Talking Technicians

S01-E04 Danil is a technician at Intel

February 26, 2021 MNT-EC Season 1 Episode 4
Talking Technicians
S01-E04 Danil is a technician at Intel
Show Notes Transcript

Danil works as a technician at Intel outside Portland, OR. He went to community college, and landed a job as a technician with a hi-tech company. Hear how Danil went from working as a concierge to working as a technician in one of the most high-tech companies in the world.


The Talking Technicians podcast is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program.


Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation. 


Join the conversation. If you are a working technician or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org.


Links from the show:

Portland Community College Microelectronics Program: https://www.pcc.edu/programs/microelectronics/

Intel: http://intel.com/

The Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC): https://micronanoeducation.org/

Episode Web Page: https://talkingtechnicians.buzzsprout.com/

Peter 0:04

From MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, this is Talking Technicians. The podcast about technicians: who they are, what they do, and where they come from. I'm your host Peter Kazarinoff. I teach technicians and Engineers at Portland Community College.


In each episode, you'll meet a working technician and hear their story. That means real interviews, with real technicians, about real jobs. And at the end of each episode, You’ll hear actions you can take if you want to be a technician too.


In this episode, you'll meet Danil. Danil is a technician at Intel outside Portland, OR.


Peter 0:48

Danil, welcome to Talking Technicians.


Danil 0:50

Glad to be here Peter. Thank you for having me.


Peter 0:56

So tell me a little bit about yourself. Where do you live and how long have you been there for?


Danil 0:59

I’verecently moved to Hillsboro. Bought a house after starting work with Intel


Peter 1:06

Congratulations!


Danil 1:07

Thank you. Thank you. But before all of this I used to live in downtown Portland. Originally, I am from Central Asia, so I emigrated from Turkistan. America is my second home. 


Peter 1:25

And how old were you when your family moved?


Danil 1:29

I turned 5 years old when we came to the US. I’ve been here ever since.


Peter 1:36

Are you still close to family in Hillsboro?


Danil 1:40

For the most part, both my parents and my grandparents moved in with me so it’s a bubbling hot pot over here.


Peter 1:54

That’s awesome. Do you speak any languages besides English?


1:54 Danil

I do. I still have my Russian and I ended up taking German during my high school years. So I fluently speak Russian and English and I can hopefully hold a conversation in German. It’s been a while. 


2:12 Peter

Wow. That’s amazing Tell me about where you work. What’s your job title and what do you do there?


2:20 Danil 

Okay, so I work for Intel here in Hillsboro at Ronlin Acres. It's been about a year and five months so almost a year and a half.  My official title is manufacturing technician but they're slowly transitioning to manufacturing equipment techs. Just because our primary role is to make sure everything's running so, better, better late, more accurate label.


2:52 Peter

And what does a manufacturing tech, compared to the manufacturing equipment tech do? How are those different at Intel?


3:03 Danil

So we are becoming a lot more hands on. So we do, we call them PM’s, which is preventative maintenance. But it's cleaning tools, making sure that everything's operating for the more brain parts. It's gotten a lot more hands on than what it used to be, where you can be staring at a computer screen more than anything. So it's a welcome change for me just because I like to get my hands dirty.


3:35 Peter

And do you know how much entry level technicians make at Intel? Just in general?


3:42 Danil

It somewhat varies slightly on experience and your degree, but I started about $21 - $21.50 an hour.


3:54 Peter

$21.50 an hour?


3:57 Danil

Yes


4:00 Peter

And what kind of work schedule. Do you have to work on?


Danil 4:02

So and Intel has several schedules. We got. Let's see, 1-2-3-4-5 well 1 through 7. I work shift 7 which is on the tail end of the week, so I work Thursday through Saturday every week, and then every other Wednesday. So it's honestly - it's an awesome schedule, I love having, you know- I work four days. Then I relax for four days it's - it's an awesome work balance, I love it.


Peter 4:37

And how many hours a day do you work when you've got one of those work days?


Danil 4:41

So it's, it is a 12 hour day. But with how busy things, are lately. And, like, it goes by. Yeah, I don't even know.


Peter 4:54

How do you interact with other technicians at Intel? What do you do, like for example at the start of your shift or at the end of your shift?


Danil 5:03

So we have a pass down schedule. A lot of it’s online. So, you make notes and you can share with anyone who's going to be looking at that pass down. So that's one way to communicate, but we also, we have our own cell phones and it's basically, we have a special communication hardware on those phones that we use to talk in between with each other.


Peter 5:33

And do you interact with engineers and scientists too in your technician work?


Danil 5:38 

For a lot of it it's engineers and engineering technicians. I'd say more engineering technicians now just because of COVID and they're trying to limit how many people are in the fab. So they had the engineers have their own little schedule. And we have ours.  But for the most part it's engineering technicians is who we interact with.


Peter 6:06

And how did you become a technician? What was your work experience before you worked at Intel. And what was your education experience to become a technician?


Danil 6:19

So, I was a concierge before I was a technician, and I did that for five years. And during those five years, I attended PCC. And that's where I got my three associate degrees from. One of which was for the MET program there. And that was, I think the main ticket that got me into the door at Intel.


Peter 6:45

And what was the hardest part of that technician education program at PCC?

