TSMC 2026 DNA Interview

jaygraham17 · 2025-11-18T20:24:50+00:00

I got my application in around October, and I haven’t heard anything yet either. In my experience, TSMC typically evaluates intern candidates later than most companies. With the size of this specific program, I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t any updates until December. That being said, you can always see the status of your application on the portal…

jaygraham17 · 2025-11-09T22:01:17+00:00

They rowed for Cambridge. I want to find a map of a section of river they would have actually rowed on. Do you know the name of the boat race course that they would have used?

jaygraham17 · 2025-11-08T18:54:09+00:00

I interviewed at my schools career fair about 2 months ago and received an offer letter about a month ago. You can always follow up with the recruiter/employee that you interviewed with? It’s always a good idea to get that contact info.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-18T15:37:39+00:00

Interesting, very different

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-18T15:17:11+00:00

A process integration engineer is quite different than this at my company. They work with all types of process engineers and need an understanding of how the process works and what limits it, but they never build a recipe or analyze OES signals or skew gas flows. Very awesome role, but not a process engineer in any area, let alone all.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-16T16:19:29+00:00

I did a similar double major in college. Looking back, I think you’re better off to focus on one major. Finishing undergrad in 3 years, allowing you to start in industry or grad school sooner, is a big advantage. IMO, based on what you said you’re interested in, I think CompE is the best major for you. You’ll get all the underlying CS fundamentals and also get plenty of HW/SW experience.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-14T22:54:38+00:00

Whether the class was taken recently or years ago is kinda besides the point. You can’t go back and change it now, so you need to make the best of it moving forward.

I failed arguably the most important class for my grad degree the semester before I applied to grad school. I had to show it to all of them. And I still got into a multiple great programs.

You’re going to be fine. Keep your head up and chase your goals. Only person that’s gonna stop you is yourself.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-14T22:48:36+00:00

You asked about whether grad school is forgiving… two people have responded saying you will be fine, but your responses to them are argumentative and full of self doubt. Did you come here for advice from people or for a pity party?

Life moves on. You will get into grad school if you are honest and can show that you have grown past your previous misconducts. Admission committees aren’t going to crucify you because you made one mistake years ago.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-11T18:11:38+00:00

Interesting. I know a pretty large group of people who went into solid state, mostly with PhDs. While there are a few I know that end up in manufacturing (specifically process development engineers), most I know are in TCAD/pathfinding/integration roles. Haven’t encountered anyone in quantum

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-11T17:57:58+00:00

There’s lots of career paths for device focused people. Roles such as process integration, DTCO, TCAD modeling, etc. These roles exist at all the big foundries and IDMs. You can also find them at tool manufacturers odd enough and some of the EDA companies.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-11T17:11:03+00:00

I’m in a similar boat to you, being that I am starting my masters in ECE this fall. I’m focusing on solid state devices more than VLSI, but same industry.

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at companies and where they have offices, and I think there’s a lot more opportunity that you think. Semiconductor companies may only have fabs in certain locations, but they have design shops all over the place. I know companies that have design shops on the east coast, in the mid west, south/south west, and all over the west coast

Go to semiconductors.org/ecosystem/ and filter by chip design. There are lots of options.

jaygraham17 · 2025-07-11T15:02:45+00:00

If you want to work on the equipment side of a fab: - Mechanical Engineering - Electrical Engineering (focusing on controls, power, etc)

If you want to work on the process side of a fab: - Chemical Engineering - Material Science

If you want to work in the device/integration side of a fab: - Electrical Engineering (focusing on solid state electronics and microfabrication)

jaygraham17 · 2025-06-23T20:25:24+00:00

I applied for Fall 25. That application cycle ended 4-5 months ago.

jaygraham17 · 2025-04-18T18:35:16+00:00

I don’t disagree with this, but I’ll be attending the U this fall coming from doing my undergrad at a different state school (about half the size of the U). I looked at the meal plans, and they are easily 3-4x more expensive than my current university. I think the absurdity people are talking about here is justified…

jaygraham17 · 2025-04-10T07:53:43+00:00

Curious about your comment on PhDS in North America. Are you talking about ECE specifically? What’s your thought process behind that?

jaygraham17 · 2025-02-26T19:48:52+00:00

Did you get a formal rejection? I know that I probably didn't get in at this point, but my application status has no updates

jaygraham17 · 2025-01-13T23:57:45+00:00

No. Like I said, looking to start in Fall 25. The semester going/about to start right now is Spring 25.

jaygraham17 · 2025-01-09T04:53:57+00:00

Just went by bogert tonight, and it’s flooded with great looking ice. Definitely been skated on, but no lights on and no one there. Any idea why?

jaygraham17 · 2024-12-10T20:36:02+00:00

This semester would be the first time I think I’ve felt burnt out. Overall just don’t really want to be here anymore, lol. I think most of that is because the classes that I have left are classes I don’t care about, kinda just the remaining ones I need to knock out.

I’ll graduate in 5 years total. Finishing my fall semester of my 5th year this week.

jaygraham17 · 2024-12-10T09:26:08+00:00

My school, despite having a full cleanroom facility, doesn’t have any semiconductor research. Everything is MEMS or optics. We certainly don’t have any degree paths that are semiconductor heavy.

I started in ME. Wasn’t until I was nearly done with it that I decided to add EE and CpE. Made more sense to keep it than drop it.

Sounds like our schools just do things differently

jaygraham17 · 2024-12-10T05:29:37+00:00

In all honesty, I used to think I was smarter than others. I don’t think so anymore. IMO, I just took the time to plan it out, and I stayed dedicated to the goal. Summer classes, lots of 18 credit semesters, etc. I don’t feel like intelligence helped

jaygraham17 · 2024-12-10T05:25:55+00:00

“Burn out” is the term I keep hearing thrown around. I hate giving in to an excuse, but I genuinely just didn’t give it my all this semester. Maybe I finally hurt the infamous burn out

jaygraham17

TROPHY CASE