- You’ll be happier if you have a job you like.The correlation between your happiness and your job is overrated. The most important factors, by far, are your optimism levels and your personal relationships. If you are a pessimist, a great job can’t overcome that. (Think of the jerks at the top.) And if you have great friends and family, you can probably be happy even if you hate your job (imagine a garbage collector who’s in love).
- Job-hopping will hurt you.Job hopping is one of the best ways to maintain passion and personal growth in your careers. And here’s some good news for hoppers: Most people will have eight jobs between the time they are eighteen and thirty. This means most young workers are job hopping. So hiring managers have no choice but to hire job hoppers. Ride this wave and try a lot of jobs out yourself.Hui: Hiring managers don’t dislike job hoppers. The million dollar question is simple: can you do the job?
- The glass ceiling still exists.The glass ceiling is over, not because people crashed through, but because people are not looking up. Life above the glass ceiling is 100-hour weeks, working for someone else, and no time for friends and family. And it’s not only women who are saying no to the ladder up: Men are as well. People want to customize success for themselves, not climb someone else rungs. So if no one is climbing to the top, the glass ceiling isn’t keeping anyone down.
- Office politics is about backstabbing. The people who are most effective at office politics are people who are genuinely nice. Office politics is about helping people to get what they want. This means you have to take the time to figure out what someone cares about, and then think about how you can help him or her to get it. You need to always have your ears open for when you can help. If you do this, you don’t have to strong arm people or manipulate them. Your authentic caring will inspire people to help you when you need it.
- Do good work, and you’ll do fine. For one thing, no one knows what the heck you’re doing in your cube if you’re not telling them. So when you do good work, let people know. It is not crazy to toot your own horn–it’s crazy to think someone will do it for you. Also, if you do good work but you’re a jerk, people will judge your work to be sub par. So you could say that good work really only matters if your co-workers enjoy hearing about it from you.Hui: Define “good work”. Engineers need to know their value in the company. It is beyond “meeting deadline” and “team player”.
- You need a good resume. Only ten percent of jobs come from sending a blind resume. Most people get jobs by leveraging their network. Once you have a connection, the person looks at your resume to make sure there are no red flags. So you need a competent resume and an excellent network. This means you should stop stressing about which verb to use on the second line of your third job. Go talk to someone instead.Hui: This is why you need to work with a good recruiter who has great connections in your industry, and geniunely care about you. Keep in touch with those recruiters, they can help you long way. It is a partnership.
The Nine Biggest Myths of the Workplace by Penelope Trunk
By hui | September 22, 2008
This is article from Guy Kawasaki’s blog, he is the author of eight books: The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, The Macintosh Way, Hindsights, Database 101, and The Computer Curmudgeon. He has many good posts on his blog, but I think this one can be beneficial for my readers.
The Nine Biggest Myths of the Workplace by Penelope Trunk
I liked Penelope Trunk’s interview so much that I asked her for more material. Here’s her list of the nine biggest workplace myths:
- People with good networks are good at networking.Just be nice, take genuine interest in the people you meet, and keep in touch with people you like. This will create a group of people who are invested in helping you because they know you and appreciate you. Use LinkedIn to leverage those peoples’ networks, and you just got yourself a very strong network by simply hanging out with the people you like.
- Work hard and good things will come.Everyone can put in a seventy-hour week. It doesn’t mean you’re doing good work. So here’s an idea: Make sure you’re not the hardest worker. Take a long lunch. Get all your work done early. Grand thinking requires space, flexibility and time. So let people see you staring at the wall. They’ll know you’re a person with big ideas and taking time to think makes you more valuable.
- Create the shiny brand of you!There is no magic formula to having a great career except to be you. Really you. Know who you are and have the humility to understand that self-knowledge is a never-ending journey. Figure out how to do what you love, and you’ll be great at it. Offer your true, good-natured self to other people and you’ll have a great network. Those who stand out as leaders have a notable authenticity that enables them to make genuinely meaningful connections with a wide range of people. Authenticity is a tool for changing the world by doing good.
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From EEtimes: MEMS sensors pass actuators in market
By hui | August 30, 2008
Four market segments collectively will account for more than 60 percent of the total MEMS market: Consumer electronics, mobile handsets, automotive and industrial process control. Aside from consumer and wireless applications, the automotive sector currently exerts significant market pull as a consequence of safety and emission standards legislation. [The Story]
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From EEtimes: Vishay-IR deal could end or turn nasty
By hui | August 30, 2008
While analysts believe Vishay would still like to close the IR acquisition and possibly raise its offer for the company, they argued a substantial increase in the price would not be in Vishay’s interest especially because it doesn’t have enough cash to fund the deal and would have to borrow from investors [The Story]
Track the stroy:
International Rectifier rejects Vishay takeover bid
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Time management
By hui | August 30, 2008
I combined June July and August’s newletter for a simple reason, I was running out of time. Facing this embarrasing fact, I did some research on time management tips. Following is a list that I like to share with anyone who want to take control of their own time.
- 80/20 rule: concentrade on results, not on being busy. We always get “need to be done yesterday” tasks. If we tackle all of them, we complete nothing. You can break all tasks into four categories, A:urgent and with value, B:urgent but without value, C:not urgent but with value, D: not urgent and without value. Learn to differentiate them and and prioritize them.
- Prioritize your tasks: Given the 80/20 rule we now know that we have to focus our energy/time on things that really matter, that really generate value to your life and work. Spend your primary time on those tasks and learn to say no to things that not matter.
