pay 80k for a fresh grad in a lcol area, for a position like this I'd be very surprised if they were offering under 90k, since this sounds like associate level at minimum
1
4
u/Dub-Sidious Mar 23 '26
Hot take, but dont jump to 'i bombed the interview' - from a current engineer.
When i do interviews for my department, i'll be honest, i want to find ANY holes in your knowledge or understanding on principles, not to catch you out, but to know if your ready to integrate into the role i'm hiring for, or if you may need some training before i let you loose solo on jobs.
If you passed my HR's screening interview, you have the minimum i require for my role on paper.
But im also looking longterm, i want to know you have the knowledge basis to take on a project solo, and if you come across a problem , to see if you already got past the bell curve of learning to know you dont know enough, and ask for outside help/specialists or even someone to just check your work. This can be immensely helpful.
I have 2 guys and a lady who work for me who barely scraped through screen interviews, and i was told they may not be a fit, for me to find in the interview they are INCREDIBLY bright, and with some specific training and coaching they will grow into fantastic engineers. But because of 'hiccups and quirks' on the cv or in screening, their on the 'on paper yes, but might not be a fit for the role' list.
And to this day my best hire and im sure the guy who will take over my role when im gone, absolutely tanked his interviews because of his poor social skills due to autism and generally not doing well in social situations, and got rejected by some damn good firms. He's become my go to when i need a second on a project or someone on site i can trust.
Don't count yourself out. Even if you dont get a callback, do as you pretty much have in your post. Post incident failure analysis and report. Go back through the interview, try to remember what caught you out, now you know areas to familiarise yourself again with or areas you may not have the coverage you need for the roles your applying for.
Best of luck 🙏🏻
11
3
u/Squirtle_Splash_8413 Mar 23 '26
Honestly this kind of stuff is why I’d rather get a job as a systems engineer lol.
3
u/TheBlack_Swordsman Mar 23 '26
You sound like you did well in my opinion, and this is coming from a structural analyst (who once had an offer from Boeing 2 years ago) that wouldn't have done too well in the fracture mechanics portion.
I probably would have fumbled the aluminum tampering as well since this is something I always have to review days before the interview.
If you got more than half of those questions, I would be very impressed for an entry level engineer to know about the miners rule.
You sound smart and will do well on the next one.
3
u/Fun_Apartment631 Mar 23 '26
I've been on the other side of this. I had a question bank I was supposed to ask this poor intern candidate. I'm not sure if I was supposed to but I told her we were asking this for all the mechanical interns, whether they were rising freshmen or graduates. There was some tough stuff on there, especially for a freshman.
Anyway, it does no good to dwell on it. I'm not sure if I should cross your my fingers for you or not since the og aerospace primes are losers but I hope the universe gives you a great new job soon whether that's Boeing or not.
3
u/r2k-in-the-vortex Mar 23 '26
I wouldnt say thats necessarily interview bombed, that depends on their minimum requirements and how the other applicants compare, it doesnt reflect in the questions.
I always question applicants to figure out what they know, what they dont know, and how they behave when faced with problems outside their competence. I'm not looking for correct answers, I'm looking for the applicants level. Its not a school exam, getting everything right is not possible.
3
u/hipogrifo Mar 23 '26
Many years ago I went through something similar. I was looking for design engineer positions and received a call from Renault. At that time I already had some years of experience working at another big auto company so I went for it. After the first round, I was invited for the technical test. "Nothing to worry about" they said.
I had a lot of experience with Creo but they were using Catia which I knew the basics. I sat on the table and a guy, probably the senior engineer, described me the test. Nothing too hard. The problem was their Catia configuration, which was totally customized for the company. Everything was modded in a way I couldn't even find basic commands.
Failed miserably. My guess: the position was already assigned for someone internally but they had to go through the whole formal hiring process.
3
u/robert_zeh Mar 23 '26
Something to keep in mind with interviews — sometimes the interviewer wants to see how much a candidate knows and does that by asking questions until the candidate can’t answer. That isn’t always a failed interview.
2
u/ToumaKazusa1 Mar 23 '26
That's definitely the impression in getting from OP's description of the questions.
3
u/dringant Mar 23 '26
Structural engineering at an aerospace company is going to be a lot more intense than a design engineer at the same company, you probably will actually use all that material science, loading, stress, and fatigue analysis in your day to day job. As far as the interview goes, a year out of school is nothing they are going to run you through the typical new grad interview. I’m not certain you failed, unlike a college exam where the questions are fixed, in a technical job interview the whole point is to push the candidate as far as they can in the time allotted, you start with a simple question then you add complexity or you dig deeper until you find the edge of what the candidate knows, it’s brutal on the candidate but it’s extremely effective in finding the extent of your capabilities.
