Mechanical Design Engineer Interview Experience - Milpitas, California
Process
Interviewed by 3 people, two were mechanical engineering managers, the third was the director of engineering for the division.
First was done individually then as a panel.
Mostly asked questions about the resume and past experience.
Did ask some questions about theory.
After interview they took me on a tour of the clean room
Questions
Two cylinders are rolled from the top of a hill at the same time.
They are the same mass and diameter.
One cylinder is partially hollow in the middle, the other is solid.
Which cylinder reaches the bottom first?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 5 interview experiences for the KLA Mechanical Design Engineer role in Milpitas, California.
Success Rate
KLA's interview process for their Mechanical Design Engineer roles in Milpitas, California is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for KLA's Mechanical Design Engineer interview process in Milpitas, California.
KLA Work Experiences
- 5.0Good people and decent benefits, but pay is lowMechanical Design Engineer • Current EmployeeMilpitas, CaliforniaJuly 30, 2026Pros: There are good people and decent benefits.Cons: The compensation is not super bad but slightly on the lower end of the pay scale, depending on experience and position.
- 5.0Great place to workMechanical Design Engineer • Current EmployeeMilpitas, CaliforniaJanuary 9, 2025Pros: Meaningful work, good benefits, competitive salaryCons: It is hard to grow within the organization.
- 2.0DisillusionedMechanical Design Engineer • Current EmployeeMilpitas, CaliforniaMarch 24, 2009Pros: There are very competent and able engineers working at KLA-Tencor, most of which have a passion for designing and engineering quality products. If you work for the right group, you can almost bear all the negatives I'm sure other people have written about in their reviews (which are all pretty accurate).Cons: Coming from a mechanical engineer: The management is very politically driven, motivated by the $ and deadlines/pressure from the upper echelons, not with whether a product is ready for production. Is this just how business is run these days? There is so much red tape / paperwork to do! Although my job title says "design engineer", design only constitutes about 25% of my actual workload. The other 75% is filling out forms and pushing papers in a bloated and inefficient system in order to get anything released for manufacturing.
