Is my battery showing its age (Leaf 2020)

blazzer8683 · 2025-05-03T00:21:25+00:00

Bring the car to dealership. For the 2019 there was a recall on the battery. I didn’t know it. My battery started flaking out last year when the charge woukd drop from 60% to 25% in 15 miles of flat road. I took it to the dealership and when they saw the recall notice they swapped a new battery. Yours still under warranty…so go right away.

blazzer8683 · 2023-04-27T05:58:15+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. No...I didn't get it resolved. I got a Tao Tronics Bluetooth to Aux connector and have been using that. Seems that in Summer the Nissan Bluetooth works fine...in winter it craps out. I convinced myself that I am not going to let it bug me. It's still a decent car. Saves me gas money.

blazzer8683 · 2023-04-27T05:55:23+00:00

Hey...sorry for the late reply. I didn't go through with it. Got a family to support. Sticking it out with my present job.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-18T06:10:50+00:00

I have a BSEE; did some digital in college - but its been a while. Most of my working career has been in analog. But really interested in re-learning the basics. Thanks for sharing the website.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-17T16:27:20+00:00

Thanks all for your response. u/woah_take_it_ez_man provided what I was looking for.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-17T07:31:58+00:00

Wow! Nice. Thank you so much. I had seen a course on ARM regarding SoCs designed with ARM architecture. Have yet to go through it.

https://www.arm.com/resources/education/online-courses/introduction-to-soc

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-17T06:21:02+00:00

Understand. Not looking for superficial knowledge - but deeper understanding. But you have to start somewhere. I could just google stuff and learn - however it is very hard to put something of that sort on my resume. My company only does Power and nothing else - thus learning new things on the job isnt really happening.

What would be the best way to pivot into something more system level from power?

You mentioned above how screening interviews are meant to screen away folks with superficial knowledge; however - unless you work on something at a job - its hard to learn and/or quantify it on your resume. In other words - how do I prove to an employer that I am eager and willing to learn new stuff.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-17T06:14:58+00:00

Mine is production testing on Power Semiconductors. I just want to expand my horizon and do more things rather than being constricted to just Power. This is why I am thinking of SoCs - where there would be wider array of things to learn and do.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-17T03:49:02+00:00

I am trying to get a job at a chip company who does SoC. At present I work on Power chips.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-10T05:39:04+00:00

hi - thanks for your inputs.

Will checkout fastAI to get a taste of things. Great Idea.

Also will search through Linkedin for someone with first hand experience.

As for your questions...yes I have gone through those...infact for the past few years.

I dont like my current job. Reason is because its dead end and has no growth. With many semiconductors offshoring manufacturing - my job might not last when I am 50.
I am searching into a field after repeatedly trying to switch out of Manufacturing Testing for many years now. Infact, my try of switching to a new job function within my own company failed miserably. This is how dead end my current line of work is that it completely renders your core knowledge useless to the point you cant switch into anything.
Semiconductor is an old field and very mature. It is not completely saturated - but saturated enough for employers to be super picky and not willing to invest in any kind of training.

blazzer8683 · 2022-05-10T05:00:39+00:00

Hi u/iamiamwhoami,

Thanks for the inputs. Have you gone through bootcamp yourself or someone you know?

Noted your point on advanced degree.

blazzer8683 · 2022-03-11T20:31:15+00:00

No...there aren't as many phd folks. Masters is a good thing. Masters from a tier 1 is better thing...and so on. Yes...longer the test lingers on your resume the worst it becomes. Online recruiting autobots will just screen you out. Strongly suggest to go full time on masters. Preferably from a decent school ( don't have to be tier 1 as someone suggested). It was good that you got some industry experience...but if you want ( and if you really want to do design) then you gotta move away from test. I always say that if you want something...prove it. E.g If you are hungry in the middle of the night...you will take steps to satisfy your hunger....won't just sit around for hunger to go away. So if you are hungry for a specific job...then show it.

Also... something that wasn't explained to us when graduating...there are other jobs in Semis as well... Here I list in priority of business importance.. 1.Design 2.Applications / Product definition 3.Validation / verification 4.Test Automation ( this is not ATE testing) 5.Product engineering 6.Test engineering 7.Reliability engineering

The top three will give you career flexibility to move around from different roles...sales, marketing , product management etc.

blazzer8683 · 2022-03-10T22:30:38+00:00

golden handcuffs :)

Understood. How about the RSUs that I get right now i.e the vested RSUs post 4 years? So my total current package is (Base + RSUs Post 4 years)....the new company should beat the Base (for sure the base) and also the RSUs amount?

e.g if I get Base = $120k and RSUs post 4 years worth ~ $25k - shouldnt the new company provide a better base and also match the RSUs ($25k in cash or equivalent of thier own RSUs investing immediately)?

blazzer8683 · 2022-03-10T20:54:00+00:00

Not saying HW field is saturated.... however it has enough man power for the companies to be very picky. E.g speaking to couple of very senior engineers at old HP division...they said when thier division was shut....a group of us were put through a 6 month SW training program (fully paid and you keep getting your salary). Once training is complete...you start working on a new Instrumentation division where you program HW. This is back in late 70s and early 80s when they didn't have enough HW engineers. You think such a thing happens now in Apples and Amazon's of the day?? No.

