S06-E05 Wes is a Field Service Engineer at Tokyo Electron

Wes is a field service engineer at Tokyo Electron in North Phoenix, Arizona. Wes discusses his role, which involves maintaining and repairing equipment for the semiconductor industry.. He notes the industry's shift towards contractor models and the benefits of full-time employment, including training opportunities and tuition reimbursement. Wes highlights his transition from the military to the semiconductor industry and the cultural diversity he encounters in the workplace. Wes advises patience and perseverance for those interested in working in the semiconductor industry.

Transcript

Peter Kazarinoff  0:00  
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 Wes. Wes is a field service engineer at Tokyo electron in North Phoenix, Arizona. Wes welcome to Talking technicians.

Wes  0:47  
Thank you, Peter, good to meet you, and glad to be here.

Peter Kazarinoff  0:49  
It's great to meet you. Wes, and I'm really glad that you're here to talk with me both about your work at Tokyo electron, and then also talk to you a little bit about how you got there. But before we get into all of that, you said that you're living in North Phoenix. How long have you been there, and what brought you there?

Wes  1:11  
So I left San Diego, California in 2017 brought over by an employer who initially placed me with semiconductor equipment installation company in Chandler, Arizona.

Peter Kazarinoff  1:25  
Right - and so then working with that company in Phoenix, Arizona, that's sort of like what brought you, brought you in. So let's talk a little bit about your work. You're a field service engineer. What does that mean? And what do you do day to day at work at Tokyo electron.

Wes  1:47  
So it means many things. Currently, the fab is still under construction, so there's a lot of green site things in addition to just maintaining equipment. So specifically, I am a sustaining engineer, so equipment after it's been powered on, you know, customers had their way with it. We, we continue to operate and maintain it, replace parts as necessary.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:15  
And Wes, can you provide a rough ballpark about what kind of salary somebody might make working as a field service engineer doing a job sort of like yours?

Wes  2:28  
Starting engineer in my field would probably achieve $30 an hour.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:33  
Wow, around $30 an hour. And then in addition to that hourly wage, do you get benefits, things like retirement or healthcare benefits.

Wes  2:46  
So I think many companies in the industry are moving to a contractor, first type model. So depending on your contract company, you know matters, if you'll you'll see benefits or not, but you will probably travel and get per diem in addition to all your pay overtime,

Peter Kazarinoff  3:07  
Right - so like pay and overtime and doing some benefits. So you mentioned that some companies are hiring people as contractors. Could you explain a little bit what's the difference between like a contractor and a full time employee, and why do some people sort of start at the contractor level first?

Wes  3:28  
It's hard to say exactly why. I think it might be somewhat of a cultural influence from the Asian equipment manufacturers. I think there's a long apprenticeship type model that they adopt. But additionally, I think in America, it works for us. This industry attacks attracts a lot of the younger types who who may just have a general education, maybe math or sciences, and there's a moderate amount of turnover.

Peter Kazarinoff  4:07  
Right - and so then when you're starting people at the contract level, then if they're not a full time employee, and then they don't work out, then it's sort of like the company has sort of a little bit less to lose, and also then the employee is a little bit less invested when they go in as that contract kind of worker. So Wes, are there any opportunities for professional growth at Tokyo electron?

Wes  4:35  
I find Yes. So inside the company, there's lots of training opportunities. People always getting sent to domestic trips, international trips, for additional training. And then outside of that, being a full time direct employee like I am, there's tuition reimbursement.

Peter Kazarinoff  4:54  
Oh, and tuition reimbursement too as a benefit. So Wes you also mentioned that. That the field service engineers get reimbursed for travel. Have you done any travel in your work as a field service engineer?

Wes  5:09  
I have done many, many international and domestic trips.

Peter Kazarinoff  5:13  
Yeah. What kind of places have you gone to as a field service engineer?

Wes  5:22  
New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and Japan.

Peter Kazarinoff  5:28  
Wow. So both getting to like work at your fab in Phoenix, Arizona, but then getting to check out other fabs around the country. Wes, what did it feel like your first day of work, the first day that you worked for Tokyo electron. Was it what you expected?

Wes  5:47  
It was really nice, really nice office building. When I was a contractor, and they brought me in a contracting company is, like, super, super nice, like, very friendly, like, too friendly, a little bit a little suspicious of what's going on, but no, Tokyo electron is great.

Peter Kazarinoff  6:04  
Great, great. And then after that, after you've been working for a while at Tokyo electron, how does it feel now going into work?

Wes  6:16  
I still feel the similar sense of optimism, where like this, is definitely a growing company in a growing field, in a very hot semiconductor market. So it's kind of easy to see many opportunities.

Peter Kazarinoff  6:34  
Right - many opportunities for growth. And you also mentioned that they're working on some fab expansion, and some factory expansion in Arizona too. So Wes, let's switch gears a little bit and talk about how you got to where you are now. What was your work experience before being a field service engineer?

