Abstract:
Silicon Valley has some of the best and most influential engineering companies in the world. The opportunities and resources available to you as a young physicist are nearly limitless and the work you do can make a real difference. However, no industry is perfect and there are downsides both in and out of the public eye that are often neglected when discussing careers in Silicon Valley. As a physics student looking to break into the industry, it can be difficult to parse through the noise to know where those opportunities and pitfalls might lie along your journey. As a recent physics graduate working as an electrical engineer at Lam Research, I present what it is like to transition from physics student to professional engineer and discuss some of the aspects of the industry I would have found helpful when I first started!
Bio:
Aaron Bass is an electrical engineer at Lam Research, where he develops industrial manufacturing equipment designed to etch silicon wafers for use in computer chips. During his time as a physics student, he joined the Integrated Degree Program (IDP), a joint program offered by the UC Davis Physics and ECE departments which allowed him to complete both his B.S. in Physics in 2020 and M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2021. Since then, he has found his physics background to be an extremely useful tool for approaching challenges in his engineering career.
