Boost your engineering career (Guest commentary)
Writing anything from test plans to a conference paper can lead to success, as test engineers who write well are more likely to be called on when management needs a subject-matter expert.
By Michael Purtell, Intersil -- Test & Measurement World, 3/2/2010 10:52:20 AM
There have been many variations of the joke "How do you get a test engineer to stop writing?...Give him or her a college degree and a job." A generalization to be sure, but in the context of semiconductor test engineering, there sure is a ring of truth to it.I see three reasons why test engineers often don't write:
- Test engineers think they should spend all of their time doing test engineering work, writing about it is boastful and a waste of time;
- Engineers who like to write have all moved into marketing and applications roles; and
- Management does not emphasize writing as part of the job, so engineers don't do it (note that many test engineering managers were test engineers in previous lives).
You have probably heard "better" reasons than these. But many of these reasons are myths. Test engineers, in fact, are responsible for writing a variety of documents, and those who excel at the task can boost their careers.
Test engineers are required to write test plans,
characterization reports, and failure-analysis reports for QA departments and
customers. Test engineers who embrace writing create best-practice guides
describing test methodologies, programming standards and style, binning
standards, and data formatting guidelines. More experienced test engineers
write conference papers and application notes.
As a working test engineer, nothing beats finding that a colleague
has written about a fix for the problem that you're trying to solve. I
personally lost a week because the ground-sense pins of a tester power supply
were allocated to the wrong area of the test board. It took many conversations
with colleagues to discover how to override allocation by coding in the test
program.
Writing a good test plan forces you to think through the
process of how to test a device before programming an expensive ATE system.
Presenting a good test plan to your development engineers will raise valuable questions
and ideas that can improve your product. In my experience, a well-written test
plan presented to peers and to the development team enhances your credibility
and instills others with confidence in your abilities.
Test engineers who write well are more likely to be
called on when management needs a subject-matter expert. Writing can increase
your chances of being promoted or being offered key positions by other
departments because others will know of your skills.
Test plans describe how you will test a new device. Unfortunately,
test plans consist mostly of very terse test lists that show, for example, the
voltage or current on each pin and relay on/off states. It may include a short
description about how the measurement is made, tradeoffs between test time and
accuracy, and how the test conditions cover data sheet min/max values or
process corners. A well-written test plan with clear explanations lets you
document test work and it can provide another test engineer with the means to
support the project. Your writing should include explanations that your manager,
a technician, other engineers, or even the CFO can understand.
Make presentations
At Intersil, we hold informal
gatherings called Test Forums. Take advantage of these events if your company
holds them. They can provide you with an opportunity to see how others present
their work. I encourage you to step up and offer to give a talk yourself. You'll
be surprised how many people are interested in your work and ideas, and they'll
appreciate your efforts to share them. If your company doesn't have any such forums,
consider starting one. Invite test engineers and test-equipment suppliers to
contribute presentations and papers. The supply of viable topics for a Test
Forum is endless. I run a Test Forum at my company that's in its fourth year.
We can easily recruit speakers and we regularly get one to four speakers at
each forum. We hold about eight such forums a year for test engineers company
wide. We have similar Product Engineering Forums, with high crossover
participation among product and test engineers.
If your company has an
engineering conference where engineers from design centers gather to share
technical papers and presentations, consider writing a paper. Even if you don't
present a paper, you should still attend. Test engineering is an integral part
of product development, and the quality of test-development work has a direct
impact on a product's quality. Test belongs in the forefront of any company-wide
engineering meeting. In 2010, Intersil will host the fourth annual Intersil
Engineering Conference; so far we have had test-engineering presentations every
year.
Consider writing a paper for
presentation outside your company, too. Don't be shy about contributing your
work to an industry workshop or test conference. Smart engineers look to their
industry peers for ideas and best practices. Many ideas from industry events
are feasible for use in day to day engineering work, and may stimulate ideas
leading to the next breakthrough. Attending paper presentations, panel sessions,
tutorials, and workshops are excellent opportunities to communicate and network
with your industry peers. Bring what you learn back to your company, share new
information with your peers, and apply good ideas to your engineering work.
Many companies have incentive programs that reward
engineers for publishing in magazines, workshops, or conferences. If your
company has one, don't forget to take advantage of it.
Michael Purtell earned his BSEE from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is currently product and test engineering manager for High Speed Analog/Mixed Signal Products at Intersil. He leads the company's Test Engineering Forum and serves as vice chair of marketing for the IEEE International Test Conference. He has held test-engineering positions at National Semiconductor, Advantest, Raytheon Semiconductor, and Hewlett Packard and has co-authored papers for the International Test Conference, VLSI Test Symposium, and Asian Test Symposium.
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