Codasip - Bristol
October 2023 - Present
Verification Engineer
Hardware verification for a company specialising in RISC-V processor designs.
Siemens Digital Industries Software - Bristol
January 2021 - September 2023
Hardware Verification Engineer - Tessent Embedded Analytics
Mentor was acquired by Siemens. My role is unchanged.
- Scripting work to convert coverage waiver files from one vendor’s proprietary format to another
Mentor Graphics - Bristol
October 2020 - Present
Design Engineer, Hardware - Tessent Embedded Analytics at Mentor Graphics
UltraSoC Technologies was acquired by Mentor, A Siemens Business, in June 2020.
My role is unchanged.
UltraSoC - Bristol
June 2020 - October 2020
Design Engineer
A graduate level position at a pioneering company delivering embedded monitoring and analytics IP for SoCs.
University of Southampton - Southampton
July 2019 - August 2019
ECS Taster Course Mentor
Joined a team of 20 students and organisers to run a week long summer school for 140 sixth form students visiting the department of Electronics and Computer Science. I was responsible for a flat of seven students for the duration of the week.
- Supervised laboratory sessions in digital and analog electronics
- Managed social and team building exercises
- Assisted as and when required throughout the week.
UltraSoC - Cambridge
June 2018 - June 2019
UKESF Industrial Placement Student
A year long placement at a pioneering company delivering embedded monitoring and analytics IP for SoCs.
Projects included:
- Python, Perl, and TCL scripting for regression testing.
- Data visualisation.
- XML transformations to generate Word documents.
- Creating a UVM environment and writing tests to verify a module.
- Python, Django, MySQL, and Jenkins to create a release flow GUI.
- Creating SystemVerilog modules to provide UVM generated stimulus in a Python-built sub-system environment.
- Creating an automatic FPGA build and regression testing system using Jenkins, Python, and Xilinx Vivado.
By adding extra jobs where required in the company’s regression testing system, I interacted with Cadence’s IMC tool to generate merged coverage files and reports on each of the tested modules. Then by using a combination of SQL, Perl, and HTML, a web front end was edited to allow the user to view the results and download these files.
This was an essential task that needed to have been completed; this and the other improvements made, such as allowing for regressions on local files, has provided more detailed coverage data and a reduced test run time. This has benefited UltraSoC’s hardware team of 10 engineers who interact with the regression tools daily.
My work on verifying a module using UVM involved creating UVM components such as scoreboards, predictors, and sequences. Cadence’s tools such as SimVision and vManager were used to create a verification plan, write appropriate tests, and link test coverage to the specification.
Also took part in weekly Mandarin Chinese lessons which led to earning the HSK Level 1 qualification. This was done in preparation for working in the global electronics industry.
During this period, I also won the UKESF Scholar of the Year award, my work at UltraSoC contributed to this.
You can view my placement report here, which describes my work in further detail.
University of Southampton - Southampton
November 2017 - February 2018
ECS Student Ambassador
Acted as a guide to UCAS applicants visiting the department of Electronics and Computer Science. I demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills whilst talking to prospective students about ECS, the courses, and the University. In total I hosted nine lunch and pre-interview sessions with over 100 applicants.
Huawei - Beijing and Shenzhen
August 2017
UK Seeds for the Future
Selected to attend the 2017 UK Seeds for the Future program, which was made in collaboration with the British Council, the Beijing Institute of Technology, the Beijing Language and Culture University, and CCRC Asia.
60 of the top STEM students from leading UK and Irish universities were chosen to experience Chinese culture and business practices in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong for four weeks.
Gained a valuable insight to Chinese culture and the career opportunities available in the Chinese electronics industry; and created an indispensable network of like-minded students.
- Tours of cultural sites such as Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall of China.
- An intensive week of introductory Mandarin lessons.
- Technical training in telecoms at Huawei's global HQ in Shenzhen.
- Visits to large multinational companies (Tencent, Hyundai), domestic giants (BYD, 3nod), emerging local startups (Evoke Motorcycles), and of course Huawei's own production facilities at their Shenzhen headquarters.
- Tours of Shenzhen's Open Innovation Lab.
UltraSoC - Cambridge
June 2017 - July 2017
UKESF Industrial Placement Student
A seven week placement at a pioneering company delivering embedded monitoring and analytics IP for SoCs, working on data visualisation and verification.
Data Visualisation: Using Python and various APIs to generate graphs from regression testing data stored in an SQL database. The Django framework and HTML was used to create webpages for the team’s development portal, where the user could select the data to be plotted and access the graphs.
Verification: Using SystemVerilog and UVM to complete a series of tasks.
- Implementing parameters into a UVM sequence.
- Improving test coverage through the use of ignore_bins for unobtainable situations in cross coverage cover groups, and investigated methods of producing ignore_bins based on the outcome of a function to save hardcoding.
- Making additions to transactions, working with virtual interfaces and generated test benches, creating UVM components, running tests and creating specific tests through the use of additional constraints, to help develop a test.
Version control: Learnt how to use SVN to manage my work, and gained an insight to collaborative development.
Industry insight: Attended team meetings and gained an insight to the companies, current projects, and technologies within the industry.
Micron - Bracknell
July 2016 - August 2016
UKESF Industrial Placement Student
An eight week placement at a world leading company in memory solutions:
- Introduced to the verification side of System Verilog: interfaces, object oriented System Verilog, constrained random, and clocking blocks.
- Designed a behavioural model of a generic memory buffer.
- Learnt the basics of setting up a UVM environment to test my models.
British Heart Foundation - Wisbech
September 2013 - March 2015
Volunteer
Weekly assistance in a local charity.
Managed stock on the shop floor and organised the book department as part of the volunteering section of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
Local Shop For You - Wisbech
January 2012 - August 2015
General Helper
Daily assistance in a family business resulted in the development of a strong work ethic and the ability to work well in a team.
- Managing stock and deliveries.
- Fulfilling a customer-facing role at the tills.
- Label and pricing design for over 300 SKUs.