Priyanka Viswanathan
Director of Quality, Functional Safety, and Cybersecurity
SiFive
SiFive is an American semiconductor company that provides commercial RISC-V processors and silicon chips. Reduced Instruction Set Computer-Five (RISC-V) is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) that allows manufacturers to create microprocessors and microcontrollers without paying license fees.
The work involves a lot of interactions with brilliant engineers. While I help them to develop components, I learn a lot about new technologies from them. Every day is different with vibrant challenges to tackle which keeps me on toes. In addition, I get to talk to a lot of people to help them solve problems thereby learning everyday something new.
50-60% of my time each day is meeting with people to help them solve problems with electronic and software development. I also spend time writing technical papers and blogs.
I earned a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication in India. I was fortunate to have campus placement in a multinational company. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) opened a world of opportunities in the corporate world for me. My first project was to develop a Bluetooth functionality of an MRI machine. This exposed me to both hardware and software development ,which I loved doing. However, I realized that doing coding was not something which I thoroughly enjoyed due. The predictable nature and the limited amount of interaction with other people left me feeling unfulfilled. I found an opportunity in the Quality department, this team developed guidance for the engineers to develop and test software and hardware. The work in this role was vibrant, involved a lot of people interaction, and needed my technical expertise. So I decided to make a move from hardcore development to Quality Management. I went on to work in 3 different countries and 4 companies within 9 years of my career in Quality. While working at Arm, I was tasked with a project about the standards for developing safe components for self-driving cars. It gave me the opportunity to apply more of my engineering background and explore new areas of engineering. I approached the person building a team in this new area within Arm and told him that I was interested when there was a role. Later, when he had an opening, he approached me. In this new role, I worked to develop guidance to develop safe electronic components and software where I could learn new things but also use all the experience I had gained in the last 10 years of my career. This role also came with opportunities to collaborate, discuss and debate with experts in this field at conferences and workshops, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Now, I am at a different semiconductor company and in a Director role! It has been a journey moving between various fields, companies and countries. It did come with a lot of challenges and I navigated it with support from my family, friends and mentors. This journey created experiences for me which I will carry and use for my journey forward.
I would like to get up each morning with a drive to go to work and learn, enjoy what I do, and contribute to making this world a better place to live.
I love cooking, baking, going for long walks, as well as traveling with my husband and son.
"Enjoy the little things because one day you will look back and realise they were the big things." ~ Kurt Vonnegut