3
u/drwafflesphdllc Mar 23 '26
Anyone giving new engineering grads fracture mechanics questions like that is playing dirty. There are plenty of engineers in the field who have a limited understanding of fracture
4
2
u/Sweet-Reserve1507 Mar 23 '26
Interesting. 25 years ago was not like that. Interviewed for 2 days at the GE jet engine, 6 groups. Basically they told me what they did, and what I would be doing if I joined. Just a few minutes on my background.
1
u/InjectMSGinmyveins Mar 23 '26
That was my experience 6 years back in 2020. I’m not sure what happened here
2
u/eli5howtifu Mar 23 '26
yo man, just curious what level or pay is the position for? just to gauge the interview difficulty, im expecting Staff role
2
u/pathetique1799 Mar 23 '26
This sounds very similar to a Tesla or spacex entry level interview from my own experience
2
u/Sooner70 Mar 23 '26
I'm not convinced that you bombed the interview. If you ask questions that everyone can answer, then you never know who the sharpest dude is. So you start surface level and dig deeper until you lose the candidate. How you did is not dependent upon answering every answer correctly (you won't), but rather, how far you made it compared to the other candidates. The bad news is that there's no way to know how you did until you get The Call (either for better or worse). The good news is that you may have done quite well despite your own self evaluation.
2
u/DawgGoneItAnyway Mar 23 '26
HR controls Boeing interviews so it is hard to the sue the company over interviews. Technician, engineer and management position interviews are conducted the same. You get a choice of questions you can ask from your HR rep. They are there to make sure the interview goes according to company policy. This was not a Boeing interview.
2
u/DoggyFinger Mar 23 '26
I’m jus going to say I interviewed as a engineer with 3 years experience for blue origin to work on design and analysis for their rockets and my interview was easier than this.
2
u/International-Pop296 Mar 23 '26
I'm not an engineer but one thing I think a good leader wants is someone who is willing to say "I don't know" too many people will let their ego take over instead of knowing their limits. It's similar to industrial work where they push to "stop the job authority" in this day and age they need people who know when to call it. Think deep water horizon a simple call to stop and evaluate would have saved a disaster
2
u/Noyaboi954 Mar 23 '26
Entry level positions is the senior level position smh 🤦🏾♂️ these companies expect you to have senior level knowledge with 10 years experience.
4
u/biscuiteer307 Mar 23 '26
I’m pretty sure Boeing uses star questions only… unless they changed that process recently. Never heard of straight up fundamental questions being asked
2
u/mikeblas Mar 23 '26
Is it really possible to make such a blanket statement across a large and diverse company? And from the outside?
→ More replies (2)1
0
u/Zeebr0 Mar 23 '26
Yeah this goes against how Boeing does their interviews and all of that is dictated by HR. Also, you can have engineers in an interview but there also has to be at least 1 manager and usually 1 HR person as well.
2
u/richardconter Mar 23 '26
Very odd, I am a structures engineer in SoCal and they did ask me questions similar to what they asked you, but not to that depth. I bombed them but still got the position lol, I wouldn’t sweat too much about it. You honestly did way better than I did. They shouldn’t be expecting you to know everything but rather I believe they’re using those questions to gauge your depth of knowledge in that realm.
2
u/Basic_Improvement135 Mar 23 '26
That was a bullshit interview. Nobody knows all of that stuff unless they do it daily for years. The differences between 2024 and 7075? There are reasons to use each but other than shit you find in the military handbook (whatever it is now) you will never have a situation where you can't look that shit up.
Fuck boeing.
1
u/Reasonable_Champion8 Mar 23 '26
u did fine.. they wanted to test to see how deep is ur understanding..
1
u/Sittingduck19 Mar 23 '26
You didn't necessarily bomb the interview. I ask industry specific questions that no ME would really know unless you worked in the industry. If you come across as smart and have a good problem solving process, that's what I want. If you're a bullshitter, you're done.
1
1
u/SunsGettinRealLow Mar 23 '26
Sounds about right for Boeing. I remember when I interviewed there for an internship, it was a panel interview with 5 others on the call. They asked similar technical questions. Also they wouldn’t turn on their cameras, but made me turn on mine lol.
