***Editor’s Note: The “I Became An Engineer” blog runs every Friday. To share your story email jennifer.delaosa@advantagemedia.com***
This week’s story comes to us from ECN reader Katie Purcell, Applications Engineer, Achronix.
Growing up in Virginia, I never thought I would become an engineer. Not that I didn’t want to be an engineer—the thought just never crossed my mind. As a kid, I spent most of my free time pursuing various arts. I loved music, learning to play the flute, piccolo, and later the electric bass, on top of spending many years studying classical ballet. While it may not be considered art, I also loved baking; the process of perfecting old recipes and the creativity of coming up with new ones.
The common thread with all of these creative endeavors is how important it is to learn and understand the fundamentals. Once you have the basics down, you can let your creativity help you reach new heights in your field of focus. Practice the same steps, the same notes, or the same recipes until it just feels like it’s a part of you. That’s when you can start throwing in your own personal style, and with dance, music, and baking, you can then share the results of your personal style with others.
When I started college, I didn’t know much about engineering. Fortunately, I had a solid background in math and science, and liked the idea of putting those two disciplines together to come up with creative solutions to real problems.
My journey toward engineering wasn’t always the easiest. I had never taken a computer class until I was in college, so studying Electrical and Computer Engineering took extra work. But I was used to practicing hard on the fundamentals, knowing that eventually the hard work would get me to a place where I could make that jump from the basics of logic design to coming up with creative solutions to difficult problems.
After years of studying computers and practicing different methods of design, I’ve tried to find ways to use my creativity as much as possible in my career. Striving for that elegant solution is always the goal. I’ve now worked for many years in application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and field programmable gate array (FPGA) design, and love the creative challenges I face.
After a few stints in design and applications roles at other tech companies, I currently work as an applications engineer at Achronix. I get to use my background in logic design, and my knowledge of our products, to help users realize their solutions. Programmable logic can open up possibilities in many different applications and solutions, but to truly unleash the full potential, you need excellent software tools to help you get your solution on the device. One of the things I had to learn was how to help users use our software tool to achieve their design goals.
I’m particularly excited about the emerging embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP technology that allows ASIC and SoC designers to add programmable fabrics to their chips. This is a relatively new capability that allows users to solve problems in a way that had never been possible before. This opens up a new range of creative solutions for me and our users.
Read other stories, here:
- A Note From The Editor: An Engineer’s Story
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of MacGyver And Comfortable Clothes
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Small FM Radio
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Model Airplane Contest
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Loved LEGOs And Tinkertoys
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Magazine Ad
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Grew Up In Kenya
- I Became An Engineer: So I Wouldn’t Have To Go To Vietnam
- I Became An Engineer: By Just Being Myself
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Sci-Fi Novels
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Watch
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Couldn’t Stop Tinkering
- I Became An Engineer: Despite Being Bad At Math
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Christmas Lights
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Uncle Chet
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Star Trek (Specifically Montgomery Scott)
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A 1930s Vintage Radio
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Couldn’t Be An Astronaut
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Kept Asking “Why?”
- I Became An Engineer: Because No One Was Hiring Shoe Salesmen
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Book (And My Mom)
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Wise Father And The Possibility Of Death
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of An Evil Mastermind
