Tesla

Junior Engineer Interview Experience - Palo Alto, California

October 1, 2010

Positive ExperienceNo Offer

Process

I was required to take a 20-question online exam.

Most of the questions weren't too difficult, but some could be very ambiguous. For example: "Which shape is more efficient? (square, circle, or I-beam)" Efficient at what?

After the exam, I had a 15-minute 1:1 phone interview with one of the senior engineers. They then asked me to answer two essay questions in writing.

The CEO then read my resume and said no. That was it.

The whole process was fairly quick, about 20 days.

Questions

Rate from most to least efficient: square, circle, or I-beam.

What is the difference between the modulus of elasticity and the bulk modulus?

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Interview Statistics

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

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

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

Experience Rating

Positive100%

Neutral0%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Tesla's Junior Engineer interview process in Palo Alto, California.

Tesla Work Experiences

Constant Action With Super Smart People

Battery Engineering • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: The learning you'll gain in such a short time is incredible. You're being trained throughout the whole internship. The company culture is a huge open space with great ease of communication. If you do any programming work, you're going to be working a lot, but other internships that rely on a team will have you work only as long as the team, as you can imagine. Free cereal and juice is great.

Cons: Pay is known to be pretty weak comparatively. Just know you're not coming here for the pay at all, otherwise you won't enjoy your time.

Constant Action With Super Smart People

Battery Engineering • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: The learning you'll gain in such a short time is incredible. You're being trained throughout the whole internship. The company culture is a huge open space with great ease of communication. If you do any programming work, you're going to be working a lot, but other internships that rely on a team will have you work only as long as the team, as you can imagine. Free cereal and juice is great.

Cons: Pay is known to be pretty weak comparatively. Just know you're not coming here for the pay at all, otherwise you won't enjoy your time.

Good Overtime, Bad Balance

Manufacturing Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Tesla pays over time generously.

Cons: Work late hours, and work-life balance sucks.

Good Overtime, Bad Balance

Manufacturing Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Tesla pays over time generously.

Cons: Work late hours, and work-life balance sucks.

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.

Constant Action With Super Smart People

Battery Engineering • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: The learning you'll gain in such a short time is incredible. You're being trained throughout the whole internship. The company culture is a huge open space with great ease of communication. If you do any programming work, you're going to be working a lot, but other internships that rely on a team will have you work only as long as the team, as you can imagine. Free cereal and juice is great.

Cons: Pay is known to be pretty weak comparatively. Just know you're not coming here for the pay at all, otherwise you won't enjoy your time.

4.0
Constant Action With Super Smart People
Battery Engineering • Current Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
March 10, 2014
Pros: The learning you'll gain in such a short time is incredible. You're being trained throughout the whole internship. The company culture is a huge open space with great ease of communication. If you do any programming work, you're going to be working a lot, but other internships that rely on a team will have you work only as long as the team, as you can imagine. Free cereal and juice is great.
Cons: Pay is known to be pretty weak comparatively. Just know you're not coming here for the pay at all, otherwise you won't enjoy your time.

Good Overtime, Bad Balance

Manufacturing Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Tesla pays over time generously.

Cons: Work late hours, and work-life balance sucks.

2.0
Good Overtime, Bad Balance
Manufacturing Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
March 13, 2025
Pros: Tesla pays over time generously.
Cons: Work late hours, and work-life balance sucks.

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.

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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