Currently, I'm into my fourth year of working in microprocessor design
at AMD, where most
recently, I've been involved in manipulating the datapath of the
floating point unit for one of the many chips/projects going on
company-wide. In a little over a month, I'll be sabbatical-eligible
(which really doesn't mean much; technically, I'm also eligible to be
a Senior MTS, but I don't see them promoting me two levels out of
nowhere anytime soon, do you?).
[EDIT [2009/10/16]:
I took my AMD sabbatical in August of 2008, spending a few weeks in the lush rainforests
of Costa Rica, after which two things happened: (1) I got in touch with a recruiter
who had contacted me two years previously...who was now with Apple, and (2) my health
took a downturn (full details are unnecessary. let's just say that I lost the genetic
lottery and am now engaged in a battle of the wits against my own immune system
for the rest of my life, or so the doctors tell me).
I'm now about
ten months into my gig at Apple, working
on "iPhone Hardware" in a group called "Mobile Silicon." Various
NDAs, signed and unsigned, prevent me from detailing anything else.
It's nice to have risen up a notch on the corporate ladder: no longer am I doing the "grunt-work" that characterised my first year and a half, but instead, I get to sit around and think more. And in the end, isn't that the entire goal of engineering?
Prior to that, I served a two-year stint as a graduate
student at Berkeley [coursework], focusing my studies
mostly on analog/RF IC design. It's actually kind of funny: now I
work in a largely digital IC world, if I even see a transistor, that
is. And a lot of my colleagues are those who despised analog design
with a vengeance, which is how they ended up in the digital world of
1s and 0s. But despite all the grad-school horror tales you may hear
my grad-school buddies and me commiserate about, when I look back on
the experience, I'm definitely glad I went to grad school. It's a
different view of the same world, and something that has forever
shaped my perspective on the way things work. And let's face it: it's
probably most important for me to now know that I do not want to
pursue a Ph.D in engineering than to forever wonder about the
proverbial "what might have been."
To the left you'll see me pictured with Sherylen, the cornerstone of my
eternal state of happiness and optimism (and some would say sappiness
too) these days. She's turned out to be more than I ever could have
imagined: a best friend, soulmate, and eventual-life-partner all in
one package that I was lucky enough to stumble upon.
I met her a long time ago (in a galaxy far far
away...mentally for me at least) when we both interned at the same
company. And after we both went through our own life
experiences and reconnected a few years later, things were
just...different. But in a good way. And the rest, as they say, is
history. Most notably, she's gotten me to watch every episode of
Sex & the City
as well as getting me hooked on the Food Network. On the other hand,
I haven't yet been successful in
converting her into a hockey fan (or a sports fan of any kind for that
matter), but it's only a matter of time before that happens, eh?
Right? Come on, it has to happen eventually, doesn't it????
[EDIT [2009/10/16]: Ok, I give up. Two
years of marriage will teach anyone (myself included) that the wifey
is always right. Well, not always, but when in doubt, assume that she is,
and you'll be correct most of the time. We've settled into our own
lives with our own hobbies...I'm still crazy as ever about the hockey,
and in kind, she's got her wacky world of facebook games. And most
recently, she's on a Restaurant City kick, so if you have any virtual
sugar you want to sell her, go for it!
When not doing something work-related or sleeping, I can often be found watching a hockey game of some sort, doing something convoluted to my computer, working on my skating and/or wrist shots at the ice rink, or thinking of the next thing in my house that needs working on (as an excuse to go wander around the Home Depot, of course). So far, I've only gone as far as remodeling some closets and refurbishing an old end table. But I did discover how to make sparks fly by using my circular saw to cut through a fiberglass/wood composite hockey stick.
Also, here's a shameless plug for my hockey team's website. We began
play in April 2006, which isn't bad, considering that as of December
2005, not a single one of us on the team had ever strapped on a set
of ice hockey gear before, and some of us could barely skate.
[EDIT [2009/10/16]:
Three full years later, and the hockey team is still going strong. On the side,
I've picked up a half-time gig on another team full of guys way more
talented than I've ever played with, with the hopes that I'll pick up
hockey skills by osmosis. Because we all know how well that works
in academics too, eh? Funny though, that a few guys on this new team of
mine were fellow EECS majors (just a year behind me) at Cal, yet I
never met them outside the context of the ice rink...go figure.
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Just in case you're wondering, about the opening page:
And now, a picture of my stuffed koala
