Tesla

CAD Engineer Interview Experience - Palo Alto, California

June 23, 2026

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

I applied online.

30 min interview, where they focus on engineering fundamentals, mostly beams and their properties. Very fast paced. They want to know your thought process over what the answer actually is.

Questions

Why is an I cross section beam preferred over others?

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Tesla CAD Engineer role in Palo Alto, California.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Tesla's interview process for their CAD Engineer roles in Palo Alto, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral100%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Tesla's CAD Engineer interview process in Palo Alto, California.

Tesla Work Experiences

Bad Culture, Politics Over Quality

Supplier Quality Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Nothing much, unless you're good at politics.

Cons: It is a very bad company culture.

Bad Culture, Politics Over Quality

Supplier Quality Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Nothing much, unless you're good at politics.

Cons: It is a very bad company culture.

Mechanical Engineering Intern

Mechanical Engineering Intern • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 19, 2022

Pros: You work with very smart and dedicated engineers on some pretty cool projects. Interns are given high expectations and often perform similar tasks to those of full-time engineers. Tesla provided a one-time $2.8K relocation stipend and paid for flights to and from my university.

Cons: Some teams may expect you to work overtime, although overtime pay is pretty good. There is always more work that needs to be done, which results in little downtime. Parking is terrible at Fremont and Deer Creek. I would advise biking or walking if you can.

Mechanical Engineering Intern

Mechanical Engineering Intern • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 19, 2022

Pros: You work with very smart and dedicated engineers on some pretty cool projects. Interns are given high expectations and often perform similar tasks to those of full-time engineers. Tesla provided a one-time $2.8K relocation stipend and paid for flights to and from my university.

Cons: Some teams may expect you to work overtime, although overtime pay is pretty good. There is always more work that needs to be done, which results in little downtime. Parking is terrible at Fremont and Deer Creek. I would advise biking or walking if you can.

Interesting job doing worthwhile work

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Forefront of electric vehicle technology. Fast-paced, intellectually challenging work. Play a large role on the team. Make your own hours, flexible schedule.

Cons: Lower pay than other similar tech companies, high stress, and potentially long hours.

Interesting job doing worthwhile work

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Forefront of electric vehicle technology. Fast-paced, intellectually challenging work. Play a large role on the team. Make your own hours, flexible schedule.

Cons: Lower pay than other similar tech companies, high stress, and potentially long hours.

Bad Culture, Politics Over Quality

Supplier Quality Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Nothing much, unless you're good at politics.

Cons: It is a very bad company culture.

1.0
Bad Culture, Politics Over Quality
Supplier Quality Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
March 20, 2025
Pros: Nothing much, unless you're good at politics.
Cons: It is a very bad company culture.

Mechanical Engineering Intern

Mechanical Engineering Intern • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 19, 2022

Pros: You work with very smart and dedicated engineers on some pretty cool projects. Interns are given high expectations and often perform similar tasks to those of full-time engineers. Tesla provided a one-time $2.8K relocation stipend and paid for flights to and from my university.

Cons: Some teams may expect you to work overtime, although overtime pay is pretty good. There is always more work that needs to be done, which results in little downtime. Parking is terrible at Fremont and Deer Creek. I would advise biking or walking if you can.

4.0
Mechanical Engineering Intern
Mechanical Engineering Intern • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
November 19, 2022
Pros: You work with very smart and dedicated engineers on some pretty cool projects. Interns are given high expectations and often perform similar tasks to those of full-time engineers. Tesla provided a one-time $2.8K relocation stipend and paid for flights to and from my university.
Cons: Some teams may expect you to work overtime, although overtime pay is pretty good. There is always more work that needs to be done, which results in little downtime. Parking is terrible at Fremont and Deer Creek. I would advise biking or walking if you can.

Interesting job doing worthwhile work

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Forefront of electric vehicle technology. Fast-paced, intellectually challenging work. Play a large role on the team. Make your own hours, flexible schedule.

Cons: Lower pay than other similar tech companies, high stress, and potentially long hours.

4.0
Interesting job doing worthwhile work
Senior Mechanical Design Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
March 23, 2017
Pros: Forefront of electric vehicle technology. Fast-paced, intellectually challenging work. Play a large role on the team. Make your own hours, flexible schedule.
Cons: Lower pay than other similar tech companies, high stress, and potentially long hours.

Tesla Interview Questions

Course Schedule

Determine if it is possible to finish all courses given prerequisite relationships between them. Essentially, detect if a cycle exists in the course dependencies.

GraphsRecursion

Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

Find the length of the longest substring within a given string that contains no repeating characters. The substring must be contiguous.

StringsTwo PointersSliding Windows

Minimum Changes To Make Alternating Binary String

Determine the fewest modifications needed to transform a binary string into an alternating pattern (e.g., "0101" or "1010"). You can change '0' to '1' or '1' to '0'.

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