I submitted my resume online and received an email a couple of days later from a technical recruiter asking to set up an interview.

The first interview was a typical 20-30 minute HR screening, with a couple of technical brain teasers at the end.

If I increase the mass on the end of a cantilever beam, what happens to the natural frequency?

Apparently, I did well enough on the screening interview, and they emailed me a take-home project immediately after.

The take-home test was challenging but reasonable. I submitted a fairly lengthy report/CAD model to the recruiter. There was technically a 4-hour time limit on the project, but the recruiter was flexible and allowed me to spread the work out over a couple of days.

Within a couple of hours of submitting the take-home project, I received an email asking to schedule a technical phone interview.

I had a 45-minute technical phone interview with a Lead Mechanical Engineer in the Avionics division, and I thought we hit it off pretty well.

The interview consisted of walking through my resume and answering "How did you solve this?" type of questions to ensure I actually did what I said I did. Then, we walked through my take-home project submission, and he asked some tolerance stack-up questions and probed me for more details on how I would implement my design.

A couple of days after the phone interview, I got a call from the technical recruiter stating that they would not be moving forward. Supposedly, I lacked "technical depth" and they needed someone who could "take the reins" immediately instead of having to grow into the position.

Overall, the process was fair, the interviewers were friendly to chat with, and the recruiter was very good about scheduling and respecting my time. I believe they were looking for someone with more vibration/fatigue analysis experience, so I didn't get the job. However, I enjoyed the process and consider it a valuable learning experience.

If I increase the mass on the end of a cantilever beam, what happens to the natural frequency?