Test Engineer
Jared
Experience Information
Employer: Gentex
Job Title: Test Engineer
Major: Electrical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Gentex Corporation is a cutting-edge electronics manufacturer for the automotive industry. The vast majority of its business is in electrochromics, though Gentex also manufacturers fire protection systems. Gentex electrochromic (auto-dimming) mirrors are shipped all over the world to every major automotive manufacturer and contain a variety of gadgets (e.g. rear camera display, HomeLink technologies, Mobileye imaging systems, and many more).
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
I was tasked with maintaining and developing functional testers in the final assembly department. This included streamlining testing to increase throughput, modifying test-methods to reduce scrap, and developing new tests to improve quality. In addition, I was involved with launching new products, which required performing capabilities studies and setting specification limits based on customer specifications. These are just two of many areas that required my attention.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I became more comfortable with PCB design/layout. Specifically, I put to use rules of best practice that had been discussed in Grand Valley classrooms.
Favorite Part of the Experience
This really is not a cop-out to the question; my favorite part of my co-op experience was the variety. Different people's brains are wired in different fashions. Mine is such that I desire totally new and exciting challenges on a regular basis. I had extensive dealings with PCB design, circuit design, circuit analysis, manufacturing processes, statistical process control, software development for user-tester interfaces, embedded software design for microcontroller applications, and many more.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This semester has helped me realize ever more my desire to learn. With the wide variety of electronics projects that I had the opportunity to work on during this semester, I was reminded that, although I have a passion for electrical engineering, I know that I have yet to find the specific area of the field that excites me.