Seeking Employment: Palash Pranav Vyas

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Despite skilled worker shortages across the industry, there are many educated and qualified individuals ready to contribute to electronics manufacturing. Here we profile Palash Pranav Vyas, a Ph.D. candidate at Auburn University whose work in drop shock reliability won him Best Student Poster at IPC APEX EXPO 2024.

Barry Matties: Palash, you are now a graduate student and seeking employment. To start, first, tell me a little bit about your education.

Palash Pranav Vyas: I'm currently pursuing my Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from Auburn University. Before that, I also earned my master’s in industrial and systems engineering from Auburn, and a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. I started my Ph.D. in 2020, and since then, I've been in the reliability testing group at Auburn University under Dr. Sa'd Hamasha. My area of research is PCB solder-joint reliability, and within that, I am studying drop shock reliability. I also have experience in thermal cycling and vibration.

Matties: What sort of culture are you looking for in the company you work for?

Vyas: I prefer an open culture where there's not much hierarchy, and you are free to talk to even the most senior person.

Matties: What kind of job are you looking for and what kind of company do you want to work for?

Vyas: I'm looking for a job in the industry as a reliability engineer or researcher. I'm looking at companies like Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Qualcomm.

Matties: Those are the big tech companies. When you look at a company, what should they know about you and why you would be a good fit for them?

Vyas: All these companies conduct extensive reliability testing because they develop new technologies every year and need to test their products. This matches very well with my work at my lab.

Matties: Are you willing to relocate for work?

Vyas: Yes, I am open to relocation.

Matties: When you look at technology today, where do you see it advancing?

Vyas: Technology is advancing very fast, especially these days with the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning. So, those things are integrating very well into our work and reliability. Those are the next steps. Apart from that, new versions of chips are continuously coming. The form factor is reducing. We are now having heterogeneous integration or system on chips. With all these steps, new technologies need to be tested, and we need to ensure they are ready to be in the market. This is the exciting future of the chip technology.

Matties: Is there anything else that people should know when they're considering you for employment?

Vyas: I am a former president of the IPC Student Chapter at Auburn, and I had a very good time there. We conducted a lot of events, which helped me a lot in my soft skills and to become a good leader. My leadership skills improved a lot. Apart from that, I was also a teaching assistant. I've taught several classes, including Lean, Six Sigma, and manufacturing systems. A couple of classes had more than 100 students. I have experience conducting lab sessions and teaching lectures whenever a professor is absent. I was also an IPC Emerging Engineer last year. It was a great experience.

Matties: What do you think makes you a good leader?

Vyas: My ability to relate to people and consider their opinions rather than just check them off makes me a good leader. I follow a servant-leadership style, as opposed to any other style. I believe in empowerment of the team members and helping them grow in every way. In my opinion, that's a pretty good leadership style.

Matties: Are there any final thoughts you'd like to share?

Vyas: I'm just out there looking to get a head start into the industry and make a good career.

Find Palash on LinkedIn here: Palash Pranav Vyas