Week 4.. Goes By Slow, Yet Fast

My how time seems fast and yet slow.. and vice versa. Everything has come to a halt, except for main priority.. finding a jooob. I finally took a break. It has been over a month since I last went climbing, and oh, how I miss thee. I'm 10lbs down of muscle now due to all the studying and non-activity. But the gym, is like an old familiar friend. I like it like this.. empty, quiet, and spacious... and all for myself.

Job hunting is surprisingly slow. There are not too many places in SD that has a need for high-speed signal integrity test experts. In the mean time, a lot of the SerDes design and test teams in the Bay Area have been swooped up by the likes of Apple, AMD, and Intel. Not surprising, those are the forefront of hardware technology companies.. and all in Silicon Valley.

I'm taking my chances of making an industry switch, but it comes with a mixed bag... I'm going from being at the fore front of new innovative technology that I have been a pioneer and expertise since it's early conception, to starting over. With it, I need to sell my qualifications to an industry of perspective managers that have absolutely no knowledge to the complexities and challenges of SerDes, nor my value in it.

This week, I had the joy of being invited to speak as a guest lecturer to several engineering classes at a local high school. Truthfully, it was a great change of pace and perspective from the last few weeks. Going to a high school reminded me of how far I've come since then, and how much more needs to be done to encourage the youth of the next generation, especially the women. There is a 50/50 split between male and female during the first 2 years of high school. By the time senior year rolls around, the numbers drop down to 10%... which is about the ratio I went to college with.

In my career, the engineers that have inspired me, have been the women engineers I have met along the way... not because they were women, but because they were the ones I've encountered that possess a greater passion, greater work ethic, and a fierceness in their profession that I don't see anywhere else. I found out recently, my first female mentor which left a lasting impression, passed away 3 years ago to lung cancer... a great woman.. a great engineer.. I still carry with me and follow through with the advice she gave me 18 years ago.

A student asked me a question.. "What do you like about engineering?".. and it's because it's challenging. It's not easy, it is hard.. but the reward of solving not just any problem, but a hard problem that you wrack your brain over and go crazy.. there's a satisfaction and pride that can't be earned in any other way.

I'm struggling right now. I admit. But it's just like any other hard problem I've had to deal with before.. I need to process it, and figure out ways to solve my problem.. one step at a time.