Robotics Engineer

01.1Resume

CoreBeginner3–5 h

A one-page resume you can defend line by line.

What this covers

• One-page format — Reverse-chronological, clean fonts, no photos or tables that confuse parsers.
• Project bullets — Action + what you built + a number (users, speed, accuracy).
• Skills section — Only skills you can answer questions on for two minutes.
• ATS readability — Export a text-based PDF and check it with a parser.
• Working links — GitHub, LinkedIn and a live project link that open.
• Tailoring — Reorder bullets to match the job description.

What to practise

• Run your PDF through a parser test
• Rewrite each bullet as action + result
• Remove any skill you can't explain for 2 minutes

Common questions

• Walk me through your resume.
• Which project here are you most proud of, and why?
• Why is this skill on your resume?

Free resources

• OpenResume — Free ATS-friendly resume builder and parser test (Free)
• Jake's Resume (Overleaf) — The LaTeX resume template most SDE freshers use (Free)
• Resume Worded — Resume and LinkedIn scoring (Free plan)
• Jobscan — Match your resume against a job description (Free plan)

Free courses

• Professional Resume Writing — Alison (Free course)
• Resume, Networking, and Interview Skills — Fullbridge (Free to audit)

01.2Tell me about yourself

CoreBeginner1–2 h

A 60–90 second answer: present, past, why this role.

What this covers

• Present — Who you are now: degree, year, focus.
• Past — One or two proof points: a project, internship or result.
• Future — Why this role and this company next.
• Length — 60–90 seconds; stop before you list everything.
• Delivery — Calm pace and eye contact, not a memorised script.

What to practise

• Write it, then say it out loud 5 times
• Record yourself and cut anything over 90 seconds

Common questions

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why should we hire you?
• Where do you see yourself in a few years?

Free resources

• Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
• BBC Learning English — Structured free English lessons and podcasts (Free)

Free courses

• English@Work: Basic Job Interview Skills — The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Free to audit)
• Job Interview Preparation For Tech Professionals — University of Cape Town (Free to audit)

01.3Projects & internships

CoreIntermediate4–6 h

Explaining your project or internship like an engineer.

What this covers

• Problem & objective — What you set out to solve.
• Method — Design, calculations, experiments.
• Your contribution — Exactly what you did.
• Results & limits — Numbers and honest limitations.
• What next — How you would improve it.

What to practise

• Prepare a 3-minute project explanation with one diagram
• List five questions an examiner could ask

Common questions

• Explain your final-year project.
• What would you change if you did it again?

Free resources

• Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
• NPTEL — IIT/IISc course videos across engineering (Free)

02.1Mechatronics & robotics core

CoreIntermediate20–40 h

Sensors, actuators, control and robot kinematics.

What this covers

• Sensors & actuators — How robots sense and move.
• Control — PID and feedback.
• Kinematics — Forward and inverse kinematics.
• Embedded & PLC — Controllers and programming.
• ROS & simulation — Robot software basics.

What to practise

• Build or simulate a line-follower
• Tune a PID loop in simulation

Common questions

• How does a PID controller work?
• What is inverse kinematics?

Free resources

• ROS 2 documentation — Official Robot Operating System tutorials (Free)
• NPTEL — IIT/IISc course videos across engineering (Free)
• Arduino documentation — Official Arduino guides and tutorials (Free)

Free courses

• Robotics — Stanford University (Free video)
• MIT 6.832 Underactuated Robotics, Spring 2009 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Free video)
• Stanford AA289/ENGR319 - Robotics and Autonomous Systems Seminar — Stanford University (Free video)

02.2Programming fundamentals

CoreBeginner6–10 h

One language you know well: syntax, memory, complexity.

What this covers

• One language deeply — C++, Java or Python: syntax, standard library, quirks.
• Time & space complexity — Big-O of loops, recursion and common operations.
• Recursion — Base cases, the call stack, when it overflows.
• Memory basics — Stack vs heap, references vs values, garbage collection.
• Strings & arrays — Immutability, copying and slicing costs in your language.
• Debugging — Reading errors, dry runs, using a debugger.

