Tesla

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op Interview Experience - Palo Alto, California

July 1, 2019

Positive ExperienceGot Offer

Process

The interview process included two phone interviews:

One with a Senior Engineer.
The second with the team manager.

The whole process took about 4 weeks.

Both interviews were mostly technical, with questions related to the work the specific team was doing.

Each interview lasted around 30-40 minutes.

Questions

Elaborate on your previous internship experience.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Tesla Mechanical Engineering Co-Op role in Palo Alto, California.

Success Rate

100%

Pass Rate

Tesla's interview process for their Mechanical Engineering Co-Op roles in Palo Alto, California is incredibly easy as the vast majority of engineers get an offer after going through it.

Experience Rating

Positive100%

Neutral0%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Tesla's Mechanical Engineering Co-Op interview process in Palo Alto, California.

Tesla Work Experiences

Co-op at Tesla

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: I learned a ton. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. Co-ops are able to work on important projects and are treated as real employees.

Cons: Long hours, expensive cafeteria food.

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: I learned a ton. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. Co-ops are able to work on important projects and are treated as real employees.

Cons: Long hours, expensive cafeteria food.

Great place to learn

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee

Fremont, California, United States

February 25, 2023

Pros: - Good opportunities - Lot to learn

Cons: - work-life balance does not exist

Great place to learn

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee

Fremont, California, United States

February 25, 2023

Pros: - Good opportunities - Lot to learn

Cons: - work-life balance does not exist

Full Scope, Flat Org, Poor Management

Sr. Hardware Engineer • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Get exposure to the full scope of the project. Very flat organization, with the possibility to work on many tasks. Full on-site working, not many meetings, a lot of human-human interaction and discussion.

Cons: Not great management; luck of leadership. Arguable meritocracy.

Full Scope, Flat Org, Poor Management

Sr. Hardware Engineer • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Get exposure to the full scope of the project. Very flat organization, with the possibility to work on many tasks. Full on-site working, not many meetings, a lot of human-human interaction and discussion.

Cons: Not great management; luck of leadership. Arguable meritocracy.

Co-op at Tesla

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: I learned a ton. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. Co-ops are able to work on important projects and are treated as real employees.

Cons: Long hours, expensive cafeteria food.

4.0
Co-op at Tesla
Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
May 5, 2020
Pros: I learned a ton. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. Co-ops are able to work on important projects and are treated as real employees.
Cons: Long hours, expensive cafeteria food.

Great place to learn

Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee

Fremont, California, United States

February 25, 2023

Pros: - Good opportunities - Lot to learn

Cons: - work-life balance does not exist

5.0
Great place to learn
Mechanical Engineering Co-Op • Former Employee
Fremont, California, United States
February 25, 2023
Pros: - Good opportunities - Lot to learn
Cons: - work-life balance does not exist

Full Scope, Flat Org, Poor Management

Sr. Hardware Engineer • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Get exposure to the full scope of the project. Very flat organization, with the possibility to work on many tasks. Full on-site working, not many meetings, a lot of human-human interaction and discussion.

Cons: Not great management; luck of leadership. Arguable meritocracy.

3.0
Full Scope, Flat Org, Poor Management
Sr. Hardware Engineer • Current Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
May 20, 2025
Pros: Get exposure to the full scope of the project. Very flat organization, with the possibility to work on many tasks. Full on-site working, not many meetings, a lot of human-human interaction and discussion.
Cons: Not great management; luck of leadership. Arguable meritocracy.

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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