I appeared for Engineering Service for first time and got 10th rank.

Fortunately or
unfortunately interview plays a very important role in final selection and ranking for
majority of us. I scored 164 marks out of 200.There is no simple solution for scoring
good marks in interview. It depends a lot on internal (the person,his personality,his
profile) as well as external factors (your panel, chairman
s marking pattern etc). Even a
single factor may dominate over others. Here I am sharing my experience of interview.
Some of you may agree or disagree with these points. But this is what I spoke in front of
panel and they awarded me these marks. Normally the truth is that it is very difficult to
judge how one has performed in UPSC interview.
My Profile in brief
I come from a village background from stare of haryana.I have done Btech in
MECHANICAL ENGG fromYMCA Faridabad.I worked with TCS for10 months.Then I
worked for panasonic for another 10 months.I prepared for gate during job itself.I then
took admission in IITDELHI for pursuing Mtech and there I prepared for engg services
on my own.I had mentioned swimming as my hobby.Presently I am undergoing
probation for IRSS Vadodara.
My panel was chaired by Mrs. Kilemsungla
I reached UPSC before time. Document verification was going on. We were made to sit
around a table. Just then somebody asked another person "I have seen you
somewhere" . Other person replied " may be in newspaper I am this year
s (2013) GATE
topper " .I asked him " what is your serial number for interview
. He said " 3rd" .Mine was
4th so I got a bit of nervous feeling.
As per me, more than 50 percentage of questions were new to me,or i had not prepared
for them.
Now I was called for the interview. I entered the room
Me: May I come in mam
Other member: come in
Me: Good morning to all of you
Member: Good Morning, have a seat
Me: Thank you sir.
Madam asking to other member (M2):: What is this AIR and all of them looked towards me.
Me: It is All INDIA RANK. Actually mam the last person was All India Topper of GATE.
M2: What was your rank
Me: Sir this year I didn
t appear, but last year I had scored 421 rank.
M2: This rank is high (he meant you didn
t perform well).
Me: Yes sir but I achieved while doing job where i had to spend more than 10 hours daily. I
even didn
t take any coachingThe authorised
M2 handed over to chairman madam
First two (madam and another member) asked about general issues.
Mam : What do you do other than swimming (i had written swimming as my hobby and had
prepared it very well)
Me: mam sometimes i play badminton, but because of preparations i have limited time for
these activities.

Mam: what are medical facilities available in your village (she saw my address)
Me: we have one primary health center, one hospital for animals. On two sides of village
within 3 kms we have hospitals with good facilities.
Mam: How many post graduates are there in your village
Me: Mam, overall there are nearly 25-30,but from engineering background i am the only one
pursuing post graduation (i was pursuing MTECH at IIT Delhi).
Mam: How will you utilise your mechanical engg for benefit of village.
Me: Mam, as such use of mechanical engg for further progress is limited at village level , but
on overall basis I can help them by creating awareness. I tell the people that we have rti, rte,
consumer courts etc.I even narrated one incidence how i helped somebody who was being
harassed by local electricity board people.
Mam: Who is ASHA worker
Me: It means accredited social health activist. One woman is appointed per thousand
population. She works to deliver drugs for dots, keeps record of pregnant women and
informing them how to take care of themselves and the foetus and neonatal. I told some
other functions
Mam: What is function of Aanganwadi (ICDS) worker (actually my mother is an ICDS worker)
Me: they work to reduce malnutrition by providing healthy food to child ,pregnant and
lactating women. They also provide some basic education to the children.(But somehow she
did not get it)

Mam: providing education is also their function.(she repeated nearly the same, Actually she
was speaking such a low voice that 1,2 times it was difficult to understand what she was
asking).what is qualification for aanganwaadi personnel
Me: mam for worker earlier it used to be 10th class and for helper their is no such
qualification. But due to increasing competition graduates are entering as worker.
Mam: what is this mca (actually she asked me what is YMCA , this is name of my graduation
college i guessed she might be asking YMCA and replied)
Me: It means Young Man Christian Association. I told them some history of my college.
She hinted towards another member
M3: What is khap panchayat
Me: These are group of people who tell others how to behave, how to live, what is good ,
what is not good etc.
M3: how they are selected
Me:normally there are no elections ,they are selected on the basis of their clout, money
power and social status.
M3: Why these are in news these days. (some intercaste killing was in news)
Me: Sir due to killing of people involved in intercaste marriage and intra gotra marriage.
M3: Why they are not stopped

Me: Actually sir the system has external pressure. These people have a high vote value. So
local politicians help them because there are elections after every 5 years. So even if police
acts, results are not very good
M3: If they are bad, why people follow them
Me: actually their follower are mainly those people who are either unemployed or employed
for part time. Well educated people hardly follow their diktats.

