Throughout my education, Co-op has played an important role in my learning experience and I was excited about the various career options I could approach. Initially, I wanted to find a biomedical Co-op placement related to my field of study, however, after my previous co-op experience at a biomedical startup LungPacer, I knew I needed more experience in design development with a larger team.  

In my case, I applied for Intel which is the world’s largest and highest valued multinational semiconductor chip maker that specializes in processors and SSDs. I thought that through this experience I could not only hone my communication skills in a team but also gain the necessary skills to prepare for my future career as a design engineer.  One of the benefits of working in a large company is that the amount of expertise and help is never lacking, and teamwork plays a large role in successful product development. Even though I had completed all three terms in my undergraduate, working at such a specialized company was invaluable to my learning.

At Intel, I worked as a Silicon Validation engineer which is mainly focused on systems validation. There is a good mix of hardware and software needed in the post-silicon stage of the development, and the diversity of technical skills needed to validate the silicon is well spread. I’ve had the privilege of scripting automation for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) testing, worked with firmware and hardware validation by DMM.  I also worked with some state-of-the-art LeCroy and Logic Analyzer equipment to validate the product. Lastly, but most importantly, I had the chance to work on my ability to communicate my engineering thoughts clearly in a team, and honed my soft skills to work in the industry as a team player at Intel.

Overall, the experience at Intel of Canada has been the best and friendliest experience I ever had as a Co-op student here, because employees treat everyone with an equal amount of respect.