 William Schmidt
Principal Engineer/Scientist
Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Mountain View, CA
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 B.S. -
Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
M.S. -
Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley |
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Principal Scientist
in the area of electronics, serving as a corporate resource
providing direction and expertise in the areas of chip level
packaging and electronic interconnect. |
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"Flexibility is
important because engineering, and particularly engineering in
industry, is a whole series of compromises." |
 
"To me, the college process isn't, doesn't give you a skill set. A college
process, the university process teaches you how to think and teaches you
how to learn so that your career becomes a lifelong learning process."
William Schmidt of Silicon Graphics believes that adaptability and
flexibility are key to a successful engineering career. To cultivate these
qualities, he advises students to "pay attention to the fundamentals" and
get as broad a background as possible, taking English and humanities
courses and developing their social skills. His being named principal
scientist at Silicon Graphics is due to his broad background. Schmidt
originally trained as a mechanical engineer and over time was exposed to
electronics. "In my particular case, I paid a lot of attention to
fundamentals and a broad background. And that's allowed me to get into an
area [in which], oddly enough, most of the work I do is electrical."
Students need to keep in mind that what their education gives them is the
ability to learn. "You don't know … how technology is going to change in a
twenty, thirty, forty year career. But you have to have the ability to
adapt which means your philosophy [has to be] that you have the capability
and the willingness to learn." Schmidt explains that, in the computer
industry, every project is totally "new and completely different. So, in
essence, it's like a Ph.D. thesis. The advantage you have working in the
industry is that it's a collaborative effort. If you're a student, you
have to do it all yourself. So you learn by doing just like doctoral
candidates do."
Flexibility is important because "engineering, and particularly
engineering in industry, is a whole series of compromises." Schmidt points
out that "even a very good idea sometimes is not the best implementation,
is not the most expedient one, is not the most cost effective one, and,
therefore, you have to be willing to compromise that idea."
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