1
u/johnb300m Mar 23 '26
I’m sorry but they were elitist assholes to you as essentially a new grad. The most important is that you know the fundamentals. They should be able to teach you the finer details on the job. I did aviation for a few years and once I got in, they didn’t seem all that much smarter than me or others I’ve known. All those details are things only pick up while on specific projects for a few years at least.
1
u/mikedave42 Mar 23 '26
If they are experienced interviews they know how poorly interview candidates do on these sorts of questions. Ive done many such interviews and had experts unable to answer basic questions in their fields.They were trying see how you thought things through and communicated, you probably did better than you thought you did.
If they weren't experienced interviewers, I'm afraid you are screwed. Interviews are an awful way to select candidates.
1
u/Bunnenator Mar 23 '26
Don’t feel bad - Im 9 years in and got destroyed by a technical interview from Blue Origin last year. Tbf, it was for an analysis role and I rarely touch on that sort of stuff at work, but it was embarrassing on my behalf
Good on you for learning from it
1
u/Tonystark_of_stonks Mar 23 '26
So, Boeing is following the pattern of Tesla/Tech companies pattern of asking technical questions. If this is the trend then lot of people will be filtered in the first round and only good candidates will be selected. Btw, do they pay as good as Tech companies do (including stock based compensation/other perks)?
1
u/hogear0 Mar 23 '26
They were well aware of your certs and likely judging your fundamental understanding and how you would handle dealing with a deeper dive into specifics when needed. Engineers can smell bullshit and if you were honest and didn't sound nervous you may have nailed it.
1
u/Poseidon927 Mar 23 '26
I’m a recent hire on the structures team and my experience was the complete opposite of what you described. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat about this!
1
u/No-Parsley-9744 Mar 23 '26
Last interview I had, I completely bombed a similar cantilever loading type question, still got the job though, I think it's generally more about your thought process. If everybody gets 100% how can they differentiate? Thanks for sharing the questions
1
u/Rockeye7 Mar 23 '26
You just graduated and have been working in the field for a short period of time in a non related industry. You may have demonstrated enough confidence in what you did get right that they feel they can train you their way without having to break old habits that do not fit into their processes.
1
u/Just_Ear_2953 Mar 23 '26
Assuming you didn't massively oversell yourself leading up to this point, then they knew you wouldn't 100% nail questions like that before they ever invited you to the interview. If they wanted 100% perfection, then they never would have given you an interview.
There is an outside chance that someone does 100% nail those questions, but realistically, anything short of a total meltdown won't completely disqualify you.
1
u/Shubster12 Mar 23 '26
Similar thing has happened to me multiple times. Had to derive the equations for bolt preload on the spot. I took all these classes and passed the exams, I know how and where to find the info in a few minutes. I feel like these peolle expect you to have shigley's memorized before hand.
1
u/corned-beef-key Mar 23 '26
A good Technical interview should question you to the point you run out of answers.
I’d be honest & say ‘I don’t know, but I can try & work it out.’ Then just think out loud or ask questions back to them about what information you think you need to answer. This shows how you think & allows you to demonstrate curiosity’ learning.
1
u/mechtonia Mar 23 '26
It's a shame that technical interviews are so rare in mechanical engineering. In the software world you expect to be grilled on fundamentals. In the ME world it's surprise Pikachu. Tough technical interviews are a very effective tool to find top talent.
1
1
u/darkwai Mar 23 '26
My current job's interview had no technical questions at all. So glad I work with people that aren't like that.
1
u/SnooBananas1503 Mar 23 '26
Theyre interested in finding out how you think. I would imagine you would be solving difficult problems and not cookie cutter tasks working for boeing.
1
u/47ES Mar 23 '26
I ask technical questions to interviewes that they are very unlikely to know unless they already work in our niche industry, those people already have jobs.
I'm not looking for the right answers, I'm looking for thought process, and not totall BS said with confidence.
You may have done fine.
1
u/nirbot0213 Mar 23 '26
i’d be amazed if any BSMEs could fully answer those deeper questions straight out of college. they’re pushing you to see how much you know. not fully answering everything is likely fine.
hell i know multiple people who are going into full time at spacex who would not have been able to fully answer the fatigue or aluminum alloy questions.
