Jobs@Intel Blog

Ask Ivy

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:38:10 +0000

Hey. What’s up. Yeah, so, I took last year off from blogging here. But there are a lot of things to share about what we’re doing in Human Resources for employees, so I’m back. This is also a good time to give Sejal a shout-out for coordinating these blogs – she does an awesome job!

Okay, the newest thing we’ve launched is a “virtual HR agent”. What’s that, you ask? You know when you shop online, whether it’s for new gadgets or it’s for a plane ticket to go somewhere or maybe it’s just for odds and ends, some websites have a virtual agent that will answer FAQs for you and guide you through the process. Our new virtual HR agent, we named her Ivy, is set up to do the same thing, but for our employees at Intel (so this is an internal tool.) If employees have questions about their pay, stock, benefits, or other HR programs, they simply bring Ivy up on the intranet and type in a question. Ivy uses a combination of natural language processing, artificial intelligence and optimized search to find the answer to the question. Also, magic. Okay, well, it’s like magic to me, so… As of today, Ivy has 4,331 possible responses. How do I know that number so exactly? I led the team that wrote all the responses. You can bet we’re excited for the launch after all that work!

From our research, we’re the first company to implement a virtual agent like this for their employees. Ivy’s no chatbot and she’s not backed by a human “behind the curtain”. She’s all software. We’ve got lots of metrics in place to monitor her performance and our employees can give a star rating to each interaction. Using the performance data and star ratings, we can tune Ivy to make her even better. Beyond that, what’s weird is that she learns. Seriously. Her artificial intelligence gets better as employees ask her questions. Amazing. Oh, and no surprise, she runs on Intel-powered servers. You saw that coming, didn’t you?

So, we started 2013 off with a big project launch that will improve the employee experience here at Intel. And I’m back on the blog. Is it going to be a great year? You bet it is!

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A Mother’s Day letter to a new Intel mom

Mon, 13 May 2013 01:04:44 +0000

Note from the editor: Here’s yet another beautiful blog post shared on our intranet from one Intel employee to another. Regardless of if you have kids or not, I think we can all agree that being a parent is the toughest, yet most rewarding, job in the world. Throw in being a first-time parent and having an already challenging career, and you’ll get a feel for what life is like for many working parents. Jan, manager of the Internal Employee Communications team, wrote a heart-felt letter to one of her employees who just recently gave birth to her first child, sharing her first-hand experience of being a mother (of three) and successful Intel employee. In honor of Mother’s Day, we’d like to share the letter with you and wish all of the mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Dear Krista:

True story. In 1993, I applied for a job at Intel. (Yes, I know you were about 12 then.) One of the people who interviewed me was an engineer. At some point, she asked me if I had children. Probably not an OK question, in retrospect, but I answered it.

She then explained to me that Intel was an intense, rigorous and demanding culture that was a much better fit for childless professionals like her and her husband, also an Intel engineer. It was not, she strongly suggested, the right place for a woman with two young children. Like me.

I took the hint, and the job at the other company.

Later, when I had another child, I figured I’d kissed any possible Intel future goodbye. If two kids were a disadvantage, surely three were a deal breaker.

Yet 20 years later, here I am, badge around my neck, accomplished AR tamer, seasoned slayer of acronyms. While Intel has indeed proven to be a demanding place to work these last seven years, it’s also, to my enormous relief, a generous and supportive environment where working mothers can thrive.

It’s been a place where I regained my financial footing after a divorce; a place where I’ve been privileged to know and work with people like you. A place where my detours as a stay-at-home mom and part-time employee haven’t kept me from a career path that has exceeded my expectations.

In just a couple of weeks, your maternity leave is going to be over. Instead of spending weekdays with your beautiful baby girl, you’ll spend them with co-workers (who, while less entrancing, have arguably better language skills). And even though you know she’ll be in good hands, I’d bet you’re dreading the transition from full-time mom to working mom. I know I did.

It won’t be easy. It’s not easy working at Intel, and it’s not easy raising a child. In both roles, we aim high and sometimes we stumble. We second guess ourselves something terrible. We are never quite caught up. We worry —oh boy, do we worry. Being a working parent means having good days when it feels like you have the best of both worlds, and bad days when it does not.

But it helps, a lot, that the Intel village you’re returning to is better equipped and more dedicated than ever to help you manage both your thrilling new role as a mom and the job you’re so good at. And your manager (moi) and your team are standing by to help in any way we can.

