Talking Technicians

S01-E12 Welcome back Geovana, Amalia and Danil!

July 19, 2021 MNT-EC Season 1 Episode 12
Talking Technicians
S01-E12 Welcome back Geovana, Amalia and Danil!
Show Notes Transcript

Our Season 1 recap episode: Welcome back Geovana, Amalia and Danil. We chat about what they have been up to since their first appearance on Talking Technicians. Hear how their lives have changed because of COVID and what it’s like to be on a podcast when you are a technician.


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:


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


Jobs at Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/jobs/jobs-at-intel.html


Oak Crest Institute of Science: https://www.oak-crest.org/


Episode Web Page:
https://micronanoeducation.org/students-parents/talking-technicians-podcast/

Peter Kazarinoff  0:02  
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. At the end of each episode, you'll hear actions you can take if you want to be a technician too. 

In this episode, I'd like to welcome back Geovana Amalia and Daniel. Amalia works at the Oak Crest Institute of Science in California. And Geovana and Danil work at Intel in the Portland region of Oregon. Amalia, Geovana and Danil. Welcome back to Talking Technicians.

Danil  1:01  
Thanks, Peter. 

Amalia  1:02  
Thank you for having us.

Geovana  1:04  
Thanks for having us here. 

Peter Kazarinoff  1:06  
Absolutely. So to start off, maybe we'll start with Amalia. Could you introduce yourself and talk about where you live and where you work?

Amalia  1:17  
your introduction was so, so thorough. I'm Amalia. I live in Los Angeles, California, and I work at the Oak Crest Institute of Science, which is based out of Monrovia, California. They're not far apart. We are a nonprofit organization that does educational outreach, as well as full grant funded chemistry, biology and environmental science research. We do health research and bio, environmental research. And we're kind of like a graduate lab, but we're not associated with any academic institution.

Peter Kazarinoff  1:56  
And Amalia, you went to a community college which community college did you go to?

Amalia  2:00  
I did. I started out at Pasadena City College and then I got my bachelor's at California State University Los Angeles.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:09  
Great, thank you. Geovana, would you like to introduce yourself and tell everyone where you live and work?

Geovana  2:15  
Hello, my name is Giovanna Silva. I live in Beaverton, Oregon, and I work at Intel here in Ronler Acres as a manufacturing technician.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:28  
And you went to community college as well? Where did you go to community college?

Geovana  2:32  
Yes, I got my degree at a PCC Portland Community College.

Thank you. And last but not least, Daniel, would you like to introduce yourself and tell everyone where you live in work?

Danil  2:45  
Yeah. Hello, everybody. My name is Danil Yemelyanov. I also work for Intel at Roler Acres. I am also a manufacturing technician. And then I also attended PCC Sylvania Campus. And that's where I got my associates in mechanical engineering technology. I also live in the city of Hillsboro, just recently bought a house there.

Geovana  3:08  
Congratulations. Thank you. So I'd like to welcome all three of you back. You've been on a previous episode of the Talking Technicians podcast. So I'd like to know what you've been up to. Since we last spoke. Danil, what have you been doing since you are on the podcast episode?

Danil  3:30  
A lot of gardening and land and some landscaping work. So just getting my hands dirty. I'm spending more time outside, which is a nice change of pace than what I used to be so and just kind of work. It's been more or less routine with COVID and just not being able to, you know, travel around or, or some places close earlier than normal and just not being able to go and see the sights, like you normally could. But for the most part, yeah, it's been just gardening and occasional reading, watching videos. Just I bought a bike recently. So I'll be headed doing a lot of pedaling. So - but that's kind of it.

Geovana  4:19  
And how long have you owned your home for now?

Danil  4:22  
Let's see. It'll be, it'll be exactly one year in August. So.

Unknown Speaker  4:29  
And it is gardening time in Portland and it's been very hot. Recently. I'm in Portland, Oregon too and boy...

Unknown Speaker  4:38  
I've been I've been scrambling the last couple days trying to get some netting get some shade for, for the tomato plants and roses. Just making sure none of it gets burned away under the heat wave. But hopefully after today, I think it's going to cool down quite a bit. So, looking forward to it.

Geovana  4:57  
So Amalia, how about you? What have you been And since we last spoke?

