Caterpillar Inc Design Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms. I usually changed my “Areas of Interest” as per the company profile. For Caterpillar, I laid emphasis on all of my technical activities.

Round: Test
Experience: The written test was purely technical covering almost all the major topics of Mechanical Engineering course curriculum. The questions related to Fluid Mechanics were particularly difficult. The questions were all objective and the test was for a duration of 90 minutes.
Tips: For Caterpillar, one must have in-depth knowledge of almost all major topics of mechanical.
Duration: 90 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The questions were totally technical. There were no HR questions even in the beginning. They asked me about my topic of interest and I replied as Solid Mechanics. They asked questions related to designing of stuff. For example one of the question that was asked from me was – How will you design a swimming diving board? It was a question on cantilever beam. The whole interview continued on this particular question. They kept on counter questioning and gave me additional situations as I proceeded and I had to incorporate them in my design process. They asked me to develop a static design and thereafter asked me to develop a dynamic design. Then they asked me for another subject of interest which I stated as vibration design. Then they asked me to do vibration analysis of the swimming board that I had designed earlier in the interview. They also asked me my favorite topic from class 10th and I replied as Mathematics. They asked me a simple question on it which I answered correctly.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: Most of the information regarding the company was obtained by attending the Pre-Placement Talk. The company is one of the pioneers in its field and hence it was sort of a dream company for students and we had researched about it by visiting its website and the Wikipedia Page.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Not very transparent and highly delayed.
Tips: Can indicate selection status immediately or within one day of announcement. One sentence describing reason for rejection or acceptance can be given.

Round: Test
Experience: N/A
Tips: N/A

General Tips: Please let us know in case of rejection or waiting list, we have to apply to other companies as well to secure an intern and a simple sentence on reason for rejection will be very helpful.
Skills: Python, Simulink, MATLAB
Duration: 1.5
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: Internationally reputed, Core mechanical company designing heavy machinery.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had mentioned my extra-curricular activities in my resume in a detailed and organised manner (all listed in a chronological order). Most of these were techno-managerial activities (organizational responsibilities in my tech fest). I had participated in an event called Robocon which added a new dimension to me resume. I had done a project and a couple of internships during my four years of study – I mentioned the details of these in my resume. Although the resume that we submitted was in a standard format as per the norms of our placement cell, I referred to a website of Princeton University to prepare my resume. It’s a very good website and hugely referred by students for preparing their resume. I also got some valuable insights from my seniors for building my resume. I laid stress on my achievements related to the technical field, because I wanted to land a job in my core field of study.

Round: Test
Experience: The first round was the written test. The paper consisted of questions from general aptitude, technical ability and verbal ability. The paper was slightly lengthy and required a bit more stress on speed while maintaining the accuracy. The verbal ability part was easy; if a person had prepared for CAT, then he would not have found the paper difficult. The difficulty level of general aptitude questions was at par with the verbal ability questions. The technical questions were however slightly more difficult as compared to the other two. To answer these questions required a fair amount of knowledge on topics like ‘General Mechanics’, ‘Fluid Mechanics’, ‘Machining’ and ‘Solid Mechanics’. Some questions from ‘Thermodynamics’ were also asked. The total duration of the test was 90 minutes and the number of questions was 60. The test only had objective questions.
Duration: 90 minutes
Total Questions: 60

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The next round was the personal interview round. I had my interview the very next morning. The very first question the interviewers asked was related to me as person – my schooling, my family background and my four years of college life. The interviewer then did a review of my resume and picked some points and then questioned me on that. He also asked me about my areas of interest. I told them that I had cultivated a lot of interest in ‘Machine Design’. I showed them some pictures of the Robocon event that I had participated in, which quite impressed them. I was then asked to design the chair that I was sitting on considering all the different design aspects. I designed the chair by doing the load analysis and by carrying out some other important tests. However one important aspect that I did not account for was the safety of the design, which I realized after the interview. Another mistake that I think I committed was that I did not use the technical terms related to designing. I felt they were looking out for those important technical terms. I was then asked that if I had a choice of using wood, steel and plastic which of those materials would I use to make the chair. I basically had to give the preference order. I replied stating that plastic would be my first choice since it is cheap and most people can afford it, then steel because the fabrication process was less tedious in case of steel and placed wood last. They then cross questioned me that if I considered wood to be least preferred material for designing the chair, then why furniture is being manufactured from wood. I could not give them a suitable answer.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE