{"id":77085,"date":"2026-02-23T08:32:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77085"},"modified":"2026-02-23T09:45:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:45:56","slug":"career-in-semiconductor-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/career-in-semiconductor-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"From burgers to (computer) chips: Starting a career in the semiconductor industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nolan Cottingham\u00a0<\/span><\/b>was\u00a0flipping burgers\u00a0at In-N-Out\u00a0when he learned about\u00a0TSMC\u00a0Arizona\u2019s\u00a0new\u00a0technician\u00a0apprenticeship program\u2014he could work full-time\u00a0in semiconductor manufacturing\u00a0and earn a certificate\u00a0to become a process technician.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only was it\u00a0a good job, but it\u00a0also\u00a0opened\u00a0the\u00a0way to higher education without\u00a0the\u00a0price tag\u00a0that had\u00a0kept him out of college\u00a0when he finished high school. But this program, a collaboration between Northern Arizona University, Rio Salado College and TSMC, seemed like a great fit for him.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m good with computers, I\u2019m good\u00a0with\u00a0thinking on the fly,\u201d he\u00a0said,\u00a0\u201cand I didn\u2019t want to spend\u00a0until I\u2019m 40 years old\u00a0paying back college debt.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s\u00a0now\u00a0almost a\u00a0year into the job, working on TSMC\u00a0Arizona\u2019s\u00a0diffusion team four days a week. On Monday,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0in class, learning about safety,\u00a0data visualization,\u00a0advanced manufacturing,\u00a0metrology\u00a0and more.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0one of eight apprentices hired last year who started these classes in August.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0engaging, involved work\u2014more than food service or the high school classes that never grabbed his interest.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow much energy you put into it is how much you can get out of it,\u201d Cottingham\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0rewarding about the program.\u00a0If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0interested in a similar path,\u00a0and if you can devote your time and focus,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0absolutely worth it\u00a0to go through a program like this.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What to know\u00a0about\u00a0the apprenticeship<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The apprenticeship\u00a0program\u00a0started as part of a grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority and is\u00a0also supported by\u00a0funding from other groups, including\u00a0TSMC\u00a0Arizona, Shan Strategies\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0industry\u00a0trade group\u00a0SEMI Foundation. TSMC hires process technicians and then enrolls them in the\u00a0registered apprentice program.\u00a0<\/span>Lauren Majure<\/span><\/b>, business and educational partnerships manager\u00a0in\u00a0the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering, said\u00a0hundreds of people showed interest\u00a0in\u00a0being in\u00a0the first cohort.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the students don\u2019t have a background in this group, but we found a good group of people who think in that manner,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what companies are looking for now\u2014people who are super bright and can be trained quickly.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students take eight classes: four from Rio Salado College, three from\u00a0NAU\u00a0and\u00a0one\u00a0safety course at TSMC\u00a0Arizona. NAU professors teach advanced math, instrumentation and metrology for\u00a0nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing process analysis. The metrology course includes field trips to NAU\u2019s Microelectronics Processing and Characterization Testing (MPaCT) Center, which will hold\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0semiconductor equipment and tools for research and instructional use.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0an important collaboration for NAU, which is increasing its presence in the semiconductor space in Arizona, Majure said, including creating\u00a0a Semiconductor Training Center at the North Valley campus in Phoenix.\u00a0Andy Wang, a professor in the Sanghi College of Engineering, is\u00a0<\/span>leading NAU\u2019s efforts to expand educational opportunities in this industry<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The state of the industry<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Process technicians play a key role in semiconductor manufacturing, which is a\u00a0burgeoning\u00a0industry\u00a0in Arizona\u00a0as\u00a0more and more\u00a0items need microchips to function.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0just one\u00a0small problem\u2014there\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0enough qualified people to\u00a0fill\u00a0the jobs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a nationwide problem. According to the\u00a0<\/span>Semiconductor Industry Association<\/span><\/a>, the industry will add almost 115,000 jobs by 2030, including more than 26,000 technicians and 27,000 engineers.\u00a0\u201cWith a decrease in\u00a0college attendance, there simply aren\u2019t enough workers to\u00a0fill\u00a0the jobs that will be coming,\u201d\u00a0Majure said.\u00a0\u201cApprenticeships like\u00a0this one\u00a0help to fill that gap.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news, though, is the jobs are coming.\u00a0According to\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/span><\/a>, jobs for semiconductor processing technicians are expected to\u00a0grow\u00a011% over the next decade,\u00a0a\u00a0much faster than average\u00a0pace.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A day in the life of the job<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0actually a\u00a0\u201cday in the life\u201d schedule, Cottingham said; every day is different, which is one reason he enjoys the work so much. However, that made the first little while challenging. It was\u00a0a little like learning in a foreign language;\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0hear acronyms and words he\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0know\u00a0and sit in\u00a0\u201chandoff\u201d\u00a0meetings unsure what was being handed off.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Will I ever be able to learn this?\u2019 But then around the two-month mark, it became a normal thing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just interesting how much you can learn.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nolan Cottingham\u00a0was\u00a0flipping burgers\u00a0at In-N-Out\u00a0when he learned about\u00a0TSMC\u00a0Arizona\u2019s\u00a0new\u00a0technician\u00a0apprenticeship program\u2014he could work full-time\u00a0in semiconductor manufacturing\u00a0and earn a certificate\u00a0to become a process technician.\u00a0 Not only was it\u00a0a good job, but it\u00a0also\u00a0opened\u00a0the\u00a0way to higher education without\u00a0the\u00a0price tag\u00a0that had\u00a0kept him out of college\u00a0when he finished high school. But this program, a collaboration between Northern Arizona University, Rio Salado College and…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}