If you think this is going to be a biased view of why being a verification engineer is a great choice, you are right. Only partially however, as I will argue that objectively, when presented through a well known framework in organizational science, verification is indeed a way to go.
In this post I will first present JCM – job characteristic model, a popular framework which explains how job should be designed, to make it more attractive. After that I will explain how different aspects of verification engineer’s job fit into JCM and why they, when combined, indeed make up verification a great career choice.
JCM [1]
Job characteristic model (JCM) is a framework which describes job in terms of five core job dimensions:
- Skill variety
- Task identity
- Task significance
- Authonomy
- Feedback
It had been designed by Hackman and Oldham in 1976 and updated in 1980. Studies show that the way work is structured has a huge impact on an individual’s motivation and it suggests that the way elements in the job are organized, can influence our effort.
Hear me out how job of a verification engineer can be described through the lens of this framework.
1) Skill variety - degree to which a job requires different activities and skills to be executed properly
credits: JACQUELINE BRANDWAYN
The more variety in your everyday job, the more motivated and engaged you are.
As a verification engineer, if you want to be a good one at least, you should for starters have the knowledge of digital electronics and programming. As you progress in your career, you will add scripting languages, complex debugging and the usage of the advanced tools to your skillset.
Not only that, you will also be reading high level hardware specifications written by other people, interpreting them and translating them into your own verification documents. This is where reading comprehension and writing skills will come in handy.
Even further along the line, you will most likelly start leading other people, which requires “soft skills” like communication, management, goal setting, team work and good listening skills, to name just a few, in order to convert your team’s knowledge into a project deliveries.
Eventually, you will be using many different abilities in order to deliver and execute properly. It surely sounds like a fun to me, especially when I’m aware that there are certain jobs that require employee to do single thing for 8 hours straight every day.
On the scale 1-5, I give verification 5 here.
2) Task identity - degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work
credits: Cash Macanaya
This one is pretty straightforward, your tasks as a verification engineer will in most cases be clearly identifiable, like implement coverage collection, develop a UVC for a specific interface or produce a script for running a regression. Granted, sometimes these tasks are a bit vague and only partial (implement only driver, not the whole UVC), so I will give this one 4 out of 5 stars. Regardless, compare this to a job of a worker who is responsibile for operating machine that makes only table legs or car doors.
In most cases, tasks of a verification engineer involve completing a whole segment of work from start to end, which is what task identity is all about.
3) Task significance - the degree to which a job affects the lives or work of other people
What is the impact of your work?
credits: Edward Howell
By definition, verification engineer is responsibile for ensuring that the next generation of microchips – which only run the world we live in – are brought to life bug free. While you may be slightly detached from the end product, your work directly contributes to the cutting edge technology all around us. Don’t ever forget this!
I am giving this 4 stars, only because some other professions like doctors really win this one, but we score pretty high regardless, I’d say. 🙂
4) Authonomy - degree to which a job provides freedom, independence and discretion in scheduling work and determining procedures for caring it out
credits: lechenie-narkomanii
The degree of authonomy is very high for verification engineer (once you move pass the junior stage)
When you just start your career as a verification engineer, your authonomy is constrained by your lack of experience. Pretty soon however you are given the freedom to organize your work, how you will execute tasks and in what order.
Sure, some control mechanisms like code reviews need to be put in place, but generally speaking, a verification engineer has all the authonomy out there. I loved how I can plan and execute verification efforts on my own and as long as final delivery was what the client or product required, no one asked how I did it or micromanaged me during the process.
Another comparison, consider those jobs in which you have a supervisor above you all the time, who ensures that you follow strict procedures and rules (like in nuclear plants). (well, some managers may behave like this, but disregard that for now 🙂 ).
This one is 5/5, no brainer.
4) Feedback - degree to which carrying out work activities generates direct and clear information about your own performance
As a verification engineer, you will receive feedback quite often
credits: athree23
By design of the job, you will get feedback on your work whether you want it or not. This will be either by your manager or the client, but you will have this information, which will allow you adjust and improve. Oh, don’t forget those evaluation reviews – it has “feedback” written all over it.
This one is pretty straightforward 5/5.
Conclusion
My goal in this post was to reflect on why I think that being a verification engineer is great. We have seen what JCM framework is and how verification can be fit into it. From using many different skills in your every day work, to being pretty much fully authonomous, while contributing to the development of cutting edge technology, we really have it all.