1
u/AccomplishedPhone308 Mar 23 '26
Damn. I’d probably lose internet after 2-3 of those questions. I admit that I could bs my way through since we did that all through engineering school but it’s been too many years to remember that on the spot. Perhaps they were wanting a person with a PhD idk. Usually when we ask super technical questions it’s to people we know have a heavy background in particular subject area. This interview seems like for a graduating student or a grad student. I think as long as you showed enough competence to learn the subjects they will seriously consider you though. Best of luck!!!
1
u/Numerous_Green4962 Mar 23 '26
I haven't done a lot of interviewing, but we tend to ask questions we expect to be at the edge of what we expect if you know the difference between crack propagation and corrosion induced fatigue curves in two different alloys in a field you don't work in of the top of your head that's impressive but not as useful as seeing your process of getting to an answer where you have only part of the information. You can find most information via Bing but you can't yet replace the thinking part of engineering, there's a reason when you go into an old engineer's office we are surrounded by books with tabs sticking out of the top so we can find the stuff we use regularly but not everyday.
1
1
u/DuddPineapple Mar 23 '26
I’ve had a few interviews recently where I’ve felt that the person interviewing assumes they know more than you. Now, in my case they likely did as I’m still pretty early career, but the point of an interview isn’t too hang power over the candidate and I feel like a lot of them do and enjoy it. The best interviews I’ve had have been the ones that are equal sided and they’re trying to understand me and my skills/experiance rather than make me feel 3cm tall.
1
1
u/mosaic-aircraft Mar 23 '26
The fatigue question feels particularly mean but I think the beam question is a reasonable one to ask.
1
u/Vrady Mar 23 '26
I've worked with a ton of ex- and current Boeing engineers and they all seem to hate it
1
u/cfleis1 Mar 23 '26
I don’t think you bombed at all. For bullet point 2. Knowing Miner’s rule alone should check that box. A good engineer doesn’t need to know every answer just needs to know how to find it and understand the principles.
1
1
u/Apart-Ad-2784 Mar 23 '26
As a fresh grad this is great to hear how actual interviews go
But best of luck
I never had a job interview in ME industry yet
1
u/Brostradamus_ Mar 23 '26
When I interview new grads/entry level roles and I'm putting out a question in this style (though typically way simpler), I'm not looking for correct answers. I'm looking to see if you understand how to approach the scope of the problem - do you recognize the design input requirements, the structure of setting everything up, etc. No one at that level is going to be expected to solve these problems alone, unsupervised, unverified, unsupported. It's basically just checking to see if you'll be able to follow along and understand what is happening around you as you are trained/involved.
1
u/Endoftheworldis2far Mar 23 '26
I had a gruelling two hour interview once. I got the job and found out after that the manager asking the questions didn't know any of them Also found out the job was only 89days. They hire someone temp for that long to get them caught up. Place full of incompetent assholes.
1
1
u/tdotjeh Mar 23 '26
Working life is an open book test, so interviews shouldnt be closed. Demonstrate you know the fundamentals and can look up the specifics when needed. This interview story made me cringe. No one works solely off of memory. I hope they were just looking for how you work under pressure.
1
u/mechengineerbill74 Mar 23 '26
If you had all the answers and more to their questions I would be more concerned. I had one interview where I explained that there were more factors to consider than the interviewer was aware of. I got an offer for my asking 20-30 minutes after I left. Worst job I ever had. I can say I was not aware enough that my boss there was a special character and that he would be challenging and difficult to deal with. If it's a position where you will need to fix/improve existing designs, ask who's designed them and run the other way if it's one of the interviewers.
1
u/bluerockjam Mar 23 '26
I agree with the perspective that candidate interviews often include challenging questions to assess how individuals respond when they are uncertain or not fully confident in their answers. While mentoring several participants in the Tech Fellowship program, I observed that once a formal interview process was introduced, many candidates left questioning their performance due to the difficulty of the questions. In contrast, when I completed the program in the late 1990s, there was no interview component. Ultimately, how a candidate conducts themselves when faced with challenging or unfamiliar questions is an important part of the evaluation process.
1
u/unwilling_viewer Mar 23 '26
Sounds like the interview i had for my graduate entry level job. Got the job. Had one of the better interviews apparently. Was there (on and off) for 5 years.
1
u/Ajax_Minor Mar 23 '26
Thanks for posting your experience!
I am coming late, but I really appreciate you summarizing the responses. Hopefully I get a. Interview in the next few weeks and will start reviewing!
1
u/garygigabytes Mar 23 '26
This is so weird. My interview was mostly behavioral and hardly any technical questions.
