Sanden Vikas Assistant Manager - R&D Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I was guided by placement office quite appreciably for preparation of resume. First by one to one interaction and second by suggesting to talk to the seniors who are either injob or are hereafter the job. As it is always suggested about resume that, it reflects you in brief, you have to get it as good as you can. I followed the guidelines, made the first draft, got it corrected from some of my friends who are working in industries and got feedbacks from students who have experience from industries.

Round: APTITUDE TEST
Experience: It was intimated as aptitude but it included Verbal, Quants and basics of programmingand data structures & algorithm.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I went through two technical rounds and both of these included questions starting from the very basics of materials to the continuum mechanics’ fundamentals and applications. In the first round I was asked about flight mechanics & dynamics and controls’ by giving several conditions of practical importance, some part of engine structures and thermal science, my earlier projects and questions on that, some questions from the internship’s work and M.Tech thesis work. Very fundamental as well as complex questions were asked while explaining about the projects and thesis work. For the second round, I was sent to the panel interviewing for mechanical students and there I was asked questions from various subjects as well as for various conditions given on spot. Including both the technical interviews, I was asked questions from around 9-10 subjects of mechanical engineering. Apart from the questions from the course work, half of the interview was focused on the projects that I did earlier. I was asked to explain about the projects and give good insights of my contributions in that and accordingly I was asked questions from that as well. Later part of the technical round was focused for my thesis work. They started asking about the motivation behind the topic of the thesis and the technical platform set so far for the same. Concluding questions were from the company’s work and how I would be able to relate my expertise and thesis work for their benefit.. In the morning, Honeywell started it’s processing at around 6.30 am and I went for the first technical round at around 7 am. After some basic questions from the resume I was asked about the flight mech & controls. After sometimes the interviewer told me about his background, which was avionics and then he started from that. It must have gone over around 45 minutes. Second round of Honeywell was gruelling and I felt little uncomfortable at some points.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: HR round was more or less usual. Description about me and weaknesses in professional life were asked. The tricky one was one particular question about joining Honeywell and at the end of my answer, I was asked to compare Honeywell and the stalwarts of aerospace industry on my answer’s ground.

General Tips: Since I was looking only for the core aerospace companies, I was not looking very much about the aptitude and GD (specially, GD was not required). I was focusing about the technical side of the preparation, coursework, projects that I have done earlier and thesis work. I used the material provided by SPO for preparing the aptitude test solved some CAT papers and some online resources were useful. Further, I referred some core course works, specifically, thermal, fluid, aerodynamics, propulsion, structures & materials, materials & metallurgy and flight mechanics & dynamics for technical interviews. 



Revise the course works, some part of the projects, be focused for profiles and prepare accordingly. Prior knowledge about companies work and the profile helps a lot. Sound knowledge of thesis work, approach and the applications, motivation behind the topic and the work completed till the placement season starts should clearly be checked. If you are not good at programming and DS & algo then revise the basics of these(helps for aptitude). Be mentally prepared for multiple rounds of technical interviews. Shape yourself according to the profile and surf through the company’s site beforehand. Get some suggestions and feedback from seniors(specifically, M.tech students should talk to seniors, fellow students and labmates who have been in industries) for technical interviews. Focus on your approach towards the problem for the worst case. During technical interview, don’t try to brag about the topic that you are not sure about. They sometimes want to test your approach and attitude for the problem given to you (which will be out of your comfort zone) rather than the accuracy of the answer. Since verbal was also the part of aptitude, don’t forget to look that during your preparation. Final Tips : Don’t lose hope and be focused for the profile that you are interested in and narrow down the companies accordingly. It’s all your attitude, past experience (both academics and professional) and preparation for the placements that will help you to nail it. 1st, 2nd or any other day or any other company (as long asthe profile matches with your interest) don’t matter much. At the end of the day, getting in the core-profile is what matters most (if you are interested incore alone) and if it is your preferred company then it’s a boon. Have faith in yourself and believe in the next option if you don’t get the first one.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Motivation: Other companies that I was shortlisted for : GE, Rolls-Royce, Airbus. Analysis of available options (based on profile, growth, compensation, BrandName, etc) :As for the first day, GE didn’t seem inclined in taking Aerospace Engineering students and I was not looking for Rolls-Royce very interestingly. I was mainly focusing on Honeywell, Eaton and Airbus and was shortlisted to interview with these three. Because of Honeywell’s versatility and the involvement in R&D(as I got the feedback from people working in there), I was focusing mainly on Honeywell. And it was very much favourable from compensation point of view as well. Finally I was selected in both Honeywell and Eaton, and chose Honeywell.