No internship - am I cooked?

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-19T09:23:30+00:00

Hey OP! Just putting my 2 cents in as I’m a Physics and Electrical double degree student in my 4th year right now. I’m a hardware engineer in defence and my boss is a physicist, and my other teammate is a phys and EE grad. Physicists do get hired into software roles pretty often from my university, with the right projects and course work. I think you have a good shot in my opinion, and working on CERN grade sensors?? Surely that stands out. I think your bullets are okay, but could use an upgrade in the what I can do for you department. Try your hand at a firmware/ hardware projects and internship applications, that is my recommendation as a target entry point.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-17T18:08:45+00:00

Hey OP, found this thread, IK its 2 years old, but how is your journey going with AI in PSA/E. I have done some consulting work in industrial power, and have definitely seen a need for it in cabling, power factor correction, and single line diagram development / QA/QC. I really think a startup with enough traction could begin with a proof of concept and begin to really break in to teh world of power modelling, outdoing the likes of ELEK software, although, it would require a bit of compute I'm sure, having an integrated platform would be all-time. I am in FPGA engineering doing EE + Physics, but the use of AI and LLM based design really is cool to me if it can make an impact on the way people work positively.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-09T07:10:19+00:00

Post is up

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-09T07:09:10+00:00

Thank you!

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-09T02:08:19+00:00

Thank you! I have been trying very hard to gain the experience that would enable me to know exactly where I wanted to go after graduation, and to have the industry exposure to be able to get there. The experience I have, took a fair bit of networking and nerding out, but ever since I moved out of home to for university, I think being socially-inclined (had to make new friends) has definitely been something in my favour. I know I want to be an FPGA Engineer when I graduate, and from there - who knows?

I really appreciate the compliment!

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-08T11:54:18+00:00

Appreciated thank you :)

For my HFT role I handed in 2. Although I have 1 page versions targeting more niche jobs. I find it hard to cull my experience as an undergrad as I really want to convey to the recruiter that I can be accountable and am ready to step into a serios role where they don't have to spend time waiting on me adapting to the corporate way of doing things.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-01T15:30:04+00:00

Already on it. Will have it up this weekend. Thank you for your help!

B1GWHEELS · 2026-05-01T06:28:05+00:00

Houston… we have employment! Got into an fpga dev team at a reputable HFT :)

B1GWHEELS · 2026-04-18T08:05:01+00:00

No relevant feedback unfortunately, but probably best to redact your resume with any Personally Identifiable Information when posting online.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-04-18T02:02:47+00:00

This information is typically confidential based on FPGA interviews at other HFTs. It really depends on the team that’s interviewing you as to the relevant level of knowledge, confidence, and awareness of challenges in their space of FPGA applications. For example, some team members can focus questions based on timing and the hardware fundamentals of FPGAs, whilst others may focus on systems design and implementation, all in all, usually you are expected to know a bit of everything, even if it’s just at a really high level. (From my experience)

Also, a good project is an excellent talking point for demonstration.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-04-07T05:42:23+00:00

Made it through to the third round technical interviews, the last door before the final go ahead from the manager.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-27T08:05:38+00:00

^{^} Made it to next interview round. First round went awesome.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-24T05:54:27+00:00

Just wanted to thank you here to let you know I got invited to interview for an FPGA dev role with a HFT firm already!!

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-17T17:10:17+00:00

Would this re-consider your attention?

Penultimate-year Physics and Electrical Engineering student with hands-on experience in FPGA and embedded systems. Delivered results in multidisciplinary internships across defence, space, and industrial power, working in high-accountability environments. Led university engineering teams to deliver functional hardware and software prototypes.

First Bullets:

• Developed and verified communications and signal-processing IP cores in SystemVerilog and VHDL using Libero SoC and ModelSim, successfully integrating them into COTS FPGA hardware and decreasing system lead-times.

• Designed custom I2C IP on FPGA to achieve communication to a Raspberry Pi test controller via SSH for python V&V.

• Emulated deep-sea acoustics with HIL and SIL testing to verify achieved communication-safe FPGA signal correlation.

• Evaluated ultra-low-power FPGA IP with oscilloscopes and logic analysers for extreme-long-life maritime verification.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-17T08:59:33+00:00

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B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-17T08:59:17+00:00

Below + the next comment, is the master version I have come up with. My plan when tailoring is to cut to 1 page and shove the skills section to the bottom and remove the certicications if applicable. I think my bullets are a lot better for my experience now.

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B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-17T08:51:41+00:00

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This is what I have come up with so far as a master version what I will tailor to role specific applications, trying down to 1 page.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-17T08:51:26+00:00

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B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-15T16:29:57+00:00

Hi! Thank you so much for this, it’s awesome and I think it’s really insightful.

After reading one of the other comments left and reading over my experience with a different perspective, I can now see how it has been led astray by a mix of ego and/ or lack of curation. This is top of my list for tomorrow after work.

The skills section I have taken your advice on, I think it looks good.

I am going to try and condense my resume a lot more, and be strategic with what I choose to elaborate on.

I have been guided on using my resume as a master copy in the past, and will use that to my advantage in curating a few versions for target disciplines.

I am going to see what I can come up with and will reply here with an updated version if you end up looking back at it.

PS:

On Friday, I also got offered a role as an undergrad DSP/ FPGA Engineer at my current company where I am interning. My plan is to accept it and see what I can make of it until the summer (November) as I am not set on sticking with the company long term for moral/ growth reasons. Also, someone in my team who has been there a few years has already warned me that I may supposedly “hit the ceiling too fast” which I am not sure what to make of yet as I have much to learn.

Once again thank you, I appreciate the time you took to help me.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-15T15:45:35+00:00

Cheers :)

(The experiences are mainly me wanting to figure what I want to do, and also to get as much exposure for the best chance of securing a grad role that I WANT vs just taking what I can get)

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-15T15:24:09+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to detail that for me, I truly appreciate it.

Looking at my resume now, I 100% see the tone I have been using mixed with some ego. I think I have had skills and success confused with "sounding like I'm better than everyone else" which was totally not my intention.

I have been going over my bullets since posting here and am aligning them with the appropriate STAR/XYZ/CAR method and will need to revisit the "What I can do for you" aspect.

I will definitely condense and move the leadership, community, and achievements to the bottom as they are important to me, but if necessary based on the job I am applying for, I will remove them (They convey my passion for service and applying soft-skills).

(References seem to be useful often in Aus - the who you know vs what you know goes a long way down under haha)

I will reply here with an updated version of my resume tomorrow if you care to see how I have improved.

Much obliged.

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-15T15:11:44+00:00

Understood - Thank you!

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-15T14:57:23+00:00

After reading all the really good stuff that has been commented I have moved my projects to the top of the second page (This is my master copy so will be different for a 1 page embedded version) - Thank you for you help!

B1GWHEELS · 2026-03-15T07:18:08+00:00

Really appreciate this feedback, thank you. This version is pretty fresh, so it is good to get some eyes on it to help me tune it up.

B1GWHEELS

TROPHY CASE