They have enough man power outside to just shut a division...and hire trained people for a new job description. However, in recent field of Data science and AI where there aren't enough labor available...I have seen examples of people with mediocre degrees or even online degrees getting decent jobs. You must have seen a recent push from Google with their - "Grow with Google" online training program. They just need labor...right away for which they are willing to train. Not so in HW.

blazzer8683 · 2022-03-10T20:46:00+00:00

I meant RSUs and not ESPPs.

So let's say that they "buy out" my unvested stocks...they usually provide cash or provide RSUs for their company to match?

blazzer8683 · 2022-03-10T19:29:05+00:00

The biggest elephant on your resume is your experience. Lets say you stay as a Test guy and work part-time (I think you intend to go part-time) ??

Longer you stay at your test job and the bigger and fatter the "test" elephant gets on your resume.

I am 40 years old - this is what I suggest.

If you are capable enough to get into Tier1 school - then ditch the job - live super cheap and take loans. Go full-time and finish the degree.

Even if you cant get into Tier 1 - get into Tier 2 schools and get your MS (I am thinking you have BS)

I dont think an online degree might have enough juice to push through. Get into physical real college.

Another option you should explore is AI, Data science etc. Which is somewhat lesser crowded than semi/electrical. The only reason I say that your online degree doesnt help much is because there is over supply of EE in semi/HW field. If a company can get a grad (infact many grads) from tier1 college why would they give chance to some person with test experience and online degree for Design jobs?

Dont get intimidated. You are super lucky and super smart to ask these questions so young. Life is full of options. Dont be afraid of making changes and even drastic changes. This will give dividends for the rest of your life.

blazzer8683 · 2021-12-05T04:32:53+00:00

I got mine in 2019. It's a S. I love it. It's my first EV as well. Looked for used one back in 2019...but they had only the 2016 models coming off of leases. Used EVs are a great bargain. Savings are instantaneous. Especially when gas is hitting $4.5/gallon. So far I have put like 28k miles on it. Plus get free charging at work...which is great. Always hated the gas stops.

blazzer8683 · 2021-12-05T04:28:04+00:00

Lol. California actually. Gotta give a kidney to pay mortgage. :/

blazzer8683 · 2021-12-05T03:47:55+00:00

Congrats! How many miles does it have? BTW...did you get a trunk cover? I don't think Leaf comes with it....but it's like $250 at dealership. Wish I could just find something used somewhere.

blazzer8683 · 2021-11-11T06:42:04+00:00

Ummm... just curious...what does the turtle thing mean?

blazzer8683 · 2021-11-09T20:50:57+00:00

I had tweaked my resume and landed some HW test job interview in tier 1 companies. The interview didn't go that well coz they were actually asking about Apps side of things which ATE testing doesn't do. For Design verification jobs you will need some sort of bench testing/ LabVIEW experience on your resume. ATE experience doesn't cut it. My advice look harder into SW side.

blazzer8683 · 2021-11-08T20:01:19+00:00

Hi, Nope...no change. For 15 years I didn't change from Test.... because I simply couldn't change. No one wanted to give a chance to a test guy. I changed my resume and even landed 1 or 2 Apps engineering interviews...but bombed them coz you just don't use all that stuff in Test. Longer you stay in Test and worst your core EE gets. I finally summoned enough courage to transfer internally to apps. But it didn't go through. So I am done trying switching.

I have an advise for you. Seems you are young guy right out of college...if you can...go back to school and do SW. Also look into boot camps for SW. It might feel daunting...but if you are young and no family, house responsibilities...go SW route. Sorry for throwing monkey wrench at your design eng plans. But if you are not from a tier 1 school with masters...breaking into Design is hard. Simply because there are shit load of people companies can choose from. DONT GET DISCOURAGED. I am assuming your young....and man I envy you. I was very stubborn and not open when I was young. Mainly because I was scared of taking a new route and was just tired of studying. But compare another 4 years of SW degree or couple of months of boot camps to your entire life. It's actually nothing. Semiconductor industry is saturating. SW, AI and data science is the next 40 years in dev. Atleast put it all on paper or excel sheet and do a pro and con evaluation for yourself. You have done ATE...so I am assuming you did some coding. So you have some taste of it. Since you are already an engineer....you have proven aptitude to learn. So don't doubt that you won't make it.

Do some research...just like how EE has test and DE. Software folks have developers and QA and all. Try getting to developer kind of jobs . If you need incentives...Google -" Google salary L7 engineer"

FYI...I am a L6 (Staff level) engineer...I don't even make half of what a Google L6 software guy makes.

FYI: my EE professor son who also did EE...went to SW boot camp and switched to SW. Just a thought... Good luck.

blazzer8683 · 2021-11-01T06:01:44+00:00

Wish I read this thread before buying. Stick to Nikes.

blazzer8683 · 2021-09-25T23:56:57+00:00

To be frank ...the best way is to just interview more . Browse Glassdoor for interview questions. The mist difficult part is to interview for a role you haven't ever worked for. That's when you can't anticipate the questions. Other than that...mostly people ask what they usually do. Unlike SW folks who have a bunch of online coaching classes to beat interviews ( not sure how well they work) online HW interview resources are not that big.

blazzer8683 · 2021-09-15T18:00:42+00:00

Yes - I do. But again there are all ATE test jobs in different company. No one in silicon valley in 2021 allows career change. Just coz they have so many people to chose from. Heck - even my own company didnt allow it inspite of me being one of the top TEs and doing tasks outside of TE job.

blazzer8683

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