Hello and welcome to my blog! Something tells me that exact sentence has been used ad infinitum in the context of blogging, yet here we are. As you can probably tell, this is my (Riley Joinnides’) personal blog for Oregon State University’s computer science capstone course. This will be my final course in the program. As I near the end of the program, I have been reflecting on my time in the program and how I can use the skills I have acquired in my current job as an engineer in the semiconductor industry.
Working in the semiconductor industry has given me first hand experience in how semiconductor chips are made. Semiconductor factories, commonly referred to as “foundries”, are heavily automated and make use of complex software systems to manufacture semiconductor chips. Not only are the systems coordinating the manufacturing in these foundries highly digitized, the tools making the chips generally are as well. Let me clarify exactly what I mean by tool; typically tools in the semiconductor industry are large machines housing multiple smaller components that are responsible for a single step in the manufacturing process. For the past three and a half years I have been working for a company that makes tools for semiconductor manufactures such as Intel and Micron.
Despite our tool being very technically complex, the software that the user interacts with is not very well developed. Compared to the competition, our software leaves a lot to be desired. Following graduation, I intend to use the knowledge I’ve gained to improve our software and our customers’ experience.
