ANSYS

ANSYS is an engineering simulation software developer spread throughout the world and has a prominent presence in India. It is more popular through its packages like ANSYS Fluent, ANSYS CFX, ANSYS Multiphysics, ANSYS Workbench etc In the previous placement season, they came to IIT Madras and selected 4 of which two denied the offer on the day itself. This brief write up gives a basic idea of what they look for in a student. They came in with two profiles; Algorithm Development and Service and Support. Algorithm development is a hard core coding profile. In such a case they will be developing new software packages for the company for their clients. In here the programing skills and knowledge to implement algorithms come into play. Service and Support profile is not that coding intensive. Just a basic knowledge of coding is sufficient. It is more of an application based profile. They interact with the clients and help them implement the packages for their particular purposes. Occasionally, we may be invited to do the analysis for the client. But mostly, it is helping the clients with little tweaks in the program and handling some intricate details that the client cant trace. All the selected people were offered posting in their Pune office. They observe the work culture to be quite free and promote free thinking. The prospect of further growth in career is also bright. Undergraduates and Dual degree students start off with a pay check of about 6-6.5 lakhs but a postgraduate walks away with a pay check of about 7 lakhs. Their placement procedure involves a screening test followed by an HR interview and then either one or two technical interviews. There was a CGPA cut off of 8 this season. The technical interview was telephonic and had two panellists on the other end of the line, though the students were quite comfortable with the experience. The screening test involves basics in whichever profile we choose. There were very few questions i.e. about five or six questions penetrating to the basics to be answered in an hour. The questions were also profile dependent. Questions pertaining to the basics of algorithm development were asked for such a profile. But it shouldnt be taken lightly, because the questions, even though basic challenged the thinking capabilities. The nature of questions can be compared to JEE questions. The later profile involved questions in basic physics and basic engineering courses, but a word of caution: they are not going to be easy. The questions make you think in a higher intellectual level though you can build it up from your basics. All the questions will be subjective and involves numerical calculations. But they give preferences to the way you arrived at a number rather than the final answer. Even if you leave the final answer in terms of variables, it works fine. If you get through the screening test, you enter into the most crucial aspect of the selection procedure: Technical Interview(s). The TI(s) are usually modelled on the basis of your screening test. There, you will be asked to explain the basis of your

answers in your screening test. This could be a crucial step in their decision making process. Incase there are two TIs, this ensures your passage into the second one. The second TI is a checking of your credentials and your basics. A person who is enthusiastic about the company is supposed to have strong foundations and should show that they have the capability to implement the various principles in the applications they have. They go thoroughly through your resume and check for instances where you have applied you knowledge in your subject whether it be fluid dynamics or structures in coding and solved a problem. Moreover they test for your visualisation capabilities. They may ask you to visualise a geometrical figure and ask you questions about it. You are supposed to answer to these questions without the help of paper and pen, purely using your imaginative capabilities. Projects with professors were found to be quite helpful for undergraduates. In such a case projects which involve simulation of problems using FLUENT etc.. were found to be quite useful. The knowledge of other packages such as MATLAB was also found to be useful. Under graduates should select their electives intelligently. Electives should preferably involve assignments with coding assignments. For example in Aerospace Engineering, courses such as thermoacoustic instabilities provide ample coding experience. It is to be noted that they dont care mostly about the coding part, but more about how the knowledge in the subject is utilised in case of the later profile. The aforementioned capabilities of a student are judged in the TI through various steps. In case of Postgraduates, where they take some amount of higher research and project knowledge for granted, they mainly focus on fundamentals. So they check if we can arrive at any useful conclusions based on the fundamentals of the subject whether it is fluid mechanics or structures or any other field. They also analyse our visualisation capabilities. Students may be asked to visualise a 3-D object, and then various questions may be asked on the particular object. But an Undergraduate or Dual Degree student must establish his research experience or programing capabilities through various projects he did and courses he took. So there will be a through scrutiny of your resume points. Students should be ready with any answers on the methodology and methods employed in such a project/course. Sometimes we may be asked how we could proceed with the project if some changes are made, or perhaps, a project on a higher level of complexity may be given for which some methodology of solution with ample reasoning must be provided. All the questions must be answered with utmost clarity and with confidence. This is possible only if we give a thorough check on the projects we did. HR interview is more of a meeting between the representative and the student. Here usual questions like our hobbies, habits (eg: reading newspaper) are asked. It is just a place to check if we are socially compatible with people and if we can be team players. All that a student has to do is to behave cordially and not take much pressure. If all the above criterion are meet, then you are a top contender for the job. All the best for your preparations and please ensure that you have gone through flyers on all the basic courses.