Recent Ohio State M.S. grad starting her hardware engineering career.
I graduated from The Ohio State University with a Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering in December 2022. I moved from Ohio to New Jersey to start at Nokia 2 months later in February. I work for the Optical Network Infrastructure group at the Murray Hill, NJ office. My official role is FPGA engineering, where I write code in hardware description languages such as Verilog and VHDL to design things like the register interfaces and I/O structures of products in the 1830 line. I also assist the hardware team with electrical schematic design and verification testing of new boards.
Writing FPGA code to design registers and I/O in the 1830 line.
I am an FPGA engineer, meaning I work with programmable hardware that helps bridge software and hardware. I write in hardware description languages (HDLs) such as Verilog and VHDL to define the registers, Inputs/Outputs (I/Os), and logic of a programmable chip. This chip then interfaces with other components on a circuit board, and with the registers set, the software can write basic commands to control the chip by writing values in the registers. Additionally, the FPGA team works very closely with the hardware team. Therefore, I sometimes assist the hardware team in designing and reviewing electrical schematics or doing verification tests on new circuit boards in our lab.
Collaboration with various teams & seeing multiple sides of the design
In my work with the FPGA team, I often have to collaborate with the software engineers to make sure that we are on the same page with the features that will be developed in the hardware, the information available in the registers, and the customization allowed by register writes. I also have to collaborate with the hardware team to understand what signals the FPGA is receiving and how they are manipulated by the electrical components on the board. When helping with schematic design and testing with the hardware team, I have to collaborate with the mechanical engineers to ensure that the physical circuit board fits in with the mechanical parts without interfering with their function. I also have to work with system and integration testers to debug a board during testing. Therefore, in my role, I get to see many sides of the design process and work with a variety of different people. I feel like I learn something new every day by seeing so many sides of a product and by being exposed to everyone's expertise.
Put yourself out there and be open to new opportunities. Just say yes!
A piece of advice that really stuck with me when getting ready to move from Ohio was to turn myself into a "yes" person. Since I would be leaving behind everything that was familiar, along with graduating from college and therefore losing my college clubs and hobbies, I was going to have to re-establish myself while already completely out of my comfort zone in a new place. A story that one of my colleagues likes to tell is that on my second day of work, I saw a post about a volunteer opportunity for an event we were hosting for local Girl Scouts, and I emailed her asking if it was too late to sign up, as I missed the deadline since I'd only been at the company for 2 days. From there, I volunteered with the NextGen community to create a Murray Hill NextGen branch, I found myself playing in the historic Bell Labs Bocce League, and that attitude is how I ended up as a Nokia Insider! All of these opportunities have helped me find a community in Nokia and have helped me come out of my shell and be more confident at work. You will get so many emails asking for volunteers for an event or asking to join an employee resource group or special interest club, and too many people more or less ignore these. Be the person who shows up and tries something new, and you will quickly build your community within the workplace. By making these connections, it may even open up some opportunities for you in your career!
Surviving (and thriving!) through my first 6 months at Nokia
This may be an unconventional answer for my proudest achievement, but when I hit the 6-month mark after starting at Nokia, I was truly able to look back proudly at all the progress I had made. To me, this mark was when I really felt settled into my role and to my new home in New Jersey. The first 6 months of my career felt like a whirlwind where everything was constantly new and something I had to learn. This extended outside of Nokia to my life outside of work, where I had to settle into my new apartment, new city, and new social life. Now, I feel far more confident in my role and settled into my new home. While I am still learning new things constantly at work, I don't nearly feel as overwhelmed or "imposter syndrome" as I did in the beginning. Now, as I look ahead to 1 year, 2 years, and even beyond, I can carry myself with the confidence of having made it through and adapted to such a big change in my life. I am excited to take all I have learned and continue to make bigger impacts in my role now that I better understand how I use my personal skills to contribute to my team and Nokia as a whole.
