UN, DEUX, TRES.........
25th April 2008 - I am now three tapeout's old. For those from the non technical background, it simply means that I have now successfully completed 3 full chip designs!!! Not a bad achievement considering that all three happeneed in a space of lil over a year.
In terms of experince the this last chip executed at SiRF technologies taught me a lot. First of all I was given charge of the entire flow for many sub blocks, and than at the full chip level I was playing a vital part in the final stages of signing off the design before its sent to the foundry for manufacturing. But the sailing was not all smooth. Just a few days from tapeout we found out a major problem with the deliveries that were being made to the noida team for timing checks. The problem was in the SPEF deliveries I was handing off to noida. I had mistakenly failed to notice that an important switch was turned off, which basically meant that the timing analysis wasn't accurate. Honestly put, I knew exactly how Misbah-ul-Haq qould have felt when he skied that last ball to sreesanth to hand the T20 trophy to India - Miserable!!!!!
I took entire responsibility of the problem and was determined to fix it as fast as possible. It took me three night outs to finally fix the problem. Apart from Mettalica and Mr Kurt Cobain, Ms Madhumita Chawla who also failed to detect the problem at her end in noida, used to give me company through the night. Fortunately, when it was all done I was able to breathe a sigh of releif. It gave tremendous sense of confidence that I was able to catch the problem, debug it and fix it in very little time. now its finally over!!!
My job description for the next few weeks will be best described by the word 'lukhagiri'. I have a lot of plans. Planning to learn a new technology (like Bluetooth), planning to learn playing the guitar, planning to learn kanadda....... But I guess the actual thing I will end up doing is sleep, eat, timepass, watch movie, eat more, sleep more and eat again :)
so please wish me luck!!!
In terms of experince the this last chip executed at SiRF technologies taught me a lot. First of all I was given charge of the entire flow for many sub blocks, and than at the full chip level I was playing a vital part in the final stages of signing off the design before its sent to the foundry for manufacturing. But the sailing was not all smooth. Just a few days from tapeout we found out a major problem with the deliveries that were being made to the noida team for timing checks. The problem was in the SPEF deliveries I was handing off to noida. I had mistakenly failed to notice that an important switch was turned off, which basically meant that the timing analysis wasn't accurate. Honestly put, I knew exactly how Misbah-ul-Haq qould have felt when he skied that last ball to sreesanth to hand the T20 trophy to India - Miserable!!!!!
I took entire responsibility of the problem and was determined to fix it as fast as possible. It took me three night outs to finally fix the problem. Apart from Mettalica and Mr Kurt Cobain, Ms Madhumita Chawla who also failed to detect the problem at her end in noida, used to give me company through the night. Fortunately, when it was all done I was able to breathe a sigh of releif. It gave tremendous sense of confidence that I was able to catch the problem, debug it and fix it in very little time. now its finally over!!!
My job description for the next few weeks will be best described by the word 'lukhagiri'. I have a lot of plans. Planning to learn a new technology (like Bluetooth), planning to learn playing the guitar, planning to learn kanadda....... But I guess the actual thing I will end up doing is sleep, eat, timepass, watch movie, eat more, sleep more and eat again :)
so please wish me luck!!!
Comments
Learning from mistakes is what we do best. Like the time, we learnt that we cannot store an opened and half-empty milk bag in the fridge.
I am waiting to hear on some of your learnings.
Anyway, kudos on a job nicely done. You're doing the right thing by taking time to relax before the grind starts again.
PS - Is Madhumita Chawla cute? (You know I HAVE to ask!!!!!)