Amalia  5:01  
Ah well, we actually, for the first time in over a year, have some students back in the lab. We had a couple of students from citrus college come through near the begin, and I think may like the end of May. And they got to come through and actually get to do some lab work. And they've been part of a program that was virtual for the past six months or so. So they, we they got vaccinated, and we got them on our testing program. And so they were actually able to come in and do some real work in the lab. And now we've got a couple of more sum, summer interns, one from Notre Dame and a couple more from Citrus that gets to come through and do some - get their hands dirty in the lab.

Geovana  5:46  
When you mentioned Citrus what's Citrus?

Unknown Speaker  5:49  
That's a Citrus Community College, which is in it, I think it might be Tourtie? But it's a neighboring city, so they don't have to come very far.

Geovana  6:03  
Great. And how about you Geovana, what have you been up to since we last spoke?

Oh not much, I -  we're still working in the fab like always with the precautions, of course. And a lot of gardening. A lot trying to enjoy the sunshine as we can. But at least I have some sunshine. Is just too hot right now. It's gonna get better.

And Giovanna, for those who don't work in the semiconductor industry, what is a fab? When you said you've been working in the fab?

Unknown Speaker  6:38  
A factory Sorry. Yeah. So as a technician in the - in this semiconductor industry, we have to go to your workplace and because our job is really hands-on, tools and other things. So we still going to work as regularly. But of course with all the precautions and changes. But yeah, the same thing just I worked. I've been training, more advanced content. And that's it.

Geovana  7:15  
So Geovana, you mentioned how COVID, has affected your work. Now that we're in the summer of 2021. And things are starting to reopen a little bit. How has that changed your work and changed your life, Geovana?

I guess at Campus, we have like less engineers, and we don't have a lot of meetings and sometimes is necessary. So I guess this will help a little bit to have more communication with things, things that maybe change or not. And also I would personally having a real normal life back going to places and enjoying going to the beach, enjoying going to a restaurant for a little bit or even like go out with your friends after work. Yeah, I guess.

How about you, Danil, how have things changed at work and in your life with COVID? And now a little bit with COVID reopening in Oregon?

Danil  8:22  
Well, a lot of it matches what Geovana is saying as far as the fab. I think there's been a lot less like team builders. So we don't really get to hang out as a team together. Just because of all the social distancing policies in place. I think it'll be nice to see if policies will change. And maybe we get some team builders back, just to get to know some of the new people, new hires coming in. Because until - looks like we've started to bring people back on board now. So, which is great. So if you're looking for work, I think we're hiring right now. From what I can tell. 

Geovana  9:01  
Yeah.

So you mentioned a team builder, what's a team builder? What does that mean?

Danil  9:08  
So just from, from what I've briefly experienced before, COVID hit, usually every quarter. or so the I guess our shift, shift lead, so our managers would allocate some funds from Intel. And basically we get together as a team and everybody kind of shares, then get to know each other. Which I think is really important, especially right now, just because, you know, people don't get to socialize as much. And I think a big part of becoming a better team is, is getting to know each other and, you know, being able to communicate, and just kind of see what everyone's - you know, into. There's more hobbies. I mean, you got to make friends somehow, right? Especially in a work environment. So something that we look forward to. But we'll see, I think. I think on Wednesday is when the state of Oregon opens. So it'll be interesting to see how Intel policy goes going forward.

Geovana  10:15  
Amalia, how's your work? Ben, you mentioned that Oak Crest Institute of Science has a COVID testing protocol. How did you work changed during COVID? And how is it changing right now?