- Make planning a habit: Set up your goals then break them down into small ones.
- Take a break: When you are tired or stressed, your productivity drops. Take a break when you see you are not working “right”. It is waste of time when you only achieve half of your efficiency. Take the time you needed to do a quality job. But why spend longer time to achieve less?
- Last but not least: Implementation, implementation, implementation. All these knowledge and tips means nothing unless we use them. Things I listed above are not entirely new to me but I still sometimes find myself overwhelmed by the number of tasks that I want to do vs what I really get them done. After a good conversation with one of my associates, also my mentor, I decided that I am going to seriously work on my time management.I have set my goals and made my plan. In three months, I am going come back and report what have changed.
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From EEtimes: Ericsson agrees to join ST’s mobile chip giant
By hui | August 23, 2008
The consolidation in the semiconductor industry continues but not necessarily in the exact way many might have expected: The planned creation of a joint venture by STMicroelectronics and Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) is another waypoint in this development (Click here for whole story)
Fact Sheet:
Ericsson
Company Overview:
Ericsson opens all lines of communication. The world’s leading maker of mobile broadband infrastructure provides the equipment that telecom service providers use to build and expand networks. The company also provides wireline broadband, metro-area Ethernet, and optical transport equipment. Ericsson’s joint venture with Sony, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, ranks among the top providers of mobile handsets. The company is controlled by two groups: Investor AB, the investment vehicle for the Wallenberg family, and AB Industrivärden, which control 19% and 13% of the voting power respectively
STMicroelectronics
Company Overview:
STMicroelectronics (ST) is one of the world’s largest and most respected semiconductor companies; it competes with Infineon Technologies to be the #1 Europe-based chip maker and vies with Texas Instruments to be the top maker of analog chips. ST makes many types of discrete devices (such as transistors and diodes) and integrated circuits (ICs), including microcontrollers, memory chips, and application-specific ICs. It sells to manufacturers in the telecommunications, computer, consumer electronics, industrial, and automotive markets. Clients include Alcatel-Lucent, Bosch, Hewlett-Packard, and Nokia (about 21% of sales). STMicroelectronics gets more than two-thirds of its sales outside of Europe.
(Source: Hoovers)
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From EEtimes: Avago files for IPO
By hui | August 23, 2008
Avago Technologies Ltd.–the chip spin-off of Agilent Technologies Inc.–plans to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States. The IPO is valued at some $400 million, according to reports (Click here to read the whole story)
Fact Sheet:
Company Overview: Avago, formerly the semiconductor products group of Agilent Technologies, makes optoelectronics, radio-frequency and microwave components, and application-specific integrated circuits (custom chips). Avago products are used in a broad range of applications, including mobile phones, consumer electronics, enterprise and telecommunications networking gear, optical mice, automotive electronics, and military and aerospace systems. The company has more than 40,000 customers worldwide. Avago Technologies gets about 80% of its sales outside the US.
Products: Avago Technologies provides a range of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic components and subsystems to more than 40,000 customers
(Sources: Hoovers)
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From EEtimes: MEMS markets could explode, but lower pricing could slow MEMS growth
By hui | August 17, 2008
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) oscillators are replacing quartz crystals at a 120 percent annual growth rate, according to an industry forecast, or four times the growth rate forecast elsewhere. [The whole story]
Revenues for MEMS as a whole rose 5.8% in 2007 to $8.6 billion, and the outlook is mixed. Although revenues for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) reached record levels in 2007, aggressive price reductions, legal wrangling, and rising pressure from competitive technologies took their toll on the MEMS industry, according to a new study from Bourne Research LLC. While sales of sensors for industrial automation surged, it wasn’t enough to make up for significant revenue shortfalls in other core segments, said the market researcher. [The whole story]
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From EETimes: First RF MEMS listed in distributor catalog
By hui | August 17, 2008
The first microelectromechanical system (MEMS) oscillator to be listed in the world’s biggest catalog distributor, Digi-Key Corp. (Thief River Falls, Minn.), comes from Discera through its original equipment manufacturer partner, Abracon Corp. [The whole story]
MEMS: Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is the technology of the very small, and merges at the nano-scale into nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and nanotechnology. MEMS are also referred to as micromachines (in Japan), or Micro Systems Technology - MST (in Europe) [MEMS Wiki]
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From EEtimes: Analog design expertise is rare, valuable
By hui | August 3, 2008
An enduring shortage of analog engineers is making Analog design expertise valuable:
”Analog circuitry on a digital chip is the ’secret sauce’ that can make a proprietary semiconductor uniquely qualified for high-volume applications–and that’s where the money is.” — Alex Woodward sector portfolio manager for technology at Mazama Capital Management
Related stories:
- Analog design alive and growing in india
- Inside Shenzhen: A tale of two chip entrepreneurs in China’s manufacturing hub
- Cirrus buys Chinese IC design house
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Research Bulletin from IC Insights
By hui | August 3, 2008
IC Insights’ recent research for its Strategic Reviews Online IC company database uncovered a big shakeup in the 1H08 top 20 semiconductor supplier ranking (Figure 1). There are eight U.S. companies in the top 20 (including three fabless semiconductor suppliers), six Japanese, three European, two South Korean, and one Taiwanese company (IC foundry supplier TSMC) in the ranking. As shown, it required at least $2.1 billion in 1H08 sales to make the top 20 ranking. Although the top four ranked companies remained the same, there were a number of “movers and shakers” up and down the remainder of the 1H08 ranking as compared to their full-year 2007 positions.
To read the entire story, Click Here
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