Besides having reputations of writing some rather decent PIC code, what do
Nikolai Golovchenko, Andrew Warren, and myself have in common? Well, we've
all been recruited from the PICList to work for Synaptics
(www.synaptics.com). And now we're at it again:

http://www.synaptics.com/about/careers_detail.cfm?jobid=217

You can read all of the Marketing BS on the Synaptics' web pages and get
some idea what we're about. However, let me add an engineering
perspective. Synaptics developed a capacitance sensing ASIC about 10 years
ago and has been optimizing it ever since. We make millions of them a
year, mostly for TouchPads in laptop computers and controls for MP3
players like Creative's Zen and Apple's iPod. We've reached the point
where most first and second order problems regarding capacitance sensing
have been solved. In many cases, we can pluck femptofarads out of
picofarads with no trouble at all. Now, we want to solve the really hard
problems!

The capacitance sensing ASIC is the heart of Synaptics' products. But we
really design capacitance sensing modules (a TouchPad is just one
example). Most modules are just variations of themes. However, we're
constantly trying to design new modules for new markets. Each module has a
myriad of technical problems requiring research. For example, our ClearPad
sensor module is an ITO based design that can be placed on top of an LCD.
Some technical issues are: how do you maximize clarity, how does the ITO
resistance affect capacitance sensing, how do you shield against a 400V
back light inverter, how do you align the sensor on the LCD, etc. All of
these problems have to be solved and the sensor still has to pick
femptofarads out of picofarads! So in addition to just understanding
capacitance, it helps to have a good understanding of materials,
algorithms, production methods, and so on.

The job description suggests we're looking for an EE that can write code.
That's only part of it. We're looking for thinkers. We're looking for
people who know how to analyze problems from many different angles.


On Sun, 2005-09-11 at 02:13 -0400, Martin Klingensmith wrote:

> I consider myself to have a lot of both theoretical and practical
> experience. I have worked on many real projects as well as theoretical
> practices. I do not believe I am common among what normally is produced
> by my university [a statement which likely makes me look crass]

Crass? nah. This is what we're looking for! Too bad you don't graduate for
another year...

Scott
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