M3: What can be done about them

Me : Although they are involved in wrong activities, but one of such panchayats issued diktat
against female foeticide. Whole of village took active participation and over some period of
time sex ratio of village improved. If energy of these people is used in +ve works it can
benefit whole society.(i think this was a good point which i told them)
M3 hints towards M2
M2 covered my work experience and college
M2:What subject were taught you in BTech first year (I had forgotten most of the names)
Me: Electric Technology, Physics, Chemistry. I didn
t remember others and stopped.
M2: Were there some humanities subjects
Me: Yes sir economics was taught.
M2 : What about English, Maths
Me: Yes sir we were taught English for 1 semester ,maths for 3 semesters
M2: How is the level of teaching in your college?
Me:(whatever be quality we can
t say it was poor).Sir although it depends on the eagerness
of students also, but on overall basis it was very good and because of which only i am here
before you without any coaching (I hadn
t taken coaching except interview guidance)

M2:What subjects are taught in your mtech

Me :Named a few of them Casting, Welding, Metal forming etc
M2: You have done job in tcs for 1 years, Panasonic for 1 year, what are you doing ? You
have taken whole of the system for a ride? (Lag raha tha ki vo pelne ke mood me tha).
Me: Yes sir, I agree with you but if you see my background i was not aware of many things
at that point of time. After getting admission into IIT Delhi, i cleared for many psus like
ONGC, IOCL, BPCL (this is a long list) , even then i did not join any of them because i did
not want to waste a seat of prestigious institute. They have invested a lot of money on me.
Normally people leave their MTECH in between for job.
M2: What was your work in Panasonic
Me: Sir I used to work for vrf (a type of airconditioners) department
M2 :What about TCS

Me: Sir we used to develop applications for iOS devices (iphone,ipad etc) like app to book
airline tickets, city bank application, insurance apps.
M2: Can you tell me some of your applications you worked on
Me: Sir i was working on an insurance app in which insurance premium will depend on how s
mooth or rough you ride the vehicle. The ride quality data will be collected by phone and it
will be analysed. Ride quality will depend on the acceleration, deceleration and vibrations in
the vehicle
M2: Does this uses some concept of accelerometer and gyroscope
Me: Yes sir we use accelerometer to collect the acceleration data, gyroscope to collect
vibrations in various axis (as it will provide the angular movement).We even provided the
option for safety in case of accident or free fall from a hill.
M2: How did it performed in market (he meant did it sell well or not)
Me: Actually i resigned and don
t know the current situation.
M2 hinting towards M3
M3 covered my technical portion

M3 :What is 3d printing (a technology taught in our mtech)

Me:Sir this is a technology in which products are manufactured in finished shape in one
go.the powder or material is deposited as per the design created in .stl file,Then laser is
used to solidify it.I named some of rapid prototyping technologies. It is widely used
these days an aeroplane having 3d printed wings was tested. In America some people
manufactured a gun using this which can event shoot somebody. In space also they are
planning to take a 3d printer which will reduce the items to be carried to space.
M3: How does deposition takes place, block by block or layer by layer?
Me: Layer by layer (very basic question taught us in MTECH)
M3: What is forge welding
Me: I answered something but i don
t exactly remember the answer. For this question's
answer I was not sure so I started answer like this "sir i think and then .....".In the end he
also said yes (meaning I was right)

M3: What is electron beam welding

Me: Sir this is a type of welding in which high intensity laser beams are focussed to melt the
substance and then welding takes place. It has a high value of depth of penetration and heat
affected zone is small
M3 : What is the ratio of depth of penetration in lbw (laser beam welding)
Me: Sir i don
t know the exact value but it is better than other welding processes used
normally.
M3: Ok

Chairperson: Ok SUSHIL thank you

Me: Thank you mam
Some suggestions::
Don
t say something which may offend them
Don
t comment on political parties, political personalities or delay it as long as possible.
Stay positive and try to bring out positive things. Many of questions were new to me, but as I
had attended many PSU
s interview, may be it helped me somehow.
Although I should have written this earlier but as i was preparing for Civils, so I could not
devote time for this. Best of luck to all of you. Don
t be tensed life is much more than clearing
UPSC. Suggestion and Criticism is welcome.
SUSHIL KUMAR
ESE 2013 Rank 10
Mechanical engineering
Written score :495
Interview score:164
Total score :659