Driving Innovation and Embracing Diversity: Omar Ali's Impactful Journey at Arm

How has your career changed since you joined Arm as a graduate?

I've had a particularly interesting journey. I started my career at Arm as a graduate Physical Implementation Engineer in the GPU team.

After about three and a half years, I wanted a change. I moved into hardware verification in Solutions, working on a whole system rather than just one piece of IP.

I didn't have experience in verification, but I had a conversation with the team. They could see what I'd learned and built, and that I was passionate and wanted to improve myself. I got the opportunity to make that move and it's been amazing. It's been challenging in every single way I've wanted it to be, and everything I could have imagined and more.

What surprised you about working at Arm when you first joined?

I was told almost from day one that if you see something and don't know why it's done that way, question it. If you think there's a different way to do something, find and apply it.

I had situations as a graduate where a senior engineer had implemented something in a certain way and I asked, "Why is it this way and not that way?" They were receptive and considered what I'd said.

That was mind-boggling to me because you have agency from day one, regardless of your seniority. 

How has Arm helped you learn and explore different areas of engineering?

Arm makes it particularly easy for you to work on stuff you like. If you want to take on an opportunity, you're given the chance to grab it and go for it.

That's what happened when I wanted to try verification. I had a conversation with the team. They liked my eagerness to learn and my willingness to put in the effort. It didn't matter that I didn't have experience in verification. They could see that I was passionate and wanted to improve myself.

Cross-team collaboration has also made a big difference to how I've learned. Engineers regularly share what they're working on, and you can take that information and apply it to your day-to-day work. Sometimes you remember something months later and think, "I remember that person. Let me go and ask them." People are always so receptive to talking about what they're working on.

What advice would you give someone starting their graduate engineering career?

Just grab every opportunity you can. If you want to do something, even if there's no existing route for it, create that route. People will actually help you and let you carve whatever path you want.

I know a lot of graduates worry that the theoretical knowledge they've gained at university isn't enough. The reality is, it's not, but that's why you're a graduate. You're a graduate to learn.

You have experienced engineers there to teach you how to approach a problem, while graduates can bring new, fresh ideas and challenge existing ones.

It's the time to experiment, learn more and figure out what you like and what you might want to do for the next five, ten or twenty years.