The Run Up To DAC

Its that time of year again... DAC is around the corner with its line up of tutorials, panels, mini workshops, keynotes and paper presentations. In this post I want to talk about two "non technical workshops" that happen at DAC.

In addition to being the primary conference for the EDA industry, DAC also offers something for the non-techie attendee- The first is a workshop called "Introduction to Chips and EDA for a non technical audience". After all, to look at just one example, the big 4 companies in the EDA world employ hundreds of people whose expertise is in fields other than engineering and technology but whose knowledge of processes such as accounting, legal HR, etc is indispensable for day to day operations of the companies.Karen Bartleson who has organized this workshop at DAC for many years has been instrumental in educating a non technical audience in the basics of what they need to know about their industry.

On similar lines, the workshop for Women in Design Automation talks about non technical aspects of the job with a slightly different slant. As the gender ratio is so skewed in engineering, many years ago Marie Pistilli, ( a DAC cofounder), wanted to create a forum where women could gather to discuss topics that were of paramount importance to them, in EDA and the semiconductor industry. Having had the honor of being associated with the workshop for several years, I can tell you that it is a great place to network and hear opinions from women who have had various roles in the semi/EDA industry in both technical and non technical roles.