Lam Research is one of the leading semiconductor companies, with almost all the advanced chips being built with its technology. The firm combines a strong team of system engineering, technology leadership and data science team to accelerate innovation. The analytics and data science group in Lam India Global Operations is structured centrally but specific data scientists and business analysts are embedded in respective business functions.

The team leverages the benefits of centralised tools and platforms and is supported by Global IT teams. However, analytics and data solutions are defined and designed for the respective businesses to impact business outcomes.

We got in touch with Rajiv Dwivedi – Senior Director, Business Operations Management, Lam Research India to understand its data science hiring process.

Lam Research India look for the following competencies in data science professionals: 

• Problem-solving and analytical thinking skills
• Database skills including, data engineering, SQL programming, ETL, data sources, and data mapping
• Knowledge of analytics tools and technologies including Python, R, Power BI (Visualisation Tools), Excel, VBA, C#, Macro, Studio, Anaconda
• Advanced analytics (Machine learning techniques, Algorithms, AI, Analytics Life Cycle, etc.)
• Agile project management for analytics & data science projects
• Business acumen in supply chain or manufacturing or semiconductor expertise

In terms of educational background, Lam Research looks for B.Tech, M.Tech (Computer Science), MCA, Bachelor or master’s in mathematics or Statistics, MBA, Ph.D., or MBA with Operations, Business Analytics, and Data Science skills.

“Candidates who are interested in solving business problems and can take up the challenge to work with a huge amount of data to perform a deep level of analysis are preferred,” said Dwivedi. Apart from this, strong business acumen and domain knowledge in supply chain management, manufacturing or semiconductor works to the candidate’s advantage. 

Interview Process 

“We thoroughly analyse the applications received through various channels,” said Dwivedi. If selected, candidates are invited for next rounds to demonstrate their technical knowledge, analytical and problem-solving ability along with basic knowledge of data science. 

In the later rounds, the HR team will brief the candidates on the company’s core values and culture.

The interview questions for data science candidates are designed to analyse the interviewee’s experience with business problems, problem solving skills, familiarity business processes and KPIs, among others. 

Lam Research hires data scientists through internal recruitment, sourcing team and external job boards like LinkedIn. They also give preferences to internal referrals. The company is currently in the market for Data Scientists, Business Analyst etc. Candidates can apply through LinkedIn, internal referrals, career portal and hiring agencies. 

The company faces challenges in finding the right candidate. “At Lam Research India, we are correcting these limitations through our new college graduate hiring strategy and training the fresh talents as per business needs. We are also focusing on good referrals from our employees’ networks,” said Dwivedi. 

Being A Data Scientist At Lam Research 

Lam Research believes each person brings a unique view point and that helps the company to achieve extraordinary results. 

Data scientist at Lam Research are expected to work on:

• Requirement gathering, defining a problem statement.
• Reporting, dashboarding, data cleaning, data ingestions (ETL), building the models (prescriptive & predictive & cognitive), feature building, applying statistics and algorithms, deploying the model, sustaining and maintaining the models, integrating data products with other applications.
• Consuming the data and models from other systems through different ways like building APIs etc.

The company provides many opportunities for a data scientist to grow by advancing skills through development and mentoring programs. For instance, Lam’s Leap program provides engineers with four levels of technical certification, across 11 disciplines. The classes foster knowledge transfer, cross-functional collaboration, speed to solutions, and personal development. Lam also offers networking opportunities through employee resource groups, such as Women’s ERG in India.

Pro Advise

For those interested in the field, Dwivedi advises to build key technical skill sets. “You need to do real-time prototypes and projects and later, try or migrate to enterprise or scalable problems. The focus should be on solving the business problems or defining the business outcomes based on the problems,” he said.