The Engineers of CSS - Jeanne Bishop
CSS has a great staff of engineers, but since they are often working "behind the scenes" they may not be well known outside the company. This article is the second of a series of interviews titled "The Engineers of CSS" which will hopefully help everyone to know them much better.
Jeanne Bishop came to work for CSS last year as a result of the merger with between CSS and Chronicle Technology. Prior to the merger, Jeanne had worked for Chronicle for 16 years. Jeanne is a design engineer with a strong layout background. She has helped design large scale CMOS imaging devices for military and space applications including a full wafer stitched imager. She has also been involved with a 5.5 billion transistor digital design as well as many mixed signal projects. Prior to working for CSS/Chronicle, Jeanne has worked for Adaptec, Western Digital and Independent Design Consultants. Jeanne has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from California State University Long Beach.
Jeanne Bkshop
Interview:
CSS: From your job history, it appears you have had a wide variety of design experiences. What has been the most interesting or challenging design you have worked on?
Jeanne
: It has been exciting to work on a huge variety of projects over my career, all unique in some way. Some are interesting from an application sense, such as the CMOS imaging chip that (with luck and funding) should fly in a solar orbiter soon. It's so awesome to think that something you helped create may fly in space. Or the challenge of a 5.5 billion transistor design. Let me tell you, that is a lot of transistors to keep track of! In the area of cutting edge technology, an upcoming 14nm FinFet design is real interesting. This one turns traditional CMOS technology on its ear - so to speak.
My job is never dull. There are always new and interesting challenges.
CSS: You were a long time employee of Chronicle before the merger. I felt that the merger brought together talent and experience from both companies that resulted in a stronger company having more depth in engineering and more production experience. What do you think has been the advantages of the merger?
Jeanne: I completely agree. The merger seems to be a really good fit. It's always good when designs are looked from different perspectives, everyone bringing their own experiences to the table. The strengths of the two companies have blended well. Collaboration between the two companies started right away. I can't wait to see where we will be even a year from now.
CSS: I know you are a working mom. What advice would you give to a woman like yourself who wants to have a professional career and a family?
Jeanne: Having a career and raising kids has been a challenge at times, but for me, the rewards are worth it. I have been very fortunate during my career to work for companies that support families and are flexible when "life" happens. With all the advances in technology these days, it makes things such as telecommuting a viable alternative to working full time in the office. I was able to take advantage of telecommuting while my girls were young, gradually adding more "in office" hours as they got older, they are 20 and 16 now. Splitting my time between home and work was a good fit for our family. It certainly meant some late nights, but definitely worth it. My advice would be to look at a company's policy regarding leave, telecommuting, job share, etc. during the hiring process, even before you have kids. It's important to remember that you are interviewing the company to make the right fit just as much as they are interviewing you.
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