Former SpaceX Engineer builds an AI tool to help you get a job!
I had to test this one for myself. Here’s what happened...
Sponsored post.
Interviews are hard.
And that’s if you get past the dreaded CV-writing, Job-searching and application-submitting trek…!
Some of my most engaging and popular LinkedIn posts are tips on how to get yourself out there effectively:
“The Employer across the table isn’t obliged to give you that Simulation job…”
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7328739695620730880/
“The CFD / FEA manager wants you on their team…”
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7342872807782920192
It’s an arduous journey - I’ve struggled to secure Engineering design positions over my career too.
It wasn’t until later I learnt how to get more hiring managers to finish with “Yes” and “When can you start?”...
What Engineering Interviewers really want
You can study for years, ace your classes and even build projects…
And yet you freeze when you’re hit with a real-world problem interview question.
Questions like:
“Design a system to monitor vibrations in an offshore platform - how would you size and place the sensors?”
“Given a pump curve and a system resistance line, how do you find the operating point?”
“What safety factors would you build in if you were stress-testing this component?”
The truth? Schooling teaches you theory.
Top-tier engineering companies like SpaceX & Tesla test your ability to solve problems and think from first principles.
They will test your ability to:
Apply theoretical models to real-world scenarios
Find solutions to problems you haven’t seen before
Identify critical failure modes and constraints
Think like an elite engineer, not a top student
Real engineering is hard. It’s messy, open-ended and multi-faceted.
You think you’re ready.
Then that first job hits and you realize how much you don’t actually know.
You struggle because you don’t get the intuition and skills to handle real-world chaos.
Meet Snubber - an interactive interview platform built for Hardware Engineers like you.
Snubber is a new interactive platform built by a former SpaceX Engineer, designed to help Mechanical, Aerospace and Manufacturing Engineers prepare for technical interviews at the most competitive hardware companies in the world.
Think SpaceX, RocketLab, Blue Origin, Firefly, Anduril, Relativity and Tesla.
The team at Snubber (founded by a former SpaceX Engineer) built an interactive platform to do what schools fail to do: prepare hardware engineers for the messy, unpredictable, real-world engineering problems faced in industry daily.
Instead of neat problems that fit in a conveniently-sized textbook, you get thrown into real-world scenarios that actually help you think critically, giving you interview confidence.
To help you do this, Snubber features:
Over 900+ technical interview questions modelled after real interviews at SpaceX, Tesla, and other top engineering companies
A proprietary AI engine integrated into the platform to give personalised feedback on your answers, checking what you got technically right / wrong and will teach you real engineering
It’s not about the grades or number of points you can stack.
It’s about learning to solve problems from first principles.
And building the kind of thinking that will get the engineering hiring manager to say “Yes” to you too.
I just had to take Snubber.AI for a test-drive myself…
When you login, you’re immediately presented with a contrasting, clean UI, where it feels nice to be in as an Engineer.
On the left the topics are listed and easily pinned (I went for the ‘Fluid Mechanics’ one of course!).
In the middle of the screen, a question from one of the topics listed is given and an answer box is provided.
Here’s a screenshot from that:
After writing my answer, I got a grading of 4.6/5.0 (not bad, I’d say!).
But the coolest thing was the detailed feedback organised for the physics and critical thinking I had used in my answer.
It even gave me a recommended, ‘expert-level’ response.
Nifty!
Whilst a promising platform, the current blog could be expanded and become a great resource for all.
Why I like what they’re doing at Snubber…
Snubber is not another course or interview preparation platform that I’ve seen before.
It feels more like a sandbox that builds the exact problem-solving skill that companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and Firefly actually test for.
It is designed to develop the engineering judgment that matters on the job.
Incredible if you ask me, potentially a game-changer.
Computer Science and Programming students have had access to multiple platforms like Leetcode, HackerRank and CodeWars but Hardware Engineers have been ignored.
Until now.
By the time you’ve gone through it, you’ll walk into interviews thinking differently.
Where others see textbook problems, you’ll see failure modes.
Where others apply formulas, you’ll question the assumptions.
Because they know that in the real world, engineering is not about passing exams.
It’s about designing things that don’t fail when people depend on them.
Final thoughts
I don’t write about tools often, but Snubber caught my attention because it tackles a problem that has never really been addressed before - a problem that I’ve felt myself and seen over and over in others.
If you’re an aspiring engineering student, junior Engineer learning the ropes or even mid-career wanting to get to those higher positions, give it a try and see what it can do for you.
Click here to try Snubber’s daily challenge - use my code ‘NASSER10’ for 10% OFF your first month!
(discount applies only to the monthly subscription)
I’ve said it many times - Engineering demands your personal best in practice.
And Snubber will help you in that journey.
Keep striving. ✊
Nasser
Disclaimer:
All content in this post and newsletter is my own production and do not reflect the opinions or positions of my employers, partners or associates.