Wes  6:58  
I would say my professional career started with an enlistment in the military. I worked on aviation electronics, and I feel that that set me up pretty well for a smooth transition into my first employer within this industry.

Peter Kazarinoff  7:16  
Right- so going into the military, getting like that, great hands on experience, and then transitioning into the semiconductor industry. How did that transition work? How did you transition out of the military and then into your job?

Wes  7:34  
So specifically, I'm what's called terminal leave. So you get, you get Imagine your vacation. You get to consume all at the end of your enlistment. So I was a full time student in San Diego, and essentially was scouted, paid to move over, given a bonus to end up with my first company out here. 

Peter Kazarinoff  8:01  
Oh, nice, nice. So it was a pretty quick transition in between getting out and then getting that first job.

Wes  8:10  
Very quick.

Peter Kazarinoff  8:11  
So Wes, what kind of things from your military experience have been useful working as a field service engineer, what kind of skills did you learn that were really transferable?

Wes  8:25  
I so there's a lot of components in the aviation electronics field where I worked, somewhat carries over to some of the equipment. Now, in addition to that, there's all the general analog digital circuitry, troubleshooting that and staying late to finish the job as late as it takes.

Peter Kazarinoff  8:51  
And stay late and then finish finish the job. So Wes we were talking about doing that work and then staying until all of that work is done. Can you describe for me a little bit about what do you do at the beginning of the shift and kind of in the middle, and then what do you do at the end of a shift when you're a field service engineer?

Wes  9:15  
Sure. So with Tokyo electron and my current employer, we catch up on the emails the first part of the day, whether that's ordering parts, receiving parts, arranging logistics for taken to the fab. Oftentimes, we are receiving data from the customer at the end of the night prior to the work, and then arranging repairs the next day. But midway through the day, we eventually get to the fab to begin those repairs. Probably last part of the day is squeezing in any training, catching up on paperwork or anything.

Peter Kazarinoff  9:58  
And then sort of then the next day comes up. So, you mentioned hourly pay and this kind of like shift time work. What's your schedule like?

Wes  10:10  
I work Monday to Friday, eight to five, which is a there's not many of us that do that. It's everybody else has the three on four on schedule.

Peter Kazarinoff  10:20  
Right - and then you get every single weekend off because of that, right? Nice, nice. So Wes What's something unexpected about working as a field service engineer that you only learned after you started what was something that you're like, Oh, I didn't realize I was going to do this at work or, whoa. I didn't think that this would come up.

Wes  10:44  
This industry is predominantly, or just, let's say, dominated by the foreign workers. So understanding whether it comes from Taiwanese Korean, I've worked with Vietnamese and Thai. I think in addition to Japanese, many cultural unique things there, and work ethic is something definitely unique varies differently, distinctly from the American worker.

Peter Kazarinoff  11:23  
Right - so you're working with people from all across the world, with different cultures, different languages. Do you also work with sort of different types of workers in your job, like work with technicians, work with engineers, work with business people things like that too.

Wes  11:44  
Yes. So oftentimes there's a business meeting that says, hey, a customer wants x, but we can supply y. How do we meet the customer needs and the business needs?

Peter Kazarinoff  11:58  
Right. Right.

Wes  11:59  
Oftentimes it's parts or repairs. Yeah, I don't want to go too much else. 

Peter Kazarinoff  12:07  
Right - so Wes, one other thing I wanted to talk about your work as a field service engineer is Tokyo electron makes some of the equipment that goes in the factories that make microchips. So do you work at a building which says Tokyo electron at the front and has all Tokyo electron workers, or do you work in some other place and sort of, how does that work?

Wes  12:37  
So Tokyo electron maintains an office in North Phoenix, Phoenix, but most of the work is performed on the customer site, so at the fabrication facility.

Peter Kazarinoff  12:49  
Right - so even though your paycheck says Tokyo electron, your physical work will then actually be at that customer site where you're getting your work done. So Wes kind of to finish up for today, I really sort of only had two questions for you. One was, what advice would you give current students or people that might want to transition their careers and work in the semiconductor industry like you or become a field service engineer like you are. What advice would you give them?

Wes  13:19  
If I have to give advice to anybody, it would be patience. They can build the buildings fast, but they can't make decisions fast. There's truly just an unlimited amount of learning that you can that you can get from this industry, whether it's mechatronics, chemistry, business, it's almost too many things.

Peter Kazarinoff  13:48  
And last for today, Wes, do you have a final call to action, or anything that you would say to students or want people to know about your work?

Wes  14:01  
I would just share this with current students. Just see it to the end. Don't give up.

Peter Kazarinoff  14:09  
Well, thank you so much. Wes for being on Talking Technicians and talking with me about your work as a field service engineer and how you got there.

Wes  14:18  
Of course. Thank you, Peter.

Peter Kazarinoff  14:19  
Thank you. 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@talking technicians.org. We're always looking out for more great guests to share stories with you.