Amalia  10:26  
Nearly right away, we got a testing program up and running, we got an IRB, which is the legal paperwork and all ability to do research projects on people. And we started testing us, three days a week. So it served two purposes, it kept us safe, because we know if anybody became infected and could send them home. And we actually got long term data on, on a microcosm of Los Angeles. It included both people who worked here, their families and, and a little bit of extended households. So back in December, in January, when we had the sweeping wave that came through in Los Angeles, and all of California, the whole country really, got really bad. Some of our testing did reflect that. So we were able to see, even in our small microcosm of testing, that the, the number of cases did go up. And for anybody who did become positive, we ended up doing daily testing instead of three days a week. So they were able to follow some of the infections all the way through from the very, very initial testing, even before symptoms all the way through to the virus being almost completely gone. And then being completely symptomless again. So we get some some very unique data out of that, but it's also kept us really safe. So we've still been able to - I've been in the lab the entire time. Which is, I mean, you can't really do what I do from home, you can't do bench chemistry from home, really, you can't do any of the instrumentation work. So most of the work itself kind of remained business as usual. The thing that was the most impacted was our outreach program. Because we always had tons of students especially through the summer, we we'd have large groups of students come through from all different programs around the SoCal area. And we really couldn't do that. So we tried doing a couple of outdoor things, or we planned to and then they always fell through. So we converted a lot of outreach stuff to being digital Zoom, YouTube, we got a lot of our social media stuff up and running a lot better than it used to be. And, and we did a lot of virtual tours. So Zoom made it really possible to bring more people into the lab. And we may have other ways. We got a program going with LA USD, the LA school system, where they would have up to 100 kids or more from different classes and different schools come into a zoom session, and we do tours, we do talks talking about what we do as an organization. And in some ways it, it helped us reach more people than we would have in a normal year. But we didn't have anybody in the lab. So it was very, it was a sparse compared to a normal year.

Geovana  13:18  
So let's talk about the future. Next, Geovana, what's coming up for you in the future professionally or personally that you'd be willing to share?

Yeah, I just got a new trainee at Intel, so I'm gonna train him what I do. So it's kind of exciting is the first time that I'm training someone. Um, yeah, I'm getting advanced training also, when I came for, to progress to a new job title. As Intel is, is transitioning our titles to manufacturing equipment technician. And, yeah, personally, it's all normal. I just hope everything gets back. And we can live our lives normally. 

Peter Kazarinoff  14:10  
How about you, Daniel, anything coming up in the future professionally or personally, that you'd like to share?

Danil  14:16  
So I'm continuing my upskill training and up skill training is just, you know, adding, adding more tools to the belt, learning how to do more hands on things on the tools that I work at. And then I'll also be doing some training for a few of my teammates in, in my area. So that'll be exciting. I personally, I just finished putting together a sauna. So I'll be, I'm trying to learn some of the electrical for it. I still got to connect the heater to it. So that's kind of what's happening personal. And then long term life, I want to lose some weight. Part of the reason I got the bicycle for. So that, those are the kind of the things I'm working towards.

Geovana  15:05  
And Geovana mentioned, manufacturing equipment technician is one of the job titles at Intel. Danil, can you explain just a little bit? What are they Intel job titles that they use for technicians?

Danil  15:20  
So the two that well, I guess the three now that I'm most familiar with is manufacturing technician, which is what I was hired on as after PCC. And, and then the other one that I'm also aware of is the engineering technician, which is basically I'd say, almost, there's different levels for manufacturing technicians. And I'd say engineering technician is basically a level three technician on the, I guess, on the pole. And now the new system that they're coming out with, which is the manufacturing equipment technician or MET, it has a five level program. And then basically what they want to do is, I think they want to just can combine the MT and the ET position and then just have that leveling process where once you acquire certain, you know, certain skills that they set out for you to, to master, then you'll progress through those levels, and basically is just an overall. I think everyone's going to be an MET. Which is interesting, because we're all kind of waiting for that to become the official changing. It looks like they're taking their time with it. So.

Geovana  16:38  
We really don't know how it's gonna be.

Danil  16:40  
Yeah, yeah, I think they kind of let everybody know what's happening. And then now we're just gonna fit in all the puzzle pieces to, to make it work.

Peter Kazarinoff  16:54  
And Amalia, how's your work been? And what do you think's coming up for you in the future? You mentioned that you're starting some more tours and getting new interns. How about for you personally? What changes are you anticipating coming up?

Amalia  17:08  
Well, we've got a couple of, we've got a clinical trial, actually, that's wrapping up. So we're - the our sample processing is going to have to ramp up soon. We're going to be doing a lot more analysis. And lab will have more interns. So we'll probably be training people a lot more. They'll be back in the lab. Personally, I'm actually writing a novel. So that's what I've been doing in my spare time. And I'm about halfway through that. And we'll see where that takes me. That's kind of exciting. But other than that, it's gonna be pretty much business as usual, just maybe a little bit more busy than usual.

So, Amalia when we did our podcast episode together, what was it like for you? And what advice would you give future podcast guests?

It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy these actually. As for advice. definitely read up on the questions first. I wouldn't say has like a rehearsed answer, but but having some idea of how you would answer the questions helps a lot in the moment. Otherwise, you're tripping over your tongue constantly. And I'm master of the Um's. So every other word is um, um. But going over the questions a little bit beforehand really helps with that gives you kind of a direction for your answers ahead of time.

