Meet Intel’s SoC Engineers in this blog series highlighting the talented team creating and testing the technology at the core of our products.
After 18 years at Intel, Huei Ming (HM) Yap, an engineering manager in the Silicon Engineering Group, is still invigorated by his work—and by his passion for distance running. Here, he’s found a workplace that not only enables him to make a difference, but also offers him the flexibility to do what he loves outside of work. After all, it takes a lot of time and dedication to run a world-class team of engineers and log 1,000 miles per year.
Reflecting on his career journey, HM likens it to a marathon, not a sprint. “If you’re running on a treadmill, your number one objective is not to run as fast as possible. But to reach that goal, you must build your abilities, so that you’re stronger, have higher endurance, and ultimately recover stronger, run better.”
This philosophy has served him well. “I stepped into a manager role 11 years ago. Today, my team is comprised of 50 people across 2 sites, in Malaysia and Folsom, California.” His global team is responsible for PCH front-end design, which “involves everything it takes to get next-gen chipsets out the door,” he says. “Our work is to go out, find next-generation technologies, and integrate them into the PC, technologies we use every day. This involves all the IOs and embedded systems. This involves the mouse you are using, the keyboard you are using, everything you interact with while using your PCs. Our everyday work transforms how people use the computer, and that shapes how they change our economy, culture, education—it shapes everything around us.”
As a manager, HM enjoys that Intel offers engineers the chance to train a mind-boggling number of areas. “The amount and scope of engineering capabilities it takes to get Intel products out the door is eye-opening. So, whatever your interest is in—RTL design, manufacturing, process, physics, lower-level software, and everything else—there is a vast array of opportunities across the whole company. If you are curious and you are here to solve problems, this is a fundamental place to expose you to many areas of engineering.”
All it takes to build a great engineering career at Intel is lacing up your shoes and taking the first step. How far you go is entirely up to you, he says. “The more curious you are, the more you can learn. From an engineering enrichment standpoint, Intel is fascinating.”
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