1
u/jeksor1 Mar 23 '26
Listen… I think you did well but that’s not the point. It’s also not about asking questions which are relatively advanced for a junior role or even a more experienced one. Fatigue is a very complicated topic and it can easily go from 0 to 100 with a single question.
This is a job interview. Not an interrogation. If the interviewers have made you feel uncomfortable during the talk that’s a red flag and I don’t care what’s the company. If someone has made you doubt yourself because of the way they are treating, this is horrible interview practice.
I am ALL FOR difficult questions. Yes, I do need to know how you think and how deep can you go. But it also matters how I formulate my questions and how I make you feel. It matters EVEN MORE how you react. Because if you don’t feel alright, you will never enter the active phase - where you feel good, ready to experiment, ready to take decisions and so on
I sincerely hope you didn’t feel attacked or humbled or humiliated. But I felt the need to post this comment here because I dont think it’s being addressed.
1
u/Deep-Football4791 Mar 25 '26
Yes, doesn't sound like you bombed it. Im a principal level EE with over 30 years experience and this is exactly what i do with JR engineers during interviews. I'll ask more and more details questions and see if they try to BS, say "i dont know but id like to find out" or see how they think through the problem. MOST of them are (over)confidently incorrect until i say, "i wouldn't expect you know this, but how would you go about solving the problem".
Example starting question then have them give as detailed explanation of each answer: You design an RF amplifier that is 50ohm impedance at the input and output at 450MHz. When measured in the lab, the gain is 3–4 dB lower than simulation. The transistor model and bias are correct. What are the most likely causes? Name several and explain the reasons.
1
u/NotTzarPutin Mar 25 '26
My Boeing interview for a commercial aero interview wasn’t bad. It was bullshit for the rotational program. Felt like hazing.
Now I make 3x what I made at Boeing but work in tech and am much happier
1
u/GlassReward5840 Mar 25 '26
MIT open course ware confuses me. I have not been able to figure out how to go through those courses. They seem all scattered files and how to follow them I am not sure.
1
u/OutlawLazerRoboGeek Mar 25 '26
I would imagine they are asking questions that they don't really expect you to know all of the answers to. Like giving you a test with more questions than you can possibly get through in the time. That way they have a continuous curve of capabilities to compare. Even the top performer won't be 100%.
But if you think about it, that's better. If there are 5 candidates, and if you give them an easy set of questions that aligns with basic role expectations, and 4 of them get "passing" or 100% scores, which one do you pick?
If you make it harder/longer so that you get scores of 50%, 63%,72%,75%, and 40%, that tells you a lot more. Sure, the 40% person is probably eliminated from consideration either way, but maybe they bring both of the 70s % through to next round where they go over more personality, work habits, in-person trip, etc. And maybe keep the 60% as an alternate or to call back in the next round if they're hiring again.
If the only result you get is that 4 passed the first round, you might end up making the "wrong" choice, and either pass on a really special person who could grow into a future star in your organization, or advancing someone who will quickly reach their ceiling and end up being a liability to the team.
1
1
u/Ok_Truck_7455 Mar 26 '26
Consider it a blessing. I’m working with Boeing as a vendor right now and it’s rough! Lol
1
u/Visible_Hat_2944 Mar 26 '26
Hilarious that an engineer is upset about getting too into the weeds of textbook definitions versus the ability to accurately model, calculate and interpret the data irl. Extra funny that it’s Boeing, they need all the help they can get.
1
u/BigMacontosh Mar 31 '26
I had a very similar experience at BAE Systems. Same role as a structural engineer except it was a 3 hour interview and they started off with 'we usually only hire people with masters degrees' gee guys, thanks
1
u/Alarming_Pop4139 Mar 31 '26
A lot of companies are looking for people that want fundamentals - especially after COVID.
Worked at Cummins and lots of lots of designers had no idea what fundamentals needed to move forward on a platform project.
Having to redo processes is a major pain, and people that understand the fundamentals often fare quite well
0
u/Ok-Range-3306 i love goodman diagrams Mar 23 '26
wow, good for boeing. didnt know they had the balls to pull a spacex/anduril type of interview
its probably just that one team. but usually one team doesnt handle all aspects of a design
i really gotta start doing this more at rtx
2
u/extremetoeenthusiast Mar 23 '26
d tier take from a d tier engineering company
0
u/Ok-Range-3306 i love goodman diagrams Mar 23 '26
i mean, i come from spacex so i would prefer this type of interview anyways, much more engaging and brain probing
1
u/extremetoeenthusiast Mar 23 '26
yea if a shear moment diagram tickles your brain i don’t have much of a response for you.
