Day One

I've managed to survive day one of my summer internship at a small fabless-semiconducter design house. Even so we've had a few interesting changes from last year. Apparently, due to space constraints interns don't get cubes, we get sit in the hall, with a modular desk thing attached to the outside of the cube we sit by. At least the hall we sit in is by the giant glass windows on the side of the building so at least I get some sunlight out of the deal. The downside is that I don't get a desk, just a sort of hanging table without any storage/drawers. Next year interns will probably end up in the parking lot :P.

Another interesting change is that we no longer get phones, instead we were given some usb headsets and use some software phone. To bad the headsets suck and can't pick up your voice at all, don't ever buy a Logitech Premium 250 USB headset. It is impossible to turn it up enough to pick up a voice without shouting. The IP phone software at least appears to work well except for our crappy headsets. This sort of makes me feel like I'm working in a Dilbert cartoon.

In more interesting news I get to do something completely new to me, and once again I'm forced to learn a ton of new stuff. Basically nothing but my knowledge of internal chip code names is useful from last year. But being thrown into the fire is what internships are all about! I also found out some of the work I did last year is still being actively used, worked on and has been slightly improved. Apparently, my internship last summer has had some long lasting effect on what's going on at my employer!