Daniel, would you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m Daniel Fishman, product marketing manager at Nova, in charge of the Nova ELIPSON product line. I live with my family at moshav Talmey Yechiel, happily married to Adi and the father of a rare statistical incident: two sets of twins.
44 years old with a BSC in Chemical engineering and I’m just about to finish MSC in Materials Science and Engineering. I’ve been working at Nova for the past 2 years but have to admit that it feels much longer since things are so dynamic here and very exciting.
What is the thing you love most about working at Nova?
Just one thing? There are so many, but it all begins and ends with people. My colleagues are very diversified in their knowledge and capabilities. I work with brilliant people with so many great ideas and solution to any challenge, which creates very fruitful dialogues and openness to new ideas and different opinions.
The second great thing is the work environment, things are changing here at a very rapid pace, I love this type of dynamics.
The third thing that is very significant for me in my work at Nova is the fact that my daily actions influence the semiconductor industry on a global level. I feel that I have a prominent role in designing the industry. This means a lot of responsibility as well as a great growth opportunity.
Sounds very exciting! Can you share a highlight moment at your work in Nova?
Sure, this would be the announcement about the first customer who chose Nova ELIPSON after a long and complex evaluation period and the very successful launch in December 2020. Nova ELIPSON was selected since then by multiple leading industry customers. This is the culmination of years of teamwork, overcoming many challenges and creating outstanding technological breakthroughs. We took a 90-year old lab technology and, through a series of highly complex adjustments, built a platform that can work in high-volume manufacturing environment – delivering state of the art material metrology information. I feel fortunate as a professional to lead such a significant development in the industry.
Who is your superhero?
My wife! She works in a very demanding job, while raising 4 kids, supporting me in over 40-50 days of military reserve annually, which have been replaced with many travels abroad. She is a staff engineer and a top-notch professional in a very demanding environment- I admire her.
What is your superpower?
Being funny and sarcastic in every situation.
What drives you?
Two things: I am very target oriented and highly committed to my community – friends, colleagues, and family.
What does a typical workday at Nova looks like?
I say this in a very positive way: no single day looks like the other. Sometimes a day starts very early with a presentation to customers in Asia, other days begin with a non-formal conversation in the cafeteria which ends up being an hour and a half long and leads to the birth of the best ideas and solutions, or sometimes the day only begins in the afternoon or evening, packed with discussions with our North American customers and colleagues.
How do you balance work and life?
This is easy! In my calendar I have three family time slots, which means three evenings a week, at least, I do nothing else but focus on my family. This is my quality time with the children. No meetings and no emails are allowed at this time. We play together, have family dinner and watch Marvel movies.
Why did you choose to study chemical engineering?
I always knew I would be an engineer, even before I signed up to university. I was accepted to chemical engineering and never regretted this for a moment.
By the way, here is a funny anecdote: I studied chemical engineering but fresh out of university I worked as a material engineer while my wife studied materials engineering and her work resembles more to a work of a chemical engineer…
Tell us something that no one knows about you
At the age of 13 I escaped from a camp organized by the Jewish Agency near Moscow, where I grew up. I came home on the train without no one noticing I wasn’t where I’m supposed to be.
To plan my escape I laid on the ground for 3 hours, to study the patterns of the guards, then I found a hole in the fence surrounding the camp and escaped. I then had to walk 3 km to the nearest train station back home. You should have seen the look on my father’s face when he saw me.
“If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.”