Your first Mother’s Day as a mom is this weekend; it’ll be my 25^th (my firstborn even arrived on Mother’s Day). As I marvel—a little wistfully, a little been-there-done-THAT—at the adventure ahead of you, I can’t help but reflect on some stuff I’ve learned, mostly the hard way.

Get over being Supermom. Fast. There aren’t bonus points—this isn’t that kind of a game. Ask for help when you’re overwhelmed, time when you’re short, a favor when you need it.
Don’t wait for permission. Do what you need to do, and don’t apologize.
Once you’ve survived a long flight with a screaming child, screaming stakeholders are a piece of cake.
Email is eternal. Childhood is not. Seize the spontaneous moment with your child.
Stay playful. If you turn into a stressball, everyone around you will be miserable too. During the rough patches, take a deep breath, exhale, and remind yourself that this too will pass. Shake it off, smile, laugh if you can. Then book a massage.
Set boundaries. You will teach your child that no means no. This applies to managers and colleagues as well.
You set the tone. If your daughter sees that you like your work, she will too. If you believe your work is simply time away from her, she’ll believe that too.
Later, when she’s older, tell her about your challenges at work, and your wins. Let her feel, and share in, your pride. She’ll be proud too.
There will be days when it will be impossible to be both the outstanding employee and the outstanding parent you want to be. It is. On those days, accept that good enough really is good enough.
Take notes. When you’re immersed in parenting, you think you’ll never forget the daily routines, the frustrations and pleasures of every stage and age. You will.
In your work life there will be tough periods and difficult co-workers. In your family life these are called “adolescence” and “teenagers.” You will survive both.
Dinner. I never really solved this one. I am a fan of crockpots, however.
You can be anyone’s employee. Only you can be your someone’s mom. Prioritize accordingly.

OK, one last story. One day when my daughter was about four years old, she was playing with some plastic animals. She marched them along the back of the couch where I was sitting. “You never know when pandas are going to come into your world,” she informed me.

How right she was.

Happy Mother’s Day, my friend. And welcome back—we’ve missed you!

Jan

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms! If you’ve got a tip for Krista or other new moms, please share it in comments below.

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Intel Employees: A Special Tribute to a Special Teammate

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:43:15 +0000

Note from the editor: You hear from me quite a bit, whether it’s through a blog post or as a response to a comment or an introduction to a guest blogger, but you don’t hear from two of my teammates who work tirelessly behind this blog and the Jobs at Intel website to ensure that you have a great experience. My teammates, Teresa and Christine, are the magicians behind the curtain—you don’t see them but they do A LOT of the work to keep the sites running. Today’s guest blogger is Teresa, the Web Product snad Services Manager for Intel’s Talent Enabling Solutions team aka she’s the magic behind our online employer presence. There are lots of different stages to your career: joining a company, getting new managers, transferring to a different group, growing in your role, being promoted, taking a lateral move, and leaving. People leave for different reasons, in this case, it’s one that we’re jealous of—retirement in Florida to pursue a different life adventure. Teresa has written a special post for Christine as she retires from Intel and starts her next life adventure. From all of us bloggers, contributors, viewers, and users—congratulations Christine! All the best with the new endeavor!

At Intel we have a term—‘Great Place to Work’ (GPTW). It’s also one of our values. Each year we get a new badge calendar and on the flip side are listed the Intel values. GPTW lists bullets like Win and Have Fun and Work as a Team with Respect and Trust. I’ve worked for Intel 20 years now – I’m an ol’timer. I’m also kind of a sap, because when introducing myself in meetings or at conferences I also add “…and I’ve loved every minute!”—and though I created this blog, this is my first time contributing to it. I wanted to write a love letter of sorts but first I need to give a bit of background.

I’ve learned a lot about Intel and its culture over the years. At first I remember feeling like a fish out of water. There are so many brilliant and talented people that at first I was intimated. But it was because of those brilliant and talented people that I was pushed into the deep water. I raised my hand to work on a new project and my management team said, ‘go for it’ and off I went. My project was that new “internet-web-thingy” and how would our Staffing team get on this “World Wide Web”. We wanted to market Intel jobs to the public in the new and exciting way. We had no idea what we were doing. I had no idea what I was doing. We put together a one pager that was really only a graphic – I pressed the ENTER key and off we went. It was 1994 – eons ago in the Internet age. I was hooked! Our site grew into our global corporate Jobs at Intel site. We’ve added bells and whistles; tried all the fads and marketing tricks. Some worked – some tanked. I’ve worked on this site for most of my Intel career as developer, architect, and designer. I feel very maternal really. My goal has always been to show the world what it’s like to work at Intel and to grow a rewarding career – just like I’ve been able to do.

