Retirement

Just a short post to inform readers that I retired four weeks ago, after over 36 years in the semiconductor industry. For most of that time I worked as a test engineer on power semiconductor devices, all at the same site in Stockport, which was under five different company names over this period:

1. Associated Semiconductor Manufacturers (ASM) Ltd.
2. Mullard Limited
3. Philips Components
4. Philips Semiconductors
5. NXP Semiconductors

Due to the current recession, there was a need to reduce "head count", and a call for voluntary redundancies was announced in April this year. I volunteered almost straightaway, was accepted in June, and finished work on 25 September.

I had already switched from full-time employment to part-time in June 2008, so I enjoyed 15 months of having Mondays free before finishing. This gave me a taste for retirement, but not for inactivity.

Now that I am the Go Bible project leader for the CrossWire Bible Society, I have more than enough to fill my waking hours. This brings the engineering and the theology even closer together than I could have imagined.