Danil

Oh, man. I mean I'm not the biggest fan of math. I respected and I understand, I needed it for engineering. So, probably, probably the math portion of it was always just the most challenging for me. I enjoy it, and all the experiments. I enjoyed all the hands-on activities and our field trips and I mean it's, it was a really awesome program. I think there's a lot of things that the program does really well to prepare us for what, you know, the line of work that I’m in So, I found that invaluable.


Peter 7:37

And how much did you know about technician jobs before you started at community college?


Danil 7:45

To be honest, not that much. I definitely - I've looked at Intel, I've looked at Boeing before and the jobs I was looking for were engineering jobs. So, it meant having a Bachelor's or a Master's.

But I think things probably 2018, or no late 2017, that I heard about the technician position so it was a bit late, almost late in my college career.


Peter 8:24

What advice would you give current students or people who want to transition careers to become technicians?


Danil 8:33

I say “Go for it!” Right now is an excellent opportunity. You know just despite COVID and what-not, but companies are going to be looking for technicians and, I mean, getting that to your degree - I mean it opened a lot of doors. It's, it's, I want, I mean, I think it's - it's even a better option than a Bachelor's, just cause the type of program that I went through a PCC, at least, was very hands on. We learned a great deal about what it was actually like to actually understand, you know what, what, technicians are potentially going to be doing. Your company is going to teach you everything you need to know. So I would say don't, don't be shy. I mean, two years is for some people, that's a lot of time to commit. But I think it's well worth it. And, I mean, I don't think I'd be able to achieve all the things that I've achieved in the last couple of years. One - if it wasn't for the program and two - just, just the mentality that the program kind of trains you know into.


Peter 9:51

What’s something unexpected about being a technician, that you only learned about after you started working, that future students might not know about?


Danil 10:00

Let's see. That's a good question Peter.


Peter 10:09

How about what was your first day like? What did it feel like your first day of work at work at Intel? 


Danil 10:19

I was shocked, just because I did not-   I actually Intel wasn't my first choice, Boeing was, but I ended up interviewing with Intel first and I had an offer for Boeing and until just give me a better one. So- and I really appreciate it just because the benefits and all that - I think - I can't think of another company here in Oregon that could give you the same, the same terms that Intel can. 


Peter 10:56

What are some things that make the Intel offer more appealing to you?


Danil 11:00

Well I mean the obvious one is a little more pay. So you know, that was great, but also just just knowing the schedule that - that I was able to just having that schedule was a huge huge huge huge blessing just because for me taking care of my grandparents- you know it's going to appointments - it's - it's going grocery shopping- it just allowed me to have that flexibility. Otherwise I just would not have.


Peter 11:29

So it sounds like scheduling flexibility was important to you.


Danil 11:35

Well, in our day and age, I think that's probably the second thing that people look at besides you know how much money they're gonna, they're going to get is, what sort of schedule am I going to be working. Just because I'd say every year things get faster and faster, but I also noticed that some things get slower and slower. Just because with with, you know, this whole shut down and a lot of the government institutions not - not working more being closed-  I would have thought, you know, we were had a smoother transition to - to the online virtual platform, in the sense that I think things will be more efficient.I feel like it's it's the opposite right now,


Peter 12:28

So we're winding down. Any links that we should include in the show notes.


Danil 12:31

Oh man, like physical physical links, sorry - I just wasn't - 


Peter 12:38

Well we could put in links for example, to PCC’s program or links to Intel.


Danil 12:47

I will for sure. For sure links to PCC just because, I mean, I'm going to be totally biased here but man I love PCC. I loved all the instructors. It was - and then once I got into the program - I mean the program was - was challenging but I think it was the right - right kind of challenge. And I mean I loved it so definitely, definitely put PCC in there and if you've ever felt skeptical about Community C ollege don't. For one thing, I, there's no way I was enough for, you know, a bachelor's degree going to a four year four year university. Just because the tuition is outrageous these days even in-state. And I just don't think I would have would have - I don't think it would have opened the same doors that people at PCC did or, or that the associates did for me so I highly recommend PCC.


Peter 13:48

Great, and Danil what's your final call to action? If someone wants to be a technician like you.

What's your advice? What should they do next? 


Danil 13:59

You know, make sure - make sure you pick - pick the - pick the right technician, that you want to be, whether that's mechanical, electrical, and - and go for it. The one thing that - that I, looking back was Man, I wish I knew about this program sooner and into man, maybe I would have gone back and got another, another - another different technician’s degree as well. So, I'd say go for it. Don't let, don't let anyone stop you. Understand that it is a commitment. While went into it just, you know, that's how you open doors. You know sometimes doors open on their own, but sometimes you gotta, you gotta do a little knocking yourself and go for it.That’s my advice don’t let anyone stop you.


Peter 14:48

Daniel thank you for being on talking technicians.


Danil 14:53

Well thank you for having me, and look forward to - to hearing myself, and hearing back from you as well. So, we stay in touch, for sure.


Peter 5:02

Yeah. And thank you so much for sharing your story with everyone, and we'll keep in touch.


Peter 12:17

Talking Technicians is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program. 


Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation. 


Join the conversation. If you are a working technician or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org. We are always looking out for great guests to share more stories with you.