Along the way I’ve worked with several talented Content Editors/Managers. These are the people that write all the words that express to our visitors what Intel is really all about. At times I’ve worked with teams of people; at other times just one person. We partner with subject matter experts (SME) all over the globe who provide content. We also work with our college, business, HR and diversity teams assisting in getting their marketing campaigns, content and jobs out to the world. Social media and mobile are new areas for us and we are learning everyday what works and what doesn’t. Content comes from every country we hire in and it is the job of the Content Editor to make it all come together and to make sure it sounds good. It’s a tough job – challenging, stressful, but extremely rewarding as well.

Now here’s my love letter…

For the past seven years I’ve worked with Christine. She came to the job with a lot of questions, much stress and a dose of trepidation. She didn’t know if she could do the job and she worried it was too large for just one editor. I showed her around the house – where all the rooms were, where to find the life vest. I promised her that I would have her back and talk her down from the ledge if needed. I loved the job and I needed a strong editor to partner with who loved the work as well. I wanted her to succeed in every way. And succeed she did. Christine held her nose and jumped in the deep end with me. She managed a global stakeholder team, designed a work request process, juggled dozens of content projects and began the task of making the Jobs at Intel website world-class. Every word on our website was written or edited by Christine. I do the pretty pictures but content is king! She takes the messages we want to convey, along with the SMEs content and writes it in the Intel voice so that our visitors can get a feel for what it may be like to work for Intel. Every word.

On Friday, Christine is retiring from Intel. She found a beautiful stretch of beach and she and her husband will be planting their future in the sand. I’m losing my partner. My emotions are so extremely mixed. I’m so happy for her – so excited that she is finding her dreams coming true. But I’m also so sad because she has made my work life so much fun. Bouncing our creative energy around and then watching it come to life on the webpage has been so rewarding. It’s been like a marriage. We have trust, we communicate, and we voice our opinions – go a bit mad at times but always come up with a solution. And we laugh. Christine is the kind of person that has 20 windows opened at the same time; she’s conversing with two people on IM while talking on the phone. (Her desktop looks like my real hubby’s garage [sorry sweetie, but it’s true]). At first I thought “Geez, how can you get anything done?” But this is how Christine works. Her brain is a file cabinet, and she can easily move from file to file. It’s amazing really. She can find any file going back years. Amazing.

She is also so creative. What I like the most is she makes me better. She pushes me to find solutions, find a way to express what our customers need in new and exciting ways. She reminds me to breathe when the days are full and the schedule dates are looming. She is the Ying to my Yang, my Opus, my Thelma, my Snoopy – she’s jelly and I’m the peanut butter. I do love her and will remember my years working with her as the best (so far).

We don’t always give thanks. We forget to recognize. Even at Intel, thank you is not always stated because the work speaks for us. But I wanted a way to say “Thank you” that would really convey my gratitude. Oh sure there’s going to be a party, laughs will be had, margaritas will be drunk, and hugs will be exchanged. We will toast and we will laugh. (I’ll cry later.)Her friends will gather and we will send her off well. But this is my way of sharing my gratitude and recognition in a way that would be truly unique—and what better way than to do it through a project that we both worked on together and one that would share her legacy for the world to see!

On behalf of Intel, I want to say Thank You Christine! I have had so much fun working with you. Thank you for the respect and the trust. Thanks for thinking of our visitors first and trying always to provide the best possible experience. Thank you for your skill, your partnership and for your passion for the job. It was so appreciated. I wish you and Jeff the greatest happiness as you journey onward. Our “marriage” may be over, but our friendship is lifelong.

YOU are the reason Intel is a Great Place to Work!

You’ve heard it before, but here’s the proof. People truly are Intel’s greatest asset and the reason why many of us come into work everyday.

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From Collecting Coffee Beans to Advising the Government

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:38:31 +0000

Note from the editor: Every Intel employee has a story behind their career path and how they got to where they are. Today we bring you Carlos’s story which is not only about his Intel career, but how he went from collecting coffee beans in Costa Rica to advising the Costa Rican government.

