I applied online and was contacted by a recruiter. We set up a phone call with two engineers to evaluate my resume. During the phone interview, which lasted approximately 30 minutes, I was asked to describe my background – standard stuff. After the phone conversation, I was asked to prepare a model of my smartphone as well as manufacturing drawings, and was given a week to complete the challenge. I think overall I put in approximately 30-35 hours to complete this task. I really wanted this job and wanted to add as many details as possible to impress the people at Apple. After they reviewed my CAD challenge, I was invited to meet their technical team for an in-person interview at Cupertino. The Apple travel portal is well-set-up and easy to use. Getting there was the easy part.

Once I got to Apple headquarters, I was met by HR and brought into a room with no windows. The interview process consisted of 30-45 minute one-on-one sessions with 7-8 people. Everyone I met was friendly and outgoing. Now, this is where my first screw-up occurred: I didn't bring any of my design work. If you happen to be in that position, bring some home projects that you worked on to demonstrate your talents. You will have a greater chance to stand out from the others. Screw-up #2: I wrongly assumed that the CAD challenge I completed earlier was going to be available at Apple and was going to be discussed. The recruiter wanted to see my 2D drawings, but I didn't think I needed to bring them since they already had an electronic version. Most people had technical questions regarding 2D drafting techniques and some design questions in the form of, 'If I have this part, how would you manufacture it?' In my opinion, I did fine for the first part of the interview, but after lunch, things got a little tricky, and I screwed up big time. The last interviewer was a really pleasant guy, and I liked him the most out of all the interviewers. He asked me a simple supported beam question. I hadn't done these in 8 years and was completely embarrassed since I couldn't work out a simple shear moment diagram. At that point, I knew I wouldn't get the job. I was pretty disappointed in myself for not reviewing that stuff earlier. It was a fair question because I think every engineer should know this stuff by heart.

I came back home that same day. The worst part of the whole experience was to wait for the HR reply. I understood that I had little chance of getting an offer, but I didn't want to believe it. After a couple of days, I convinced myself that I had a good chance of getting an offer. However, after anxiously checking my emails for a week, the HR recruiter emailed me saying they were passing. I was disappointed because I really wanted to work at Apple among so many intelligent and interesting people. It took me a few days to shake it off. I will try again in a few years and hope I won't be too old at that point.

Drafting and datum questions.

Describe a project that you failed at.

I have this part; how do I manufacture it for large-scale production?