Leo Predanic has always been drawn to the analog sector of electrical engineering. This interest led to a special opportunity to complete a summer internship with one of the largest recruiters of students from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University — Texas Instruments (TI).
During the internship, Predanic worked alongside the design verification team on pre-silicon design projects, which focus on the design of the integrated circuits (IC) before they are fabricated and ultimately undergo the manufacturing process. One of his team’s responsibilities was to run simulations on the IC designs to ensure that despite inevitable variability during the manufacturing process, they would function as expected.
One of the things that I didn't know going in was how much some of the skills, such as programming, that I had already picked up during my time at A&M were used by engineers in the industry.
Due to an initial lack of confidence in his programming skills, a couple of his assigned projects were daunting at first but ended up being notably fulfilling. Over the summer, his confidence in his programming abilities grew exponentially and the tools he used will stay with him throughout his academic career and future professional endeavors.
“One of the things that I didn't know going in was how much some of the skills, such as programming, that I had already picked up during my time at A&M were used by engineers in the industry.”
Having run into many challenges along the way, Predanic explained that the most rewarding aspect of this internship was seeing his projects come to fruition before his eyes.
“It’s hard to see the big picture of the final machine compared to just your little gear,” he said. “If you had asked me four months ago if something like that was possible, I would have said, I really don't know. But seeing how all the pieces are integrated and come together to finally work — from inception to final product — was one of the most impressive things.”
During his internship, Predanic was also able to shadow some of the other engineers on the design verification team and see firsthand what they do on a daily basis as these designs are prepared for fabrication. He also was able to attend kickoff meetings for other projects and see how the company plans projects from start to finish and executes them as successfully as possible.
“Those are all things that I never would have heard of at school,” Predanic said. “The sheer scalability of a company like TI was extremely eye-opening and far more impressive than I could have imagined.”