It is noon on Friday and we just finished one of four sessions to train seven people from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry from the Costa Rican Government, aka MEIC. I feel a sense of pride and happiness, because this Intel volunteer activity (just one part of a larger project that a team has been working on for over a year) will not only benefit a community, it will benefit a whole country, my country.

The training included basic tools and knowledge in Project Management. By holding this training with this government team, they’ll be able to use what they learned to improve Business Process Management as a strategy, allowing my country to reduce its bureaucracy, be more competitive worldwide and make it more attractive for foreign investment.

But how did I get to this point of influence? That is a story that starts back in my hometown, Naranjo in the province of Alajuela, when I was a teenager.

When I was 12 years old, I was in my third year of high school and during a class break I asked myself,”What do I want to do with my life from this date to the future?” I set a few goals for myself at that point, the four most relevant for my professional development were: to get a technical degree as Electrician, the second to get a bachelor degree on electronics, the third one to work on a company that would allow me to grow professionally and the last one to live in another country with different culture and different language with my family, working there and being successful on that experience. I said, “If I can complete all of them (four professional and four personal goals) by the time I’m 60 years old, I’d consider myself a successful person.”

The first step: register in a technical high school to get the title of Electricity Technician. To do that, I had to leave the comfort zone of living under my parents´ protection. I had to move and live in another city.

The next two steps came together: working and save money to pay for part of the tuition fees to study Electronics Engineering at Technical Institute from Costa Rica (ITCR). This, in my opinion, is the best public university for the career in engineering I wanted to pursue and I was right–it opened many doors for me.

As an engineer, I was able to achieve another goal: to fly on an airplane and visitdifferent countries. As a child, this idea seemed impossible because I came from a poor family. My mother worked as a seamstress at home to help earning extra money to raise three boys, my two brothers and me. My father worked at a local gas station but his earnings were not enough for our family. That is why my brothers and I decided to work at a coffee plantation during our vacations around the sunny seasons, collecting ripe coffee beans to earn money to pay for our books, notebooks, uniforms and all the materials we’d need and use during the school year. All of that taught us the value of honest work, saving money and defining priorities for life.

I achieved my last goal when I started working at Intel in 2004. More than just visiting, I wanted to live in another country, immerse myself in a different culture with a foreign language and to do this with my family and while being successful during that experience. This goal was accomplished in two steps. The first one allowed my family and me to live in Santa Clara, California for little longer than than 6 months. And what an amazing experience it was! My children went to public schools there and learned the basics and fundamentals of the English language. However this was just preparation for what I considered was the true achievement of my goal. Three months after returning from California, my manager asked me to move to Israel for a year with my family.

I still remember my kids’ faces when we arrived at the airport in Israel. Everything everywhere was written in Hebrew and we did not know even know how to say “hello” in Hebrew! If that was hard, just imagine the experience going to the supermarket and trying to buy groceries!

However with time, we learned. We were able to visit many places. We learned bits of Hebrew and were able to make basic requests at stores, pharmacies, etc. We even crossed the border during our time in Israel and went to Jordan to visit Petra, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. My kids attended the unique English school available in Israel, but to do that I had to drive 160 Km a day to go to Intel´s site in Haifa from our house located close to Tel Aviv in a placed called Kfar Shmariahu. The technical knowledge I picked up during my time in Israel made me grow to a point where I could participate in several Intel conferences, allowing me to visit other continents and countries and earning significant awards at those conferences as well.

When we returned back from those assignments, I was just 33 years old and I had accomplished all my major goals. Wow. So there I was leaving my comfort zone, I sat to rethink my life, again.

That’s when, using the scholarship that Intel gave me, I was able pursue a master’s degree in Project Management from a private university. After getting my master’s degree, I joined the team in charge of understanding how to implement Business Process Management (BPM) in my department at the time, Quality and Reliability. Soon after, I took the leadership of that team and led my own managers and department to get BPM certification following a Project Management structure. Last year I moved to Technical Training Department, where I made significant changes in the courses we offer technician’s at Intel’s Costa Rica factory to empower them to increase their knowledge in different technical areas. In tandem, I started working as a professor a few years ago, teaching Project Management at the same university I got my Master’s degree.

