Employee Interview with Shinpei Iida Image

My seed is steady effort

Shinpei Iida

New graduate, Semiconductor Engineer (Semiconductor) FINESSE Company Technology Management Division, 2nd Technology Department

Iida continues to grow as an FAE, working closely with customers to solve their problems with technology. With a real sense of supporting social infrastructure, he aims to propose "solutions" by accumulating knowledge and experience as an engineer.

Q1: What is your current job and what is rewarding about it?

FAE's mission to support social infrastructure

As a semiconductor product FAE (Field Applications Engineer), I provide technical support to major electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers developing servers, storage devices, and other products. Although technical support is a broad term, it covers a wide range of tasks, from responding to technical inquiries about semiconductor products to verifying the products the Company provide on behalf of our customers. The semiconductor products the Company handle often do not allow customers to fully utilize the functions of the products simply by providing them to them.

What originally led me to join Macnica was a technical internship I participated in during my third year of university. I participated in the internship out of curiosity, wondering what an engineer at a trading company would do, but the senior employees and work I saw were very different from the vague image I had at the beginning.
I had a preconceived notion that the business model of a trading company was simply to "purchase goods and sell them as is," or in other words, to "transfer goods from right to left." However, I still remember being impressed by how much more technological added value Macnica provided between customers and suppliers than I had imagined.

For this reason, we FAEs are expected to be close to our customers, provide high-quality technical support, and support their development. When a customer is undertaking large-scale development, the total number of inquiries can exceed 200, but we respond to each one promptly and carefully. Our daily goal is to have our customers say, "We couldn't have done development without Macnica 's technical support."

Servers and storage devices are rarely given much thought in our daily lives, but in today's IT-driven world, they have become an essential part of the social infrastructure. It makes me very happy to see a product I helped develop being mass-produced and being featured on a customer's website, and it gives me a real sense that my efforts have paid off. Being able to participate in development that contributes greatly to society is a great reward for me.

Daily Schedule

8:30

go to the office

Check the daily schedule
9:30

Regular meetings with suppliers

Check the progress of inquiries you have with suppliers
Sharing project development status, etc.
12:00

Lunch

Lunch using boxed lunches sold in-house

13:00

Inquiry response

Read data sheets and answer customer questions
Contact suppliers as needed
If you can't understand it from the documentation alone, verify and evaluate it using the actual device.
17:15

End of Business

Depending on the situation, you may need to work overtime for up to an hour.
18:30

drinking party

Every Friday I often go out drinking with my seniors, classmates, and juniors.

Q2: An episode in which you grew

The significance of FAEs, learned through troubleshooting

In the summer of my second year at the company, an incident occurred that made me realize once again how important FAE's role is. When exchanging data within a customer's server, which was using the product I was in charge of, a problem occurred where certain data could not be sent. At the time, I had only been in charge of that customer for about six months, but my boss's words, "Just do everything you can," encouraged me to resolve to do everything I could.

The first thing I did was interview the customer. They shared with me in detail what kind of phenomenon was occurring and under what circumstances. Based on that, I discussed the cause of the problem with the supplier, consulted with my superiors, and researched by reading the specifications, thoroughly doing everything I could think of. After a series of steady efforts, I was able to identify the root cause after three weeks and solve the problem.

Through this experience, I once again realized the significance of FAEs' existence as intermediaries between customers and supplier manufacturers. As FAEs, we are in a position to correctly understand the requests and positions of both parties and propose solutions. Because the products are not developed in-house, we are able to make objective judgments in a positive sense. Furthermore, there are language and business practice barriers between Japanese customers and overseas supplier manufacturers, so it is also necessary to act as an intermediary between the two parties to facilitate smooth communication.

One of the best parts of the job is being able to feel my own growth as an engineer. When I first started working in technical support, there was a lot I didn't understand, but now I have acquired knowledge about the products I'm responsible for, the related technologies, and their standards. I'm also able to have technical conversations with suppliers and customers on an equal level and lead them to solutions. This is something I never would have imagined when I first joined the company.

MY VISIONFuture goals and aspirations

My short-term goal is to gain more knowledge and experience about the various products and standards used in customer equipment and become an expert on the products I am currently in charge of. After that, I would like to work on proposing "solutions" that include other hardware and software that are necessary to solve customer problems, rather than just semiconductor products.

Message

Our job is to act as a bridge connecting cutting-edge technology with customers around the world. Semiconductors, in particular, are crucial in supporting the development of society and industry. As technology advances, various new semiconductors will continue to be developed, and it is exciting to be the first to spread these cutting-edge achievements to the world and work with our customers to bring them to market as products.
Because we deal with cutting-edge technology, there is a lot to learn. It is not easy, but it is a job where you can absorb a lot of knowledge and feel a great sense of growth.

Macnica is passionate about educating its FAEs, which is the foundation that supports their high level of technical ability. I myself have experienced this thorough education, and I feel every day that Macnica is very particular about the quality of its FAEs.
Please use your abilities in an environment where you can experience real growth.