Meet Our People: Wilmer, Technical Marketing Manager

Meet our new Technical Marketing Manager, Wilmer Companioni! Wilmer lives in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and joined Zuken USA’s marketing team in August 2021 after previously working for an electronics manufacturer.

In his short time here at Zuken, Wilmer has proven himself to be an excellent addition to the team. And he’s not afraid to take on new challenges! Being part of the marketing team myself, I wanted to learn more about him, so we recently connected and I am happy to share his story in his own words…

It All Started With PSpice

I went to school for engineering, so I’m an electrical engineer by trade and training. I’ve held several positions before joining Zuken, but my first experience with EDA started in school. There, I learned how to use PSpice. As my career unfolded, I learned to design circuit boards using various tools, including Zuken products. After being a CR-5000 user for many years, I feel fortunate to now work for the company. I look forward to many successful years at Zuken.

Helping Customers

As a technical marketing manager, I use my technical background in electronic design to communicate how Zuken tools, in particular CR-8000, eCADSTAR, and Vitech’s GENESYS, can be used to handle today’s common engineering challenges. I aim to bridge the features of the EDA tools with the engineering design goals. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is helping customers by creating scenarios and hypothetical design situations to demonstrate the value of the Zuken product lines.

A Typical Day – What is That?

Ha! What is a typical day in my role? That doesn’t exist. One of the things I love most about my job is that every day is different. Some days are research-heavy, where I have to learn and study a new aspect of electronic design. Other days are focused on content creation for a video, PowerPoint, or blog post, or a whitepaper. One of my favorite tasks is to present, so I really enjoy myself when I have opportunities to communicate to an audience – live or virtually. As you might imagine, I also have the chance to get into the CAD tool and recommend designs, which is very interesting and exciting for me. I’m still learning the ropes of my job, so my workday is usually quite full and goes by quickly.

My role has a good mix of independent and collaborative work. I am lucky to be part of a team where everyone is helpful. Since I was hired during the pandemic, I’ve only interacted with my colleagues virtually. This week I’m taking my first business trip, and taking full advantage of every opportunity to spend time together and get to know them.

Most Memorable Project

One of my favorite engineering stories to tell is of a situation where devices tested perfectly fine coming out of the factory, and somewhere in the process of air freight, a fraction of the units were exhibiting random reset conditions. After much investigating, it turned out to be cosmic radiation causing random bit flips somewhere in the memory array. Sometimes it was in the bulk storage area, which was benign, and other times it was in the code space. It was unpredictable to tell which use condition set off the reset when it was in the code space. Ultimately, we had to move to larger lithography of memory to minimize the likelihood—a fun problem to work on since it challenged the engineering skills of the entire team.

A Wide Array of Hobbies and Interests

When I’m not working, I like to keep myself busy. I enjoy traveling the world and learning about different cultures. Fitness is important to me, so I stay active by running and lifting weights. Sports are a big part of my life. I enjoy watching baseball, football, and Formula 1.

Cooking and making cocktails is a hobby I love; margaritas are my specialty! I also enjoy keeping up with new technology and learning about the latest gadgets. Finally, I am a fan of the arts and am a burgeoning art collector. One of my favorites is Frank Stella, an artist who loves to incorporate color and math into his pieces.