EW BrightSparks 2023 profile: Alex Jarvis – Diodes Incorporated

Now in its sixth year of awards, EW BrightSparks sees Electronics Weekly highlight and celebrate some of the brightest and most talented young engineers in the UK today.

Here, in our series on the latest EW BrightSparks of 2023, we profile Alex Jarvis, an Application Engineer at Diodes Incorporated.

Achievements

It was his manager at Diodes who nominated Alex, telling us of the impact he has already made:

“To go from being a student at university to representing a global electronics company and making presentations to engineers throughout Europe in just two years is some accolade, needing both knowledge and confidence.”

Alex qualified from Sheffield University in 2021 with a Master’s Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Then, after qualification, he joined Diodes Incorporated’s sales team as an Application Engineer.

Initially, we learned, Alex’s role involved him using his educational knowledge to respond to technical enquiries from customers and provide them with solutions to their problems. In the midst of a business cycle where customers were desperate for products due to worldwide shortages of semiconductors, Alex would regularly be involved in finding replacement product options for customers applications. Not only did this bring in direct sales revenue, but it also created the opportunity to bring in new customers for further business from a greater range of products.

“As Alex’s experience and knowledge of Diodes’ products has grown, his contribution to the European business has increased tremendously. Training of Diodes’ distribution partner engineers is an essential part of the business development and Alex has presented to engineers across Europe on topics as diverse as battery management and smart home applications. His presentation, ‘Smart Home Applications’, involved a tear-down of various smart home products (a connected fire alarm, a wireless home camera, and a wireless smart lock) to showcase the growing market opportunities in this area.”

He has carried out online training sessions by himself, as well as supporting and joining two or three in-person sessions with colleagues. As an example of the value of these presentations, Alex prepared a voice-over version of his “Smart Home Applications” presentation that is now being used in the USA to help with the training of engineers in that region, we learned. Alex has since supplemented the content, working on a report and application note to further develop research and content around this topic.

As another example of Alex’s versatility and broad yet detailed knowledge of Diodes’ products and their applications, the internal training sessions run by him are individually tailored to cater for the needs of his colleagues whether they be new starters, those working in customer service areas, manufacturing roles, or other departments.

“To further assist with these training events,” his manager told us, “Alex has also designed and developed a range of demonstration units to show how Diodes’ products work in specific applications. The units that he has developed show the best uses for Diodes’ hall sensors and LED drivers. The demo units have been used at events in Europe, and have proved so popular they have also been provided to and for use by engineers in the USA, firmly underpinning Alex’s contribution to Diodes’ worldwide business activities.”

As Alex’s knowledge and contribution have increased and become more recognized, he has taken on the sole engineering responsibility for a key client. In this important capacity, Alex is working with that company’s engineers (in both the UK and abroad) on research projects and future production projects, demonstrating his technical knowledge and contributing to the success of the global organisation.

Electronics Industry Viewpoint
Gavin Woodruff, Education Manager at the IET, also shared his viewpoint on Alex’s entry.

“Fresh from studying his master’s degree Alex has made a clear impact at Diodes Incorporated,” Gavin told us.

“Adapting to a global shortage of semiconductors Alex has understood customer needs to offer alternative solutions, sharing his approach with distribution partner engineers through engaging demonstrations.”

Community

As an example of community engagement, an LED drivers demo board that Alex created has been used in educational settings.

For example, for a local school in Oldham, the demo board was brought in to engage primary school children (between 8 and 11 years old) in some “electronics basics” covering lighting and controls.

Alex also has a very active role working with the four or five “Year In Industry” students who are on placement with Diodes Incorporated each year. He has been supporting them at the very start of their careers with technical advice, helping them with lab work or PCB design queries, and general advice and mentoring.

His nominator told us:

“It’s worth noting that prior to his Master’s Degree, Alex attended a local sixth form college in Oldham studying physics, computing, and maths, and from there grew his interest in electronics. This recently gained experience enables Alex to truly understand the needs and problems of electronics students ‘today’, at this point in time in the fast-moving world of electronics – he was that student himself just a few years ago!”

“Embracing community, ‘people’-based subjects, whilst at university Alex focused on algorithmic and software-based projects, culminating in a thesis covering diabetes detection and the study of retinal blood vessels. Now, Alex uses both the hardware and software skills he developed, finding it rewarding to be able to grow his abilities in both areas.”

Congratulations to Alex!