Thoughts
January 20th, 2023
Why?
It seems the most important questions we have to ask ourselves as we go on with our lives are the ones that start with "why". These questions strike at the core of what motivates us and incentives us to do what we do. All other aspects, like "when" "what" "how" "who" appears to follow the why. Think about it, it's the answers to the why that ultimately dictates what we will do, who will do it, how he or she will do it, and when it will be done. It's interesting isn't it? The fact that there is one word that seems to underpin and affect all the rest? This realization made me deeply reassess and evaluate my current place and what I'm currently doing.
I've been working as an FPGA engineer for almost 6 years now, but I realized today, that I've failed to ask this very important question about the product that I'm working on: "Why FPGAs?" Why do we need them in this world and what is the FPGA market like? Who are the major and minor vendors? Who are the biggest buyers? With all these different agents in the market, how is it evolving over the years? I simply never had the idea to delve into the concrete realities of this market. I only viewed FPGA from an engineer's perspective. All the technical specs and details and features that we have to implement as engineers. But none of this really matters unless we understand the human side of all this. Why do we need FPGAs in the first place? Are they used heavily by military and government organizations around the world? If so, why are they using them and for what purpose? As you see, this question is influenced by the geopolitics and the dynamics between different governments around the world. International relations and social dynamics ultimately affects the demand for FPGA products and the specific use cases of these products ultimately determine the features we develop as engineers because it ultimately translates into profits through competitive edge against competitions.
So I took some time today to find and read some articles that covers the state of FPGA market today and the prospects and forecast for this market in the coming years. As a person who works to develop these FPGAs, it's quite shameful that I don't know these from the top of my head. I should know at least in the ballpark estimate, what's the total addressable market for FPGA in billion dollars, and what's expected CAGR (compound annual growth rate [I learned this terminology today lol]) in the next 5 years or 10 years etc. This research should come before me learning about the technical details and developing my skills as engineer. It's ultimately humans that determine what technical tools and skills we need to leverage to develop a technology or product.
Google Search Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=FPGA+market+trends&oq=FPGA+market+trends&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB7SAQgzMTk3ajBqNKgCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Market Research documents below.
Markets and Markets: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/fpga-market-194123367.html
Grand View Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fpga-market/toc
December 15th, 2023
Catching up with Friends
After work yesterday, I had a chance to catch up with couple of my college friends Tom and Oscar. I can't even remember the last time we got together as we've all been occupied with each of our own lives. We met up at Oscar's house at around 6:15 PM and went over to a nearby KFC to grab some classic chicken sandwich and 8pc chicken tenders. The chicken sandwich was quite decent. I liked it, but the chicken tenders definitely didn't live up to my expectations. It was dry and chewy. Anyways, we took out the KFC orders and got back to my friend Oscar's house to chill in his living room. Since it was a long time since we last got together, there were a lot of things we had to catch up on, such as Oscar's recent trips to Tokyo and his work life at Google, Tom's return back at Apple after working for a startup for 6 months, my recent trip to Korea and spin off of my department from the company at my job and changing of my manager, etc.
We also had some discussions about the latest tech gadgets and trends, such as Apple Vision Pro and ChatGPT/Gemini. The Apple Vision Pro is not yet out in the market. I think it is expected to be out sometime early next year (2024), but Tom, since he works at Apple, he somehow got a chance to try out the gadget through his manager. He shared his experience of putting the headset on and said he was extremely impressed by the quality and the user experience. He added, "I've tried on many different headsets in the past including Meta's Oculus headsets and such, but when I tried that thing (Apple Vision Pro) on, it really felt like this was exactly what we've all been looking for in a AR/VR headset". Oscar then went on to point out the sad yet hilarious fact that Meta's been working all these years on VR headsets to take over Apple's platform dominance and yet their effort has been completely shattered by the epic announcement of a single, high-quality, well-designed Apple Vision Pro. I guess from my point of view, maybe the market still has a chance to salvage shares in the VR/AR market since the Vision Pro is so expensive, coming in at a whopping $3500. Anyways, then the discussion went onto something about finding the work you love, then about my need to move out of my parent's place before it's too late (before I get too old) to truly realize my interests, passions, etc, and the efforts I need to put-in to find my passions ("Just go do it") <-- This was essentially the moral of the story. Tom also told me about one of his co-worker at Apple who lives very close to Apple Park. The coworker had 2 children and one of them actually worked for Apple as well. Although he had the opportunity to stay at his parent's place as it is close to work as well, he didn't stay with his parents for too long. He believed it was limiting his life, socially and professionally, despite the possibility that he could save more money.
This conversation made me think again about my current situation. This situation that I'm in definitely seems to be double-sided. I'm definitely gaining something (some financial advantage) but at the same time, I'm also definitely losing something (social, professional assets and personal growth, which could be even more costly). I thought more deeply about this for the rest of the night and a semi-conclusion that I came to was that the various advantages of living with my parents currently (such as being able to spend more time with parents, financial advantage, etc), isn't something that can come by very easily. I'm very lucky to be in this situation. Thus, I think it would be quite foolish for me to throw this out the window. There will come a time when I WILL have to move out eventually (ex. when my dad retires and my parents have to move somewhere). I don't think I need to expedite this. On the flip side, I need to make sure that I mitigate the negative aspect of the current living situation. I need to make sure I keep a reasonable distance (emotionally and psychologically) from my parents and make sure their views on the world and their way of thinking about things (which may not entirely be compatible for current societal trends) doesn't have too much impact on my personal growth, perspectives, and decision making. All in all, I really enjoyed the time I spent with Oscar and Tom today and I really thank them for giving me the necessary stimulus to have profound re-evaulation and reassessment for my personal and professional growth.
December 14th 2023
Distractions
I came across this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cLIqtNKZM8) yesterday. It is in Korean, but it captures an important message about the world we live in today. The biggest takeaway I got from this was that there are so much distractions around us today that takes us our ability to effectively concentrate and get things done.
Having been distracted by so much content on YouTube, Instagram, and other smartphone apps that gave me constant dopamine hits throughout the day, I've finally managed to get myself disengaged from all the distraction and chaos and sit in silence with the computer in front of me, trying to write down my thoughts and analyze my current state. I'm simply too distracted and I've formed several bad habits that is preventing me from making notable steps forward in my career and personal goals. I definitely need to fix this. I think the first step I need to take is to collect myself. Stop everything and disengage. Empty my brain and get into a state of silence and meditation.
I should also set a clear boundary for media consumption. It's really easy to fall into the black hole of content where one content leads to another. Unless you make active efforts to disengage, you get lost in infinite loop of media consumption.
The video I mentioned above, talks about the importance of focusing and getting in the zone in whatever you're doing. This is the essential ingredient for really getting things done and making progress in your life and achieving things. Distraction and worry eats away at your life. The ability to really get in the zone to the point where you start to forget about your surroundings and the passage of time is what separates the greats from the average. I want this ability to get in the zone. I believe this is something I need to actively practice to grow the muscle for this ability.
I will log in every single day starting today and write some things down about what I did for the day so that I can create a concrete data for how I'm spending my time throughout the day, especially after work. This data looking straight back at me will definitely give me the urge to use my time wisely and intentionally, instead of mindlessly consuming contents. I hope I can really stick to this.