#GradStories Whitney Baffoe, Facilities Technician, Intel

What does a typical day look like for you?

Our department supports other departments that supply the factory with what they need to make the chips. On a day-to-day basis I would be repairing or trouble shooting any issues with temperature sensors, humidity sensors, pressure transmitters. These things are controlling processes that are feeding the factory to make the chips. I would be calibrating PH and conductivity probes because some of the by-products of our processes includes water going down the stream and we want to make sure there are no contaminants in the water.

I also do maintenance work in any location that requires ma to do maintenance work such as transmitters, sensors and analysers.

What skills bring you success in your role?

Good communication and organisational skills. You have to be in contact with four different people wo work on one particular thing and you need to then feed that back to other people in the team.

You also need to be self-motivated. You will get a lot of training but there are some areas where you will need to take control.

Lastly, you will also need to have basic instrumentation knowledge. You can get this from watching YouTube or TikTok videos.

What was your career break?

I did a level 7 in physics and instrumentation then I applied with Intel to be an instrumentation technician.

What advice would you have for students?

Learn how to communicate and coordinate with people. Any job you will be in will require you to do deal with people and talk to people.

How have you adjusted to hybrid work?

For me working from home only lasted for a few months as I completed training. As a technician you have to be on site most of the time but there is the option for working hybrid. In our department you can work from home one day a week. Intel facilitates whichever way works best for you and your team.

What do you love about your job?

Every day is different and interesting. You can try to plan your day but issues prop up all the time that you have to take a look at. I also get a lot of training opportunities daily and I get to work with a variety of people. It keeps everyday interesting.