What to practise

• Solve 10 easy problems without an IDE's help
• Explain the complexity of each solution aloud

Common questions

• What is the time complexity of your solution?
• What happens in memory when you call a function?
• Difference between an array and a linked list?

Free resources

• Harvard CS50x — The best first CS course there is (Free)
• HackerRank — Where many campus tests actually run (Free)
• GeeksforGeeks — Company-wise questions and theory (Free plan)

Free courses

• CS50's Introduction to Programming with Python (CS50P) 2022 — Harvard University (Free video)
• MIT 6.100L Introduction to CS and Programming using Python, Fall 2022 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Free video)
• Programming in Modern C++ — IIT Kharagpur (Free course)

02.3Embedded C & microcontrollers

CoreIntermediate10–15 h

Low-level C and how code runs on microcontrollers.

What this covers

• Pointers & memory — Volatile, const, memory-mapped registers.
• Bit manipulation — Set, clear, toggle, masks.
• Interrupts — ISRs and keeping them short.
• Timers & GPIO — Driving pins and measuring time.
• RTOS basics — Tasks, scheduling, semaphores.
• Debugging — Debuggers, logic analysers, printf.

What to practise

• Blink and debounce a button on a microcontroller board
• Write bit-manipulation helpers and test them

Common questions

• What does volatile mean?
• How do you set a bit in a register?
• What is an interrupt?

Free resources

• Arduino documentation — Official Arduino guides and tutorials (Free)
• NPTEL — IIT/IISc course videos across engineering (Free)
• All About Circuits textbook — Free electronics and electrical textbook (Free)

Free courses

• Embedded Systems Design — IIT Kharagpur (Free course)
• Embedded System Design with ARM — IIT Kharagpur (Free course)
• ACM India Summer School on IoT and Embedded Systems — IIT Madras (Free course)

03.1Linux & the command line

CoreBeginner4–8 h

Everyday commands, permissions and processes.

What this covers

• Navigation & files — ls, cd, find, grep, less.
• Permissions — chmod, chown, users and groups.
• Processes — ps, top, kill, background jobs.
• Networking tools — curl, ping, ss, dig.
• Shell scripting — Variables, loops, pipes, exit codes.
• Logs & services — journalctl, systemctl, tail -f.

What to practise

• Solve the first 15 levels of a command-line wargame
• Write a script that backs up a folder daily

Common questions

• How do you find which process uses a port?
• What does chmod 755 mean?

Free resources

• OverTheWire: Bandit — Command-line security games, level by level (Free)
• Professor Messer — Free networking and IT support video courses (Free)
• MIT OpenCourseWare — Real MIT course material, free (Free)

Free courses

• Command Line Hacking – Over The Wire Bandit Walkthrough (CTF Wargame) — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
• Linux for Absolute Beginners — Alison (Free course)
• Linux Basics: The Command Line Interface — Dartmouth College (Free to audit)

04.1Mock interviews

CoreBeginner3–5 h

At least two full practice interviews before the real one.

What this covers

• Realistic setting — Same format, time limit and dress as the real round.
• Common questions first — Introduction, motivation, experience, weaknesses.
• Feedback — Ask what was unclear or too long.
• Recording — Watch yourself once; fix fillers and pace.
• Role questions — Add 3–5 questions specific to your field.

What to practise

• Do two mock interviews with a friend or senior
• Use a spoken practice tool and read the transcript

Common questions

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why this role?

Free resources

• Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
• Pramp / Exponent peer mocks — Free peer-to-peer mock interviews (Free plan)
• Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)

Free courses

• Software Engineering Job Interview – Full Mock Interview — freeCodeCamp (Free video)

05.1Behavioral & STAR

CoreBeginner3–4 h

Stories about teamwork, conflict and failure, told with STAR.

