Day One of the talk covered the core internship opportunities, which include the Electronics, Mechanical, and Chemical core branches. The speakers were Avi Tanwar, currently interning at Texas Instruments, Dhruv Gupta, working in the project management division at Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) Limited, and Rhythm Saxena, a graduate engineer trainee at Pidilite. 

Electronics Core:

First up, Avi Tanwar spoke about the Electronics and Telecommunication domain. She mentioned that last season, NVIDIA Hardware, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, AMD, EdgeQ, and Silicon Labs visited. The CGPA cutoff was around seven for most companies, while that for NVIDIA and EdgeQ was slightly higher, at around eight. The shortlisting procedure involved an online test, a technical interview, and an HR interview. 

Next, she spoke about the sections in the online test and how to prepare for each of them. For the first subject of the Digital Domain, Digital Design, she stressed the importance of being well versed in the basics, from flip-flops and latches up to counters and registers. She emphasised the importance of being familiar with numerous theoretically essential concepts, such as duty cycle, rising time, fall time, and the questions covered in the lectures for technical interviews. The resources she mentioned were the textbook Digital Design by Morris Mano and Michael Ciletti, class notes, and YouTube videos by Neso Academy. She then mentioned that the second subject, Microprocessors (MuP), is rarely asked and should only be done from class notes if time permits. The important topics are the Fetch–Decode–Execute cycle, pipelining, Assembly Language (ASM), interfacing and computer organisation, and Complex and Reduced Instruction Set Computer (CISC vs RISC) architecture. The next subject, Analog and Digital VLSI Design (ADVD), requires focus on Store Accumulator (STA), logic families, delay calculation, logical effort, static and dynamic characteristics, inverter design, and Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) logic. The resources for the same are the textbook, Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits by Razavi, Rabaey, VLSI website, NPTEL (for STA), and class lectures. The last subject, Verilog, is again rarely asked. She suggested that the audience read Samir Palnitkar’s textbook Verilog HDL: A Guide to Digital Design and Synthesis, which contains various examples on behavioural, dataflow, and gate level implementations, sequential and combinational circuits, finite state machines (FSM), and test benches.

She then moved on to the Analog Domain. The first subject here is Electrical Sciences which includes Kirchoff’s Circuital Laws, Kirchoff’s Voltage Laws, Thevenin, Norton, Superposition Theorem, Resistor-Capacitor (RC) circuits, Resistor-Inductor-Capacitor (RLC) circuits, time

and frequency domain response, and Bode plots. She recommended watching YouTube videos by Prof. Chembiyan T. and using the textbook Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering by Bobrow, solving all of its examples in-depth.

For the next subject, Microelectronic Circuits (MuE), she recommended watching Professor Razavi’s lectures apart from class notes. The areas of focus here are characteristics of MOSFETs and BJTs, square law, amplifier basics, topologies (Common Source Amplifier, Common Gate Amplifier, Cascode Amplifier), calculation of Zin, Zout and gain, small signal analysis, frequency response (pole/zero analysis), stability analysis, Bode plots and feedback topologies. Analog Electronics (AnE) is the third section which covers operational amplifier basics: the virtual ground concept, negative feedback, Barkhausen’s Criteria, inverting and non-inverting configurations, integrators, differentiators and KCL using the virtual ground. She recommended watching videos on the All About Electronics YouTube channel and using the textbook Microelectronics by Sedra Smith and L.K. Maheshwari. After a student has covered all of this, she suggested looking into Control Systems (ConSys), Bode plots, Nyquist plots, second order system responses, and for Signals and Systems (SaS), LTI systems and their properties, types of systems, and Fourier Transformation from lecture notes. She suggested solving previous years’ GATE questions and using indiabix for the aptitude section.

For the technical interview, the most crucial component is designing the resume. She outlined how one should only highlight projects they are comfortable with and can provide information on. She mentioned that it should not be longer than a page and should be presented in bullet points. She highlighted that maintaining composure and confidence is essential to succeeding in the HR round, which focuses on the student’s future aspirations and expectations from the organisation. Avi emphasised being conceptually sound and seeking advice from seniors whenever needed.

Mechanical Core:

The next speaker was Dhruv Gupta, who started by describing his internship at Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). He spoke about the companies that offered core mechanical internships like Bajaj Auto, Pidilite, Tata Steel, and JSW Steel and their eligibility criteria and stipend. To prepare for the first round, which involves resume shortlisting, he stressed the importance of building a solid resume and getting it proofread by seniors or friends. He suggested revising and practising required courses like Applied Thermodynamics, Mechanics of Solids, and Fluid Mechanics. He emphasised that as questions are repeated yearly, going through the previous years’ papers is crucial.

Additionally, he mentioned that reading up on trending topics is beneficial for group discussions. He advised being meticulous with the projects listed on one’s resume and being clear and concise while presenting them to prepare for the final interview. He advised researching the company’s policies and recent agendas for the technical interview. Dhruv added that the company is not always looking for answers but the right approach to a problem. Thus, explaining different approaches to a given problem or situation is essential.

Finally, from his work experience at REC, he mentioned how interacting with new people helped him expand his knowledge. He said that REC also helped him gain insight into other fields like finance and consulting. It enabled him to understand the benefits and drawbacks of different government policies related to rural electrification and their implementation across the nation. 

Chemical Core:

The last speaker for the day was Rhythm Saxena, from Kala Aam, Himachal Pradesh, a factory site for Pidilite. He mentioned that the CGPA cutoff for the same was seven. The other companies that visited for core chemical internships were Exxon Mobil, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Trident Group, Mondelez Foods, and JSW Steel. He then talked about the recruitment process for Pidilite, the first round being resume shortlisting. He advised keeping the resume crisp, concise, and relevant to the position one is aiming for. Next, there were a series of online tests. The first was a technical test on the basics of chemical engineering. He emphasised having a clear understanding of topics like Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Material Sciences, and basic equations. The second test involved general mathematical and essential verbal and logical reasoning topics like identifying patterns, series and analogies. The third test was a general aptitude and English test involving grammar and vocabulary, including topics like synonyms, antonyms, and phrases. He added that speed was paramount in this round as 40 questions were to be done in fifteen minutes. 

Three interviews were conducted after making it through the tests: a video interview, an HR interview, and an interview with the Director. The first round is a personality test where situation tackling skills are assessed. Rhythm emphasised the need to remain calm and self-assured during this round. He suggested asking a few questions during the HR interview to display awareness and interest. Finally, for the technical round with the Director, he advised revising core subjects with a significant focus on Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Separation Processes, and Lab Basics. Along with being comprehensive with the PS-1 project listed on the CV, he emphasised the value of having confident body language when being interviewed.

Lastly, he spoke about his work experience at Pidilite. He said that it helped him understand the real-world applications of knowledge gained from courses and learn to tackle situations promptly.

The talk concluded with SAC thanking the speakers for their time and insights.