Interview Experience – Texas Instruments (Off Campus)

This is my interview experience with Texas Instruments India. I was searching for job in circuit design field and what could be a better opportunity than TI.

I applied to TI on their career site (as most of us do), but apparently received NO response. Then I started connecting to people who are working in TI and started talking to them.

Finally I got connected to a HR person. She shortlisted my resume and got me connected to their hiring partner Careernet for online test. They scheduled an online test on that day itself.

Online Written Test

There were 7 questions in the test and 10 minutes was given. I was able to solve 6 of them (5 of them correct, I guess). The questions were related to op-amp, RC network and basic CMOS. I remember one question was on frequency response of op-amp and one was on capacitor voltage distribution. I waited for the result and after 2 days I got to know that I was able to get through it.

Offline Written Test

After the Online test, HR from TI mailed me to give offline written test at TI Delhi office and she also asked me for choice of profile so that the written test agenda could be set. As a circuit designer, I confidently chose Analog design for written test and hence was further informed that the written paper will have section comprising of analog design and mathematical aptitude. I went ahead for the written test after brushing up my basics.

The written test was of 90 minutes and composed of two sections, aptitude and analog, 20 questions each. I can tell you, this was the most fundamental written test I have ever faced. Aptitude section was relatively easy but Analog section was testing the real fundamentals.

There were questions on RC, RL and RLC circuits, resistor divider circuit, capacitor divider circuit, clipper and clamper, Thevenin’s equivalent, op-amp, pole-zero analysis, BJT circuit (CE configuration). Questions were not straight forward, so it’s really important to have your basics clear.

Telephonic Interview:

Following the written test, HR scheduled the telephonic interaction, and they were pretty flexible with the date and timings. On the day of interaction, I was surprised by the fact that there was a panel on the other side to interview me. They started with the introduction and then started to ask about my projects, which I comfortably answered. At that point of time I had concluded my thesis, so their next set of questions were on my thesis which is on sense amplifiers for flash memories. They were more focused on how much improvement I was able to make in terms of different sense amplifier topologies. All and all interview lasted for around 1.5Hrs and it went well. They asked me to wait for the response from their side.

On-Campus Interview:

After 2 days, I got a mail from HR saying that they want to interview me On-campus. HR scheduled my visit to the TI campus, I negotiated and took a week to prepare for it. I went thoroughly on all my projects and thesis. I revised my basics and studied Razavi for Analog CMOS fundamentals. I vaguely remember the topics of my written test and I focused more on those topics. Then came the day of the interview, I was feeling like this could be one of the most important day of my life. As I entered into the campus, a person took me to the place and the place was The Kilby Labs, India. I was getting interviewed for Kilby labs, this made me nervous and excited at the same time. Anyways, interview started. It was a panel of 6 people, all of them from Kilby labs. Discussion started with my introduction and then my thesis. Then the discussion turned from sense amps to the flash memory cells for which the sense amps were designed. Then they started to give me transient circuits with different combination of R, L and C with various voltage and current stimulus and asked me to draw current and voltage waveforms across the components. I was able to do it but with little help from interviewers. Then they drew one circuit, which I later realized was a charge pump circuit and asked me to analyze the voltage at different node in every cycle. I really struggled with this question but finally somehow I was able to do it. With this question my interview ended. I checked the time and it was 2hrs 20mins. Then we took a break for tea followed by 30mins interaction with the group manager of Kilby labs and 30mins interaction with HR, both of them positive. And then my day ended with an uncertainty in my mind about being in TI ever again.

Finally HR mailed me after 15 days or so that they could not take my candidature forward because it does not match the requirements of Kilby labs 😥 . I replied saying it was a wonderful and full of learning experience. Finally, I tapped my back saying well tried and moved ahead with my job search.

P.S. This whole process took almost a month, so a suggestion from my side will be to be patient and confident in your job search. All the very best !!!

Contributed by: Jitendra Yadav