Hi everyone, I am Anubhav Agarwal. I did a remote Digital Design internship at TI Bangalore this summer, and here is my experience in the entire process:
The Selection
The selection for internship consists of two rounds- The test and interview.
The digital test consisted primarily of questions from Boolean algebra, FSM design, some mind-boggling questions on binary to decimal conversion and gate implementation to realise a particular logic, etc. Concepts related to setup time, hold time, max clock frequency are also frequent. The marking pattern was +2/-0.5. It is crucial to utilise your time judiciously while giving the exam.
The interview round consists of two interviews where one is tested for their thought process and problem-solving ability. It is advisable to narrate out the procedure while solving a problem given by the interviewer. Here, concepts related to FSM design, max clock frequency for a given combinational circuit, general reasoning questions, leakage current in transistors, etc. are asked. If you do well enough in your first round, you may be selected right away and would not have to appear for the second round.
The clarity in fundamentals related to Digital design(EE 224) with the active presence of mind is crucial as well as sufficient to crack the selection process.
The Internship and WFH experience
The administration at Texas Instruments did its best to set up a virtual platform for the remote version of the internship. We received phone calls from our mentors one week before the starting date to familiarise ourselves and introduce the problem statement. On the first day, we were given our login IDs and introduced to the technical infrastructure necessary for working remotely.
I was given the task of debugging Link Loss feature in an upcoming Ethernet Physical Layer Transceiver chip (Don't worry, even I didn't know what it meant :P). The first few weeks involved familiarisation with existing design and subsequent period consisted of identifying and solving known issues in it.
During the internship, strong emphasis is placed on working independently and coming up with your approach to tackling a problem. The mentor will guide and assist you. However, you cannot expect to be spoonfed at every step, which makes the internship all the more challenging and a new learning experience. You are evaluated on the basis of how well you do your work and in what duration. It is appreciable to interact with your colleagues and get the most out of the two months you have. The HR regularly conducts sessions for helping interns interact with the experts and best minds working at TI.
The overall experience provided us with a good insight into what the industry has to offer, the work culture, which would undoubtedly help me navigate through my upcoming career choices.