S6E30 Jake Whinnery | Resources for Interviewing & Landing Engineering Jobs

Being an Engineer · 25 Jul 2025 · 53m · Episode 30

What this episode covers

Jake Whinnery, a mechanical engineer at Apple and co-founder of Hardware Is Hard, discusses his journey from internships at Tesla, Relativity Space, and NASA to leading a community resource for 13,000+ engineers. He explains how Hardware Is Hard provides interview guides, technical Q&As, and career advice to help mechanical engineers land roles at top tech companies. Whinnery highlights the importance of internships, the specific technical questions asked in hardware interviews, and emerging trends in AR/VR, US manufacturing, and robotics.

Mentioned

Companies
Apple, Tesla, Relativity Space, NASA Ames, Meta, Procter and Gamble, Triple Ring
Products
Hardware Is Hard
Tools
Glassdoor, PitchBook, ChatGPT
Also
Formula SAE, Hyperloop, Enable Tech, University of Waterloo

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Builder Circle · 18m

    For Hardware Startups by Hardware People: Building The Builder Circle with Host, Sera Evcimen

    Sera Evcimen, a mechanical engineer and startup mentor, explains the mission of The Builder Circle podcast to support hardware founders through case studies and practical advice. She details her background working on diverse products like satellites and robotics, which led to her hypothesis on common hardware failure modes. Evcimen outlines upcoming affordable resources, including 'The Building Blocks' strategy packages, designed to democratize high-quality hardware decision-making for startups with limited budgets.

  • Embedded.fm · 46m

    1: Start Tinkering

    Elecia White, Jen Costillo, and Starr Simpson discuss their personal journeys into hardware tinkering and the practical tools needed to get started. They share detailed stories of specific projects, including Costillo’s RFID dance system, Simpson’s Taco Copter drone, and White’s posture-correcting t-shirt, highlighting the technical challenges and lessons learned. The conversation covers essential gear for beginners, sourcing components from markets like Shenzhen, and the importance of documenting projects for career development.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 14m

    An Interview with Luke Iseman of yCombinator

    Luke Iseman, head of hardware at Y Combinator, discusses the unique challenges and opportunities in building hardware startups, emphasizing that hardware is becoming easier and faster to iterate than many founders realize. He highlights specific companies like Nebbia, which sells a high-end showerhead, and T-Bot, a commercial tea dispensing robot, as examples of successful hardware ventures that leverage branding and user-centric design over pure technical complexity. Iseman explains Y Combinator's support system, including their mini-lab resources and network of manufacturing partners, which helps founders move from prototype to production quickly. The conversation also covers the importance of validating product-market fit through crowdfunding and direct user feedback, rather than getting bogged down in early-stage cost optimization.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 10m

    An Interview with Simone Giertz

    Simone Giertz, CEO of Artificial Stupidity and host at Tested, discusses her transition from a Maker in Residence at Punch Through to building 'shitty robots' for entertainment. She explains how combining comedy with hardware engineering helped her reach a mass audience, contrasting her approach with traditional educational content from companies like Adafruit and SparkFun. Giertz also details her experiences at CES, her struggles with mechanical engineering and sourcing parts for potential maker kits, and her philosophy on 'beginner's mind' in learning new skills like welding and 3D modeling.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 09m

    Vellicate Videogame Vocation

    Jeff Kaiser, founder of the MightyOhm electronics kit business, discusses his transition from self-employment to joining Valve as a hardware engineer. He details Valve's unique flat organizational structure, the rigorous interview process, and the importance of maintaining a public portfolio of open-source hardware projects to demonstrate engineering breadth. The conversation also covers the scaling challenges of the Pebble Kickstarter campaign and the legal implications of Twitter's Innovators Patent Agreement.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Being an Engineer. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.