A student prepared guide on how to master interviews based on experience(from mock and past interviews)
- The goal of the interview is to create a strong impression within 20–30 minutes.
- Try to develop a two-way conversation, not a one-sided Q&A session.
- Create an X-factor that makes you stand out.
- Your tone of confidence influences the difficulty of questions.
- If you perform very well in initial technical questions, interviewers may:
- Move to HR faster
- Ask relatively simpler follow-ups
- Never say anything that demeans:
- The company
- The role
- Your college
- Have at least one strong project.
- Be ready to clearly explain:
- What problem it solves
- Why it is relevant
- What impact it creates
- Never say your project was useless.
- Emphasize the parts most relevant to the interviewing company.
- Customize your explanation depending on the role.
- Clearly state:
- What features you worked on
- What decisions you took
- What challenges you solved
- Do not beat around the bush.
- Avoid over-explaining one small detail.
- Speak convincingly about the value of your work.
- Involve the interviewer in discussion:
- “Would you like me to explain the architecture or the optimization part?”
- An internship means:
- You already have skills to contribute.
- It can be paid or unpaid.
- A 10-day training or industry visit is NOT an internship.
- Ideally, internships should be at least one month long.
- Initially, you may not be industry-ready.
- So focus first on:
- Learning
- Tool mastery
- Building small projects
- Start with YouTube for conceptual clarity.
- Take structured courses (Coursera, Udemy, etc.).
- Build guided projects.
- Then build independent projects.
- After that, apply for internships.
- Research the company thoroughly.
- Optimize your resume according to:
- Domain
- Role expectations
- Example:
- Finance company → highlight data analytics.
- Core electronics company → highlight hardware projects.
- One for online submission.
- One for interviews.
- Clear highlights.
- Easy-to-spot achievements.
- Clean and appealing structure.
It is not mandatory to use the same resume everywhere. Update if needed.
- Your introduction determines the next questions.
- Maintain:
- Good posture
- Eye contact
- A natural smile
- Groom properly and look presentable.
- Sleep well and eat properly before the interview.
- Confidence + clarity = strong first impression.
- Say honestly: “I’m not sure about that.”
- Then add related knowledge:
- “But I know that XYZ works like this…”
- Explain your thought process.
- Speak clearly and form proper statements.
- It is okay to take time.
- Clarity is more important than speed.
- Attend mock interviews seriously.
- Do not cheat.
- Treat them like real interviews.
- Use feedback to improve weak areas.
Prepare structured answers for:
- Why engineering?
- Why this branch?
- Why this college?
- Why not higher studies?
- Why this company?
Use your company research to ask meaningful questions.
Avoid asking:
- What role will I get?
- Generic work ethics questions.
- Things already available on their website.
- Strong basics in:
- Analog networks
- Electrical machines
- Power electronics
- Understand fundamentals like:
- Working of capacitors
- Inductors
- Basic circuit laws
- Rectifiers, converters
- Strong C programming.
- Communication protocols:
- SPI
- I2C
- UART
- Bluetooth
- Understand:
- Microcontrollers
- Interrupts
- Memory mapping
- Basic RTOS concepts (recommended)
- Electromagnetic waves
- Antenna design basics
- Modulation techniques
- Signal propagation concepts
- Master:
- KiCAD
- One professional PCB software
- Learn:
- Routing techniques
- Ground planes
- Noise reduction
- Power integrity basics
- Do freelancing or build real boards.
- Learn not to compromise on minute details.
- Structures
- Strength of materials
- Engineering mechanics
- Dynamics
- Thermodynamics (recommended for core roles)
- Internship at a manufacturing plant is highly valuable.
- Understand real production workflows.
- Observe tolerances and quality control processes.
- AutoCAD
- SolidWorks
- ANSYS
- Basic GD&T knowledge (recommended)
- Strong basics in:
- Mechanics
- Basic electronics
- Control fundamentals
- Build projects like:
- Line follower robot
- Obstacle avoiding robot
- Learn system integration.
- Learn ROS.
- Work with simulation environments.
- Understand sensor fusion basics.
- Try integrating hardware with software logic.
- Strong chemistry foundation.
- Explore interdisciplinary labs.
- Learn biological systems deeply.
- Improve:
- Presentation skills
- Academic writing
- Read research papers regularly.
- Stay updated with recent developments.
- Even partial understanding builds exposure.
- Data Structures & Algorithms (very important)
- Time and space complexity analysis
- Object-Oriented Programming
- Operating Systems basics
- DBMS fundamentals
- Computer Networks basics
- Practice:
- Arrays
- Strings
- Linked lists
- Stacks & queues
- Trees
- Graphs
- Recursion & DP (recommended)
- Always explain:
- Approach
- Edge cases
- Optimization logic
- Be clear about:
- Tech stack used
- Architecture decisions
- Database design
- API structure
- If full stack:
- Explain backend logic clearly.
- If data-focused:
- Explain preprocessing, models, and evaluation.
- If AI/ML:
- Know basic math behind algorithms.
- Learn Git properly.
- Understand basic system design (for advanced roles).
- Practice writing clean, readable code.
- Solve problems on coding platforms consistently.
- Confidence comes from preparation.
- Preparation comes from repetition.
- Do not memorize answers — understand them.
- Speak clearly, think calmly, and present yourself professionally.
- Your aim is not just to answer questions, but to make the interviewer feel confident about hiring you.
If you came this far and felt like you got some new insights please star ⭐ this repository and if you have more insights feel free to submit a Pull Request.
- Ahmed Baari for organizing this event, taking efforts and initiative to start something like this for students
- Harish and Sai Ethihas for letting me listen to all the interviews and gain this knowledge
- Shriram for iterating on this guide for further clarity
- The other group of panels
- Hemapriya
- Jyotsna
- Madhesh
- Thanushree
- Tharani