Electrical(or Computer) Engineering Firms in Calgary? (or Canada)

[fuffalo]

I'm in my third year at the UoC in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer. I'm going to be doing a 12-16 month internship between 3rd and 4th year and I'm really trying hard to find an internship in the hardware design market. I've got a list of companies I'm going to apply at but they're all the obvious huge companies such as intel, ibm, nvidia, etc etc. They're almost all in California and they're all very competitive.

Does anyone know of any local smaller companies that do this? Or any firms in Canada that do it that I may not have heard of?

Thanks for any suggestions people can toss in to add to my list!

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Try LinkedIn

[OffsideSpecialist]

I know a friend who had a co-op term in Ottawa in electrical engineering. There are a lot of companies out in Kanata that do computer engineering and I imagine they have more offices across Canada. I will talk to my friend next time I see him to find out the name of the company he worked for.

[Phanuthier]

For Hardware... PMC Sierra (are they still alive?)... Eleven Engineering (favors UofA?)... Nuvation (Waterloo office, also one in San Jose)... there's one in Canmore that was bought by Garmin, I forgot their name... then a few tiny oil and gas companies that I can't tell you off the top of my head.

If you do apply to California, yes it is competitive, but it is possible. Make sure you really understand your fundamentals well. A typical question for someone of your level may be, why do you typically size PMOS to be 2-3x's the gate width than the NMOS? In board level design, why do you have separate power and grounds? Etc. Explain why you are concerned with odd order harmonics and not even... etc. Not necessary numbers questions, but you should know your fundamentals well.

Good luck

[fuffalo]

Thanks everyone for the input. My list of locations is growing.

Thanks for the tips Phan, I definitely will need to do some solid reviewing before any serious interviews I have to make sure I don't sound like an idiot Do you work in the industry in Cali? Any good companies that aren't as big as the "major" companies you might want to suggest for that area?

[CaptainCrunch]

Why not search the job boards workopolis, eluta etc under electrical engineering firms in Calgary.

I also did a search on google for Electical Engineering firms in Calgary and in two minutes had a fairly long list

There's also

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by fuffalo

Thanks everyone for the input. My list of locations is growing.

Thanks for the tips Phan, I definitely will need to do some solid reviewing before any serious interviews I have to make sure I don't sound like an idiot Do you work in the industry in Cali? Any good companies that aren't as big as the "major" companies you might want to suggest for that area?

Yeah I work in the industry. You are probably going to be working on a H1 visa (as a intern, you aren't eligible for TN... I think) which costs $$, so you are better off with a big company who can sponsor you. A lot of good companies, its probably easier if you tell me which jobs/companies you are applying for and I can tell you what kind of questions they'll ask. (For HW... I don't know anything alot about SW, but all my roommates are in SW) I doubt they'd expect you to know board level design stuff (I assume thats what you mean by HW? and not particular fields?) so your introductory semiconductor classes, you should be solid... like those questions I asked above.

Ask your coop office if they have any connections, that would be the best bet for you. Thats usually the best entry way for a student at UofC, unless you have something particularly special. If you do... and want to make an impression at Google or Facebook, it would be better if you have something that is particularly special or makes you standout. Any patents you have, papers published, etc. First step is getting the interview (either by connection, or something special) ... next step is passing the phone interview, so be ready to backup your resume and answer some fundamental questions... if you pass that, the in person is where you will really be tested.

[Phanuthier]

Oh, 1 thing to note: if you apply here, 1 page resume unless you have some special. Try to keep it relevant and to the point, thing like being an orientation leader aren't really something you should put on your resume. Put projects you did, if you programmed on a Xilinx or Atmel board or something.

[fuffalo]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Why not search the job boards workopolis, eluta etc under electrical engineering firms in Calgary.

I also did a search on google for Electical Engineering firms in Calgary and in two minutes had a fairly long list

There's also

There are quite a number of electrical engineer firms in Calgary, but significantly fewer "computer engineer" firms (which is electrical but a particular subset). I have been googling and getting the odd result, but just figured I'd post for some more input.

[Wormius]

Another thing, if you have a chance is try fi go to some seminars. Usually Avnet or Arrow put some om throughout the year for demonstrating some new DSPs or micros. You can glean some info from peoples name tags.

Also, if you have a car, take a drive around the Deerfoot Atriums. There are a lot of tech. companies concentrated in that region like Novatel, and what not.

Just remember to keep you long term career trajectory in mind. Try to get involved in f/w and h/w design, it will keep you employable. I'd also recommend working for a large and a small companies at some point. They both offer different ways of looking at things and dealing effectively with resources, and working within a structured environment. Small companies can get a bit loosey goosey, and coming in with good practices in mind,can really improve the work environment.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

For Hardware... PMC Sierra (are they still alive?)... Eleven Engineering (favors UofA?)... Nuvation (Waterloo office, also one in San Jose)... there's one in Canmore that was bought by Garmin, I forgot their name... then a few tiny oil and gas companies that I can't tell you off the top of my head.

If you do apply to California, yes it is competitive, but it is possible. Make sure you really understand your fundamentals well. A typical question for someone of your level may be, why do you typically size PMOS to be 2-3x's the gate width than the NMOS? In board level design, why do you have separate power and grounds? Etc. Explain why you are concerned with odd order harmonics and not even... etc. Not necessary numbers questions, but you should know your fundamentals well.

Good luck

Are you talking about Dynastream in Cochrane? They are definitely a possibility.

Check out NovaTel as well.

[Kybosh]

I know nothing of this industry, but you can find the relavent NAICS codes (find specific codes on stat canada) then use something like Hoovers to compile a list of companies with those codes. This is pretty much only good for compiling a list of companies, but it might help you prioritize.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

Are you talking about Dynastream in Cochrane? They are definitely a possibility.

Check out NovaTel as well.

Yeah, Dynastream was bought out by Garmin some time ago. Also some other places like Blackline GPS, General Dynamics, Fujitsu, Intelliview, SMART, XSensor, Gennum, DeltaTee, etc.

And yeah, make sure you get some projects under your belt with school or wherever you can.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Yeah, Dynastream was bought out by Garmin some time ago. Also some other places like Blackline GPS, General Dynamics, Fujitsu, Intelliview, SMART, XSensor, Gennum, DeltaTee, etc.

And yeah, make sure you get some projects under your belt with school or wherever you can.

Yes, Dynastream. General Dynamics is a great recommendation, I have some friends that have worked for them and they will give you good enough experience to market your resume. (I'm assuming you are looking for FW/HW)

What Worm said here is def true... projects projects projects. Thats what companies want to see, thats what they want you to talk about in your interview. For your senior year project, pick a hard project and do a good job of it. That may be the No 1 determining factor to what kind of job you get coming out of school.

[fuffalo]

Thanks again for all the great feedback. Really appreciate all the comments/PMs.