Spansion Careers Jobs Employment

What is the most challenging part of your job here at Spansion?
Keeping up! The pace of change is very rapid. Things that used to work no longer work and changes need to be made to keep up.

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More about Steve...

Location:	US-Sunnyvale, CA
Title:	Mts Materials Engr
School	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Degree:	PhD
Major:	Analytical Chemistry
What attracted you to Spansion?	To learn about an industry in detail and have the chance to make a difference. I had worked as an application scientist for a tool vendor for many years and learned a little about many industries. My applications work kept our company in the running for orders, but in most cases, whether we succeeded was more to do with sales (price, service, etc) than anything that I did. At Spansion, I can see directly that my work in characterizing materials at a very early stage of technology development leads to better products.
What keeps you here?	There is always something new to learn. Developing each technology node requires new materials and new thinking so I am constantly dealing with new challenges that keep my job exciting.
What do you like best about working at Spansion?	Working with my customers. All of my customers work for Spansion, mostly in the area of product development. They are a very diverse group from all over the world and I learn a lot from them not only about technology development, but also about their cultures.
Describe an interesting project you are working on (or have worked on) at Spansion.	The most interesting projects are when I get to analyze thin films produced by equipment manufacturers. We often know nothing about these demonstration films beforehand. Determining whether these materials will be valuable in our technology development efforts requires the input and characterization efforts of our entire group. Then we have to work together to distill down the results into a form that the technology development experts can understand.
Share your thoughts about Spansion's corporate values (determination, initiative, integrity, and respect for people).	All of these characteristics of Spansion values are critical to our success. Determination because the Flash industry is very tough and only the determined will survive. Initiative because there are too many things that need to be done in too little time to wait around for someone to tell you what needs to be done. Integrity because our technology teams need to know that people will say what they'll do and do what they say. Finally, respect for people is critical in this environment where everyone is so different from each other.
What makes you go to work each day?	The curiosity to learn what a sample is made of/how it works.
What was the last book you read or movie you saw?	Seven Daughters of Eve by Brian Sykes - I can trace my paternal geneology back 16 generations, but DNA testing can tell you where you came from long before people had last names!
What is your favorite quote?	The one-eyed man is King in the land of the blind.
Describe your perfect day	Waking up to a sunny day instead of our usual fog. Having my son wake up and get dressed on his own without having to blast him out of bed. Getting to work at better than 70 miles per gallon in my Toyota Prius. Receiving one or two emails from friends in addition to the work related ones. Having no backlog of samples to be analyzed so that any work that comes in can be analyzed and reported out right away. Having one of my reports make the difference in process development. Having time to get in a brisk walk before lunch. Not having so many meetings that I can't get anything else done. Helping one of my co-workers. Leaving work in time to pick up my son and get dinner ready. Spending a quiet evening with my wife.