Geovana  18:38  
So a little look behind the curtain. Amalia, when you say questions, what do you mean, how do they get shared, where those come from?

Amalia  18:47  
Oh, they the interview questions we get in either a Word document or a PDF. And they -so we just get to read through kind of it's not it's not exactly what's asked in an interview. So there's some variation from it. So it is impromptu, but to have kind of an idea of what's going to be talked about talked about and the kind of questions that you're going to be asked is really helpful.

Geovana  19:11  
Giovanna? My understanding was when you were on Talking Technicians the first time that was your first podcast appearance, what was it like for you? And what advice would you give to future guests?

I think definitely read the questions prepare yourself and I think if you are very extroverted, maybe you don't need to but for me, I need it. I'm not gonna lie that made me a little nervous. But I think it's really nice to maybe help someone out there that doesn't know if we're gonna get a degree or not, doesn't know what job we can, we can come with this degree. So for me, at least, getting this degree at PCC helped me so much. Like it really changed my life and I never thought I would, would get a job at Intel? So I guess, if it's helpful for someone that's listening out there, I came from another country that's also hard to for me. It was really hard to find myself again. So I think if it's helpful for anyone, it's really worth doing it.

Amalia mentioned that they were questions. Giovanna before we recorded the episode, what else happened before we hit the record button?

Um, yeah, we kind of have a little preparation for. So it's kind of knowing how it's gonna be. So if you're comfortable doing the interview, and not get lost in your answers. And also a lot of emails before that, making sure that we know the time and you know, the content and everything else.

Peter Kazarinoff  20:54  
And Danil what was it like being on the podcast the first time like for you? And what would you say to future guests?

Danil  21:00  
Well, it's a it's a great experience. And I think everyone out there wants to wants to share, you know, what they've accomplished, or what they've done or, or things that they want to do. And I think podcasts are a great way to do it. And so I thoroughly enjoyed it. Again, I'm guess, I'm a fan of Um's as well. So it was a great experience, I hope that it's relatable as well, and that, you know, people who are out there kinda, you know, on the fence deciding, you know, whether they ever want to participate in a podcast, or hopefully, you know, it inspires them to, to go to PCC, or, you know, choose a career at Intel, or wherever else they're going. But hopefully, you know, it inspires them to, to go out and just get things done. I think that's probably the most important thing is just to go out there and just just start doing things.

Peter Kazarinoff  21:57  
And Amalia after we recorded your episode, some editing was done to the audio, and then that audio got sent out for your review. Did you find that process helpful and make you a little more confident during the recording? 

Amalia  22:16  
Yeah, I like most people, I don't really like listening to my own voice. But I was actually very impressed with how that interview came out and made me more confident, confident for the next one. And the the ability to have a say in in the editing process and say, okay, no, that was that needs to get taken out. I didn't need to say that before it goes on the air gives me a lot more comfort in just being able to talk and express myself. And, and if there's anything that later comes off is no, no, that's probably not a good idea to say. That it's okay, you can take it out. But it was a nice, smooth process.

Geovana  22:55  
And Geovana after we recorded your episode, and the episode was posted, did you listen to it or share it with anyone?

I shared with my husband I I listened to it a little bit. But I was kind of I don't like to pick up my voice too. And I was afraid that I said something wrong. But yeah, I shared my family listen to it, too. Oh, yeah, it was really nice.

And how about you, Daniel, did you share the episode with anybody? Did you listen to it after the episode was posted?

Danil  23:27  
The initially I shared for myself, just to make sure I sounded good. And I think I did. And then you know, of course, my family, just mom and dad and my grandmother. And then I'm still in touch with, you know, Allison and Tabitha. And I'd actually recommend them coming on here as well. If they get a chance to. But it'll be, I enjoyed it a lot. And then it's awesome, just to kind of be like, really? Is that really what I said? And it's like yup. There it is the proofs right there. So.

Geovana  24:04  
Alison and Tabitha were two your classmates when you were in technician training program, right?

