When asked by a non-engineer what I’m doing for a living, I’m usually struggling to describe my work. I usually recind to asking them if they know Netbooks and that I worked on the CPU (“the brain”) for these.

But when an inquisitive mind is dissatisfied with this answer I usually tell them that I develop chips that work with elements just like relais. And on an abstracted level that’s true. It’s just that the layers of abstraction involved are many:

1) Transistor level (the switching element -> the relais)

2) Gate level (logic functions like AND/OR/NOT)

3) single bit storage elements like flip-flops as well as multiplexers

4) multilevel logic gate combinations, forming ADDERs, ALUs, SHIFTERS as well as memory blocks and register banks

5) memory subsystem blocks, like caches, translation tables

6) processor input/output cells

7) integrated systems with peripheries on chip (think network adaptor, external memory controller, graphics adapter)

8 ) PCB boards that mount these chips and connect them to external power

9) the final system: like netbooks, PCs, cell phones – the stuff you touch and use

I spent most of my time at work on items 2)- 5). While the chips we produce, consist of hundreds of million of transistors, on a basic level the still work with switches – not more and not less.