With the experience of working in SoC Development Team at XXX for more than two years, I am eager to return to academics and pursue my graduate study in VLSI and Computer Architecture at YYY.
My interest in hardware goes back to my high school days, when I dismantled and successfully re-assembled my PC, after burning the motherboard once while trying to understand how it works. This interest in computers and electronic gadgets prompted me to choose ECE for my undergraduate studies at ZZZ, ranked one among the top 20 engineering institutes in the country. During my first year, I got rewarded for developing a "Parking Aid", in which the entire project, from circuit design through imprinting, etching, component placement, and soldering was all self-done. Later in my third year, I was honored for my work on Miniaturized 4-bit Phase Shifters, implemented using ADS under guidance from Agilent Technologies. My consistent pursuit of knowledge in hardware eventually earned me a position at XXX as "System Validation Engineer",which introduced me to the exciting world of Ultra-Mobile Processors.
At XXX, I worked on Hardware Prototyping which involved emulating processors' functionality on FPGA platforms. The task was significant in that it accelerated content development which reduced validation cycle, post silicon manufacturing. Later, when I became the owner for the validation of eMMC/SD Controllers and Memory Arbiters, I gained a deeper understanding of their protocol, boot flow, system concurrency and memory bandwidth allocation in low power systems. One of my ideas tremendously improved system performance, simultaneously reducing power by tweaking the eMMC's protocol engine, which decreased the number of interrupt cycles to the CPU. Subsequently, another idea of mine which went as a design fix in the memory arbiter reduced overall system power consumption, by throttling selective memory requests under full load conditions. My deftness at work got me chosen as one of the key candidates for _____________________ and soon earned me a position in the cherry-picked _________________.
During debug, as I delved deeper into deciphering the architecture and design limitations to provide effective solution to the problems that were encountered, my academic aspirations got stimulated. A robust and a promising solution can be delivered only when the underlying problem is well understood. Challenges on architecture, memory design, low-power algorithms, reliability of systems, etc. which requires comprehensive knowledge in the respective areas to get addressed, intensified my interest and urge in graduate study. I would like to seek answers to these issues by gaining necessary skill-set and expertise through focused study and practice in an academic setting. The department of ECE at YYY with its well-equipped laboratories, distinguished faculties, fitting curriculum, active and motivating student community world unarguably provide me the perfect environment to achieve my pursuits. In particular, the projects________________ grabbed my interests. I intend to develop a symbiotic relationship with the department by actively contributing to its work through the knowledge that I would gain during my gradaute study and that I gained during my work experience.
I was equally active in extra-curricular activities as much as I was in academics. I was the Petty Officer for the NCC Naval Wing at School and was the Secretary of the ECE Association in College. Some of the notable events conducted by the clubs that I led included teaching various subjects to rural school students, arranging blood units for hospitals, organizing fund-raising events for orphanages, conducting educational programs through the FM station of our college. Personally these activities helped me garner the skill of efficient time management between my studies and extra-curricular activities.
I would likely pursue a PhD after masters. I am aware of the dedication and effort that has to be put throughout the course of my education to achieve this goal. I believe that my graduate study at YYY would give an intellectually enriching experience that would fulfill my ambitions. Having graduated with distinction in school and also in undergraduate, from one of the most elite institutions in India, I am confident that I will give my best to the graduate study at YYY.