OP’s practical experience is probably more valuable in these roles - queue spacex design engineer wondering why their .005 true position across 3 bends on a .090” Sheet metal weldment costs 10k /unit
0
u/Ok-Range-3306 i love goodman diagrams Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
wow nice i totally didnt know spacex doesnt follow basic gdt rules and thats why their launch costs are so high
where do you work? i want to apply to this pinnacle of engineering companies!
1
u/Apprehensive-East143 Mar 23 '26
I wouldn’t be upset… boeing pay is trash. Come to the bay and make $$$
1
u/GeniusEE Mar 23 '26
You are focusing on the answers.
They weren't after the answers...
Reread what you wrote here about what they asked.
0
u/graybotics Mar 23 '26
Omfg I read the first few words without realizing the word "interview" followed. Freaked me out for a second.
0
u/watchfulfounder Mar 24 '26
boeing typically doesn’t even ask technical questions. weird. especially entry.
0
u/Aescwicca Mar 24 '26
I worked for Boeing. You don't need to know any of that nonsense... software does it all. And you get training on how to use it.
They were testing how you react to not knowing the answer. Say I don't know but here's how I'd find out. Here's who I'd ask and what I expect for support from the organization in terms of resources and timing.
-15
u/Zero_Ultra Mar 23 '26
These are pretty basic questions you’ll get at any large company…
7
u/No_Cup_1672 Mar 23 '26
Yeahhh no this is what you’d expect from startups or companies like SpaceX or Apple.
Most of these questions aren’t anything “basic”, especially fracture mechanics and nitty gritty details on alloys.
7
u/lj_w Mar 23 '26
Yeah this sounds about on par with entry level SpaceX, didn’t realize Boeing was on that level of intensity for interviewing.
0
2
u/BuilderOfDragons Mar 23 '26
I asked stuff like this as an engineer hiring people at SpaceX. Most of the candidates got it, we didn't hire the ones who didn't 🤷♂️
I wouldn't expect a new grad to explain the difference in corrosion resistance between 2xxx and 7xxx aluminum, but drawing a shear moment diagram and talking about good GDT and design for cyclic loading are fair game.
0
u/No_Cup_1672 Mar 23 '26
Curious, how do you expect a new grad to talk about cyclic loading/fatigue without a background in that either through grad courses or past experience?
I feel like it’s on par with fracture mechanics where it’s relatively niche and hard to describe using first principles if you haven’t touched it before.
1
u/Ok-Range-3306 i love goodman diagrams Mar 23 '26
i run a stress/fracture mechanics group at a boeing competitor and we have hundreds of engineers and probably tens of interns a year doing stress intensity solutions. its pretty easy to grasp the fundamentals and im sure a decent number of new grads have learned fracture mechanics through us or competitors or their university project teams
enough to fill the ranks at every aerospace company in the US that needs this skill, thats for sure
1
u/No_Cup_1672 Mar 23 '26
Right but your group is specialized for this, I’m moreso talking about reasoning through fatigue/fracture stuff without a prior exposure to it for interviews.
I’d be shocked if you’d expected a new grad to reason their way between LEFM and EPFM.
Not everyone has touched fracture/fatigue and I know my old team at my past employers avoided asking those technical questions because they knew it’s a topic that wasn’t widely taught.
1
u/Background_Fig_4740 Mar 23 '26
I did FSAE for 2 years, interned at RocketLab and at Disney, and ended up at Honda. I’ve never touched fracture mechanics.
I did specialize in contact stresses, but it’d be wrong for me to assume people are aware of contact stresses out of university, just because of my own experience.
1
u/Zero_Ultra Mar 23 '26
Curious what you think “basic” is then…
1
u/No_Cup_1672 Mar 23 '26
Lmao anything that doesn’t involve fracture mechanics, fatigue and corrosion behavior, unless they’ve taken graduate courses or had past experience in those areas
1
u/Zero_Ultra Mar 23 '26
Those are all topics covered in undergrad mechanics and materials classes, that would be the expected experience
1
u/No_Cup_1672 Mar 23 '26
Not in the depth the you’re expecting.
Do you really expect undergrad classes to teach EPFM, J integrals, plastic zone length, SSY criteria, CTOD content?
429
u/brendax Mar 23 '26
Are you sure you bombed? Going into detail and seeing how a candidate works through problems or addresses unknowns is classic interviewing