Danil  24:09  
Yep, Correct. Correct. I think tablets is doing some pretty amazing stuff. So I definitely recommend if you can get ahold of her, I would. She's been sharing some of the things she's been doing. She's been, she's out in Florida right now. And they're doing - she's on a, I think he's working for an engineering firm that does some of the SpaceX and NASA stuff. So it's, it's pretty amazing some of the stuff that she's doing and honestly, it's mind blowing that I went, you know, I went to school with someone who's, you know, launching, helping launch rockets into space now, which is just mind blowing to me.

Geovana  24:52  
So to finish up for today, Danil, you mentioned that Intel is currently in a hiring mode. Do you have a final Call to Action for students or people out there who are looking to change careers and become a technician?

Danil  25:05  
I think the biggest advice I would have is, find someone that can look over your resume. And can, you know, sit down with you, and listen to, you know, what you've accomplished and share and just make sure you have updated resume. Try to if when you're applying for work to try to match, you know, what they're looking for in the, in the job proposal into your resume. And that way, that two kind of go hand in hand. It'll help you stand out. And I mean, again, biggest advice, just just do it, you gotta, you have to put yourself out there. That's, that's one thing is to jump out of your comfort zone sometimes, and take a risk. I never thought I'd end up working for Intel. But you know, here I am. Two years down the road. And I mean, I love it. Take a risk, and so far it's paying off. So I'd say sometimes you just put yourself out there, take a chance, do it. You know, if it doesn't work out, do it again. Just learn from it and keep doing. Go forward. You know.

Peter Kazarinoff  26:16  
Geovana, you mentioned that you're now training someone. What would be your final call to action? If people want to be one of those trainees?

Geovana  26:26  
Yeah, I guess like Daniel said, just put yourself out there. I when I did my interview at Intel, I was not hoping to work there at all. And so I got the job. I don't know how. It's put yourself out there. Prepare yourself of course, your resume and people that can help you too. I can help if you contact me too. And yeah, I guess the - it's kind of exciting moment, as the semiconductor industry in general has like a high demand for chips for everything: cars, fridges, everything. So I guess as technicians, it's kind of a good moment that I believe if the economy comes back and things will be back to normal and they could hire more people have more people inside it. So I guess it's a good moment too for us as technicians and to get a job as technicians. But yeah, just put yourself out there and prepare yourself a lot of things are not necessarily technical in the interview is also about yourself, about how you handle stressful situations, how you can deal with a fast paced environment. So it's not just technical and would be so hard. So yeah, just put ourselves out there and try again, if it doesn't work.

Amalia  27:57  
And Amalia, do you have a final call to action? You mentioned that new interns are coming into Oak Crest. If people wanted to be one of those interns or work at Oak Crest, what would you suggest they do?

I would say get, get, get in contact with a community college even if you're not going to be going there or if you don't have the ambition to go on to get a four year degree. community colleges are an excellent place to start. There's tons of certificate programs in all kinds of different stuff. Pasadena City College, my PCC has a biotech program that a lot of people who have come to Oak Crest have come through,. I think at least three of the employees have experienced through their biotech training program. And bio, biotech, the biotech industry is kind of exploding right now. So if you, if you're interested in lab work, that's one place you can go without having to go all the way through for a Bachelor of Science or although get a PhD, you can still do lab work with just a biotech certification. And there's really not enough people doing that right now. So the biotech industry, the like, we've got Amgen out here - pharmaceutical companies, makeup companies, they all they're all snapping up anybody with with biotech experience, super fast. And it's, it's, it's not hard work. It's just you need the experience and the detailed understanding of what you need to do. So find, find a find a program at a local community college, get the necessary skills built up. And then start querying. A lot of those programs also will give you a pipeline into industry jobs if you want one. They usually have connections. Like for us, I mean, we're not industry. We're a small research lab, but nearly everybody, every one of the interns who comes through is either from Pasadena City College or Citrus College because we have direct connections to those those colleges. So they send people our way anybody who needs a lab experience.

Peter Kazarinoff  30:06  
All of the three things that you've said here are just great advice. And I hope that people listening out there can take some of that and become successful in their jobs just like all three of you. So Amalia, Geovana, and Danil, thank you so much for being on Talking Technicians again.

Danil  30:27  
Appreciate the invite.

Geovana  30:28  
Thank you for having us.

Peter Kazarinoff  30:31  
Take care.

Amalia  30:32  
Thank you for having us. This is really fun. 

Peter Kazarinoff  30:39  
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 working technician, or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org. We're always looking out for great guests to share more stories with you.