At Intel, you can experience a world of opportunities.
Opportunities to explore a wide-range of careers, to develop industry-leading innovations, and to work with the latest technologies and brilliant minds across the globe!
At Intel, we thrive on inspiration. That’s why we put brilliant minds together and give them the tools to succeed. If you’re looking to make an impact, Intel is the perfect place.
At Intel, you will be part of a culture that thrives on innovation and celebrates performance. If you want to keep learning, you will appreciate our continuing education and research opportunities. And if global career options and flexibility are what you are looking for, you will enjoy the Intel approach to Career Paths. One that helps you build on your engineering passions.
Intel Leixlip
The Leixlip campus is the largest of Intel’s three sites located in Ireland. The site is home to the Fab 24 semi-conductor wafer fabrication facilities, Silicon Nanoelectronics Research, Product Development and the Innovation Open Lab.
The Fab24 facility is one of Intel’s most technologically advanced high-volume manufacturing plants in the world. These facilities produce leading edge silicon products that power platforms and technology advancements which are essential to the way we learn, live and work today.
An innovative competence in manufacturing research is represented by the Product / Software Design Engineering Team which design leading edge test solutions for Intel semiconductor circuits such as microprocessors, chipsets, consumer and embedded electronics devices. The new Galileo board and the Intel® Quark SoC X1000 by which it is powered were both designed in Ireland at the Intel campus in Leixlip.
Additionally, there is a team of employees involved in Silicon Nanoelectronics Research. The team collaborates extensively with research institutes such as the CRANN Nanoscience Research Centre in Trinity College Dublin and the Tyndall National Research Institute in Cork.
The Leixlip Campus is also home to other Intel businesses including the innovation Open Lab – Ireland (IOL). The IOL is part of Intel Labs Europe (ILE) which has the goal of expanding the scope of Intel’s European R&D activities.
Intel Shannon
Intel Shannon was formed in 2000 and provides a single integrated point of focus for Intel activity in embedded market segments in EMEA. The Software engineering team in Shannon, a part of Intel’s ECG (Embedded Computing Group), is tasked with delivering innovative embedded computing and communications solutions, on Intel platforms.
The Shannon silicon engineering team encompasses a wide spectrum of functional areas including – architecture, virtual platforms, circuit and logic design, verification, physical design and post silicon validation.
This engineering team has a long record of producing “first time right” IA Systems-on-Chip (SoC), Chipset products for embedded and communications markets. The design team leverages Intel’s cutting edge manufacturing technologies to develop silicon tuned for performance and/or low-power applications.
Intel Cork
Following the acquisition by Intel of global security software company McAfee in 2011 some 350 people based in Cork became part of Intel operations in Ireland and today form part of the Intel Security Group.
The Intel Security Group delivers proactive and proven security solutions and services for systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world. With its visionary Security Connected strategy, innovative approach to hardware-enhanced security, and unique global threat intelligence network, the group is relentlessly focused on keeping its customers safe.The group has had significant operations in Cork since 2004 when it initially employed 40 people. Its workforce has grown steadily over the years and today it employs 350 people in its state-of-the-art offices in City Gate, Cork. The company’s innovative and highly motivated professional team have strong educational backgrounds and multilingual abilities. Within the Irish operation the company’s team are employed in 15 different functional areas, represent 31 nationalities and speak 16 languages
Intel Belfast
Intel Corporation has established a Centre of Excellence in Belfast for its Network Products and Services group through its acquisition of Aepona, one of Northern Ireland’s most successful technology companies. The additional products, personnel and expertise extends Intel’s capabilities in areas instrumental to building and delivering future network and cloud services across the spectrum of computing.
The team at Intel Belfast has built a market-leading API Monetization Platform that is used by many of the world’s leading Communications Service Providers to drive innovation, create new services and monetize their significant network resources. In response to growing market demand for our solutions, we are now developing the next generation of products that will extend our globalmarket leadership.
Deborah took the advice of her Guidance Counsellor and went to study Electronic Engineering at DCU (Dublin City University). After her four year course, she secured a placement with Intel through ICT Ireland. She now works directly on the production process in the manufacture of semi-conductors at Intel's facility in Leixlip.
Hi, Ask me a question...
What were the main 'career decision' milestones in your life so far?
- Choosing to study engineering. Aptitude tests completed in secondary school helped me realise that I had an aptitude for engineering. Also with other members of my family in the same professions it seemed a simple decision.
-Gaining an ICT placement. Being given an opportunity to work for 11 months with Intel led to me obtaining a full time permanent position with them and I have now worked for Intel for almost 4 years.
-Trying different job roles. I had the opportunity to change job roles in Intel and this I believe increased my knowledge/understanding to enable me develop a better understanding of the manufacturing process.
Who are the people who most influenced your career direction?
Initially a school career guidance counsellor pointed me in the direction of the engineering courses available in DCU. DCU has a good reputation for engineering graduates and it seemed the best college to study engineering as I had shown to have an aptitude for engineering.