Using the set of skills I developed from Project Management, Business Process Management, teaching experience and my desire to grow, I joined the volunteer team working with MEIC. Now I lead one of the sub teams, the one that teaches how by using PM and BPM, we can make a better country. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am today—only time will tell what growth and opportunities the future will bring.

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Work/Life/School—It’s All Possible at Intel

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:06:46 +0000

I’ve been to 22 different Intel campuses in 6 different countries in my 14 years at Intel. One thing is consistent – Intel employees’ spirit of wanting to always do better. Always wanting to BE better. It’s in our DNA. That’s one of the things that makes people love it here at Intel, or prompts them to move on if one is not so inclined – and that’s okay.

Recently, one of our manufacturing groups formed a partnership with the University of Arizona to establish a pretty amazing distance learning opportunity. Employees in Intel’s Fab/Sort Manufacturing group will be able to earn their Bachelor degree in Materials Science and Engineering, while still working at Intel.

Representatives from Intel and the University of Arizona celebrated the kick-off event at Intel’s Ocotillo site

It’s very difficult to go to school and work at the same time. Believe me, I know. What’s really great about this program is that Intel will support it from a work/life standpoint. That means employees’ managers will help them balance the requirements of a busy job with the demands of their educational program. Tuition assistance will also be available to eligible employees. It’s a clear commitment to learning and will be huge to those who participate.

One of the Intel sites I visited was our fabrication site (also called a “fab”) in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the fab. Got to put on the bunny suit and everything. I was blown away by the extent and complexity of the engineering. After touring the fab and seeing the incredible technology there, how could you not want to learn more?

This new program facilitates that and eliminates the need for our employees to quit for a few years in order to start and/or finish school. Good thinking, guys. I like your DNA.

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The Key to Success: Balance

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:43:54 +0000

There are many ways to (correctly) solve a problem. —I’ve always thought this and even more so now after reading an article called “The Most Successful People Are Extremely Hard on Themselves” by Max Nisen. Nisen outlines two different approaches. in the first more common approach people take, people look to place blame everywhere but on themselves. In the second, Nisen says the most successful people, are introspective and go through a ‘merciless self-examination’. But are the most successful people the hardest on themselves? I’d say they aren’t always extremely hard on themselves, but they do know when to be critical and when to let things go.

As a competitive individual, I constantly strive to make myself better—whether it’s at tennis, in school, or on the job. From a young age I’ve been self-critical and obsessively introspective in an effort to build up my weak points (like my volleys in tennis). On the other hand, my introspection has also been a hindrance; its had the power to mutate activities I found enjoyable (like different projects at work) into activities I come to dread because of the associated stresses. But why? Shouldn’t the idea of finding and accepting personal shortcomings to transform our weaknesses into strengths, make us better people? Not exactly. Being overly self-critical can have more negative impacts than positive ones. What do I mean? The importance we give to aspects of our lives—like analyzing our mistakes—has the power to negatively affect other parts of our lives like our mood and interactions with people. Those who are overly self-critical are in a never-ending race towards an intangible goal. It’s like you are running in front of a speeding train that just keeps going faster and faster. How many times have you lost a game (of tennis, basketball, football, or the like) and been grumpy the rest of the day? Maybe you snap at your husband/wife for putting too much sugar in your coffee, because your mind is on a hamster wheel of self-criticism. Most of us have been there and it’s not fun. And for those that reach stardom and history pages (like Ludwig Boltzmann, Nikola Tesla, and Britney Spears), the immense pressure they put on themselves drove them (one can argue) to madness. So a better question might be, “how can we be successful and happy?” And to that I say, balance. Find a balance between being forgiving and critical of your mistakes because you’re trying your best to correct them and we’re all human.

Sometimes when I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed I like to travel back to that comforting mindset of childhood nostalgia. For me, it’s the movies I grew up loving as a kid. One of my favorites was the Disney retelling of the classic Olympic zero to hero story of the Jamaican bobsled team in “Cool Runnings”. In a solemn pre-race pep talk between the coach and the sled driver, who is obsessing about winning the gold medal, the coach reminds him, “Kid, if you’re not enough without it [the gold medal] you’ll never be enough with it.” I’ve always remembered that line. It has helped to temper the voice in my head that has always pushed me to work harder and longer because success, titles, awards, and perfection is what matters most. What we need to remember is that deep down there is a more important data point that we all should strive to find within ourselves … happiness. How do you find balance?

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