Semiconductors run on their own language, commercial logic and competitive dynamics. Nobody hires an outsider for what they already know; they hire for how fast and how honestly they can learn. This page is the system I built and used to prepare for this role, shown as working method rather than claimed as a trait.
Open the study app: notes and drills live, examiner in the private buildThe rule underneath all of it: physics before industry, industry before company, company before role. Vocabulary learned before the model underneath it produces someone who can say the words but cannot survive the follow up question. The order matters more than the hours.
Built as a working system, not a reading list. Each move exists because the one before it is not enough on its own.
Start where the industry starts: what a semiconductor physically is, why analog is hard, how a chip gets made, why design wins take years. A structured curriculum, 12 modules, each building on the last.
The test: can I derive the commercial logic from the physics, not just repeat it?
Reading feels like learning and mostly is not. Every module gets drilled 3 ways: rapid recall flashcards, explaining concepts back at 4 audience levels, and a scored examination against a fixed rubric.
The test: a score out of 10 per module, 7 or better before moving on. Below 6 gets flagged for rework.
If I cannot explain analog to digital conversion to a 10 year old, a CFO and an engineer in their own registers, I do not understand it yet. I built an AI examiner with a veteran industry persona that sets these briefs cold and scores the answers against the rubric. It does not accept vague answers, which is the point.
The test: the same concept, 4 audiences, 4 scores.
The final exam is never the tool, it is conversation with veterans: people who have carried a bag for a distributor, worked applications engineering, or run partner programmes in this industry. Their follow up questions find what the rubric cannot.
The test: hold a 2 hour conversation with a 15 year veteran without losing the thread.
12 modules, sequenced from physics to the role itself. The last module turns the method on my own work: the operating model I am presenting gets examined as hard as the industry knowledge.
Physics before industry
ADI's entire reason for existing
What ADI actually makes and sells
From sand to silicon at scale
How chips move from fab to product
Who buys what ADI makes and why
Where ADI sits and against whom
Why the business breathes in and out
Speaking the industry's own words
The company behind the role
What the industry already builds
My own design, examined hostile
Every concept gets explained back at 4 levels. Matching register to audience is the actual job of an enablement role, so it is trained deliberately.
Simple words and analogies only. Zero jargon survives.
Commercial impact only. Not how it works, what it means.
Knows the business, not an engineer. Real world context.
Industry leaders probing for depth and application.
Every examined session scores against the same 4 criteria. Fixed rubric, no grade inflation, written feedback each time.
Were the facts right?
Were the key points covered, not just the comfortable ones?
Can it connect to ADI's business and this role, or is it trivia?
Would a 15 year veteran find it credible?
Everything in this preparation that is a judgment call rather than a verified fact is marked as one, here and in every document on this site. Learning an industry in weeks means holding views loosely and saying so. The pilot corrects the model. Veterans correct the student.
A short list, chosen over a long one. Depth beats coverage.
The best work anywhere on semiconductor industry dynamics, supply chain and geopolitics.
3 hours on how this industry is actually structured. The single best starting point.
Weekly semiconductor intelligence, read every issue.
Deep technical and business analysis for current context.
The partner programme reference model this industry already knows: tiers, certification, marketplace.
The final source. Structured conversations, their follow up questions as the real exam.