How did you go about getting your current job?
After some time off directly after college, I applied for an ICT Graduate placement. ICT Ireland provides graduates with the opportunity for placements with participating companies. I was successful in getting an 11 month placement in Intel, in the Unit Level Failure Analysis group.
After the 11 month placement I was offered a full time position within the same group. After working for approximately 1 year in that role I changed job role to work with the Yield Analysis group.
Describe a typical day?
Each engineer in the Yield Analysis group is assigned a product for which he/she is responsible. Day-to-day work involves monitoring end of line yields and if/when there are any yield depressions performing analytical functions to try to understand what may be the problem.
A typical day usually involves meeting with the other members of the group to discuss issues and meeting other engineers in the Fab to try to resolve those problems. Most days throw up different problems and issues and thus each day is usually slightly different from the last!
What are the main tasks and responsibilities?
The main tasks are:
Monitoring end of line yields.
Using analytical tools to understand changes to fab processes.
Meeting with other engineers to discuss any results I have determined.
Highlight any end of line problems to the process engineers.
What are the main challenges?
As every day is slightly different and you can be dealing with process engineers from different sections of the Fab every day, the main challenge I have is trying to gain an understanding of each section. Each day you tend to gain more knowledge of the Fab process and with every little piece of knowledge you gain your understanding becomes that bit greater.
What do you like most?
The thing I regard as the 'coolest' with Intel is, although all engineers within Intel have a full workload each day, Intel encourage a good work/life balance. There is a flexibility within Intel that allows its employees to effectively balance their working and personal lives.
What particular skills do you bring to your workplace?
I believe that I contribute to my group and Intel as a whole by providing good technical knowledge along with good organizational skills and flexibility.
Both the technical and personal skills are required in order to be a good engineer within Intel.
What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
After completing my Junior Certificate I tried to choose a range of subjects in order to maintain options for Leaving Cert/College, and so studied Physics, Accountancy and Home Economics. I believed maintaining at least 1 science subject was important as it can be a requisite for many college courses.
Physics was also then key in my choice of Engineering at third level.
Accountancy and Home Economics were subjects I enjoyed and performed quite well at but could not see myself developing a career in.
Physics was a good basis for continuing on to study Electronic Engineering in college. Although having studied any science subject at Leaving Certificate level is required for entry to engineering I believe that Physics was the most relevant for my course.
What is your education to date?
I completed my secondary education at Loreto College in Swords. I did my Leaving Cert in 1999 and started university studying Electronic Engineering in Dublin City University that same year.
This was a four year degree course and I graduated with an honours degree in 2003.
What aspects of your education have proven most important for your job?
My 4 years studying all aspects of electronic engineering has provided a good basis for my current job. This course starts from studying the fundamentals of electrical/mechanical engineering to covering more in-depth and varied subjects such as digital signal processing, object orientated programming, semiconductors and industrial engineering. Working in Intel, a semiconductor manufacturer, numerous subjects from the basics, to circuit and systems to semiconductor devices have helped with my present job.
What have been the most rewarding events in your career so far?
One of the most rewarding events was being offered a permanent position after completing my 11 month placement. Being offered this position validated that I had being doing a good job during the placement. Also during my time at Intel I have received awards for the work I have done, it is always satisfying to receive commendation for the work you have done.
What personal qualities do you have that helps you in your career?
I think I am quite a easy going, approachable person. As dealing with other people is a large part of my daily job I think being seen as an approachable person enables me and others to get work done more efficiently.
What is your dream job?
A writer...though my engineering mind tends to conflict with that...
Does your job allow you to have a lifestyle you are happy with?
Working with Intel does allow me to maintain a good work/life balance. My boss is quite understanding of my life priorities and allows me to maintain a healthy balance between work and home.
What advice would you give to someone considering this job?
For my particular job role, as a yield analysis engineer, good organization and communication skills are quite important. Along with having the technical knowledge, being able to properly communicate your ideas/findings is very important.
A lot of my day is spent dealing with other people in the factory and it is very important to be able to communicate efficiently with them.
What are the three most important personal characteristics required for the job?
Good communication - My job involves working every day with engineers in all roles in the factory. You need to be able to communicate the results/findings you have to achieve the desired results. Everyone needs to work together and communicate well in order to solve problems.
Time management - As I receive numerous work requests in a day/week, I need to be able to prioritize my work accordingly and plan my time in each day to ensure that I get all my work completed.
Flexibility - Each day can bring different challenges, as I work within a team we need to be flexible to ensure that the groups work gets completed along with each individuals.
Have you undertaken, or do you plan to undertake any further training as part of your job?
Intel encourages continual training. I have undertaken many training courses within Intel focused towards better understanding and knowledge of my job role and the manufacturing processes.
What kinds of work experience would provide a good background for this position?
As a part of my course in DCU we were provided with a 6 month work experience opportunity. While the company I worked for in that time was not related to semiconductors, it was worthwhile to work in a manufacturing company as the principles of engineering work in both are quite similar although they manufacture quite different products.