Not easy. GSE is an SME that operates with the fierceness of a startup. They have a focused can-do/cannot-do attitude to asking about projects in university and technical knowledge that there's less back-and-forth from chatting about know-how and more weight on the technical exam.
I interviewed with my to-be manager of the projects and field service department to test my technical knowledge and he cared the most about the hardware prototype and hands-on assembly of a multimeter project I was part of in my 2nd year. From my describing the circuit and software we wrote, he was most interested when I gave him a physical demonstration of 'which part does what and how'.
His thumbs-up led to a technical exam on drafting methods and 3D modelling on some intermediate difficult shapes from Modelmania, as well as a brain-teaser on 2D to 3D geometric extrapolation. I was given an hour and a half to complete the 3 questions.
The last stage of the process was a chat with the HR manager and co-owner Christine Loh, which was a non-technical interview about the company and the human aspect of working at GSE.
Altogether, it was a fast-paced interview sequence with staff that display firsthand their traditional working culture. It was further smoothened by a great HR admin that processed my application quickly and arranged the 3 meetings so that I received my offer letter a week from when the first interview was scheduled.