What this covers

• STAR structure — Situation, task, action, result. Spend most of the time on action.
• Story bank — 6–8 real stories you can reuse across questions.
• Teamwork & conflict — Disagreeing respectfully and what you changed.
• Failure & weakness — A real one, what you learned, what you do now.
• Ownership — Times you took initiative without being asked.
• Common HR questions — Why us, why you, strengths, relocation.

What to practise

• Write 6 stories in STAR form
• Map each story to 2–3 common questions
• Practise one story with a friend

Common questions

• Tell me about a time you failed.
• Describe a conflict in a team and what you did.
• What is your biggest weakness?

Free resources

• Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
• Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
• Pramp / Exponent peer mocks — Free peer-to-peer mock interviews (Free plan)

Free courses

• Master Behavioral Interviews (for Software Engineers) — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
• Behavioral Interview Practice for Computer Science Students — CodeSignal (Free to audit)
• Soft Skills For Tech Professionals — University of Cape Town (Free to audit)

05.2Strengths & weaknesses

CoreBeginner1–2 h

Honest strengths with proof, and a real weakness you are working on.

What this covers

• Strengths with proof — Pick 2–3 and back each with one short example.
• A real weakness — Not a disguised strength; something you are actively improving.
• What you are doing about it — The habit, course or system that shows progress.
• Fit to the role — Strengths that matter for this job, not any job.

What to practise

• Write three strengths with one example each
• Practise the weakness answer until it sounds calm, not rehearsed

Common questions

• What are your greatest strengths?
• What is your biggest weakness?
• How would your friends or teammates describe you?

Free resources

• Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
• Indeed career guide: interviewing — Articles on common interview questions and answers (Free)
• Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)

Free courses

• Software Engineering Job Interview – Full Mock Interview — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
• A Complete Job Interview Skills Guide — Alison (Free course)
• English@Work: Advanced Job Interview Skills — The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Free to audit)

05.3Common HR questions

CoreBeginner2–3 h

The questions almost every HR round asks, answered honestly and briefly.

What this covers

• Why this company — Specific reasons from your research, not praise.
• Why should we hire you — Match two needs of the role to your proof.
• Gaps and changes — Explain gaps, backlogs or a branch change without excuses.
• Relocation, shifts, bonds — Know your real answer before the interview.
• Career goals — A realistic next step, connected to this role.
• Notice period and joining — Facts you should have ready.

What to practise

• Write short answers to ten common HR questions
• Say them aloud to a friend and cut anything over a minute

Common questions

• Why do you want to join us?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• Are you open to relocation?
• Why did you choose your branch or degree?

Free resources

• Indeed career guide: interviewing — Articles on common interview questions and answers (Free)
• Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
• AmbitionBox interviews — Interview experiences and company reviews from Indian candidates (Free)

Free courses

• Software Engineering Job Interview – Full Mock Interview — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
• A Complete Job Interview Skills Guide — Alison (Free course)
• Interview Preparation Skills for Accountants — Alison (Free course)

06.1Company research

CoreBeginner1–2 h

The product, the role, the job description and recent news.

What this covers

• The business — What it sells and to whom.
• The role — What the job description really asks for.
• Recent news — Launches, results, announcements.
• Interview format — The rounds, if the company shares them.
• Your fit — Three reasons, matched to the job description.

What to practise

• Write 3 reasons you want this role
• Match 3 JD lines to your experience

Common questions

• Why do you want to work here?
• What do you know about our product?

Free resources

• GeeksforGeeks — Company-wise questions and theory (Free plan)
• Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)

06.4Final checklist

CoreBeginner30 min

Logistics, documents, setup and a calm night before.

What this covers

• Logistics — Time, timezone, link or address.
• Documents — Resume copies, ID, certificates if asked.
• Tech check — Camera, mic, internet, charger.
• Night before — Sleep, light revision, no new topics.

What to practise

• Do a 5-minute tech check the day before
• Lay out documents and clothes the night before

Free resources

• Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)