… Recognizing your strengths and capitalizing on them is the key.

Interview with Yervant Zorian, Chief Architect at Synopsys

What is the main purpose of this visit?

The main purpose of this visit was to review one of our product releases, the STAR Memory System 5.0. It is the fifth generation of a product that was incepted in Armenia and has been developed in Armenia over the past 12 years. It provides a very nice solution to a number of problems in today’s most complex embedded memories. The release of this product is due at the end of this month. A number of reviews were due last week, so I arrived here to participate in the reviews and to make sure we do a timely and high-quality release.

How would you evaluate the quality of Armenian engineers in comparison with worldwide engineers?

In terms of quality, I don’t consider our engineers to be different from Synopsys engineers worldwide.  We always strive to have the best quality engineers at Synopsys, in any location. I believe we achieved this level some time ago in Armenia. However, I do see one difference: the ability to perform end-to-end product development. From early research to basic concepts to hardware and software development to QA and documentation, we succeeded in creating all the steps of the product development process in Armenia, allowing for a more efficient development and robust outcome.

 Mr. Zorian, in how many locations do you have teams you work with?

In my case, my team is split between two locations: Mountain View (the headquarters) and Armenia. Since the inception of this product was in Armenia as I mentioned, we decided to do the entire research and development in Armenia. While the vast majority of my team is in Armenia, a small group in California interfaces with other engineering teams in the company and with customers to understand and address their requirements and future needs.

Mr. Zorian, you have worked as a Vice President of Virage Logic, a company that was acquired by Synopsys two years ago. How did the merging go, and what’s the main advantage you have seen over the past two years, what are your feelings being part of Synopsys?

First of all, starting with the merger itself, I think it happened far more smoothly than I expected. Usually when you bring two entities together, it is difficult to maintain your productivity level, while you are changing structures and locations. In this case, since Synopsys is so accustomed to doing mergers with other companies, I think the move was very well planned and almost did not have any impact on the engineering work.

Regarding my feelings about being a part of Synopsys, I have appreciated the opportunity to grow both internally and externally. Internally we were able to open up to a number of other products, other engineering teams, and develop value links, which we did not have at Virage Logic.

Externally, Synopsys has access to a large number of customers, so our base of users has grown and the confidence with which people use our products has grown as well. Of course, we now have to satisfy a wider range of customers with a wider range of needs, and we are continuously working on serving better this new, larger family of users.

How did you build the success story of your life? You are a very famous Armenian in Armenia and worldwide. What’s your biggest secret or the formula of your success?

I don’t perceive myself to be very successful or very famous, but I think my approach has been to leverage what I have learned and build on it instead of jumping from one field to another. Everybody has certain strengths. Recognizing your strengths and capitalizing on them is the key. Throughout my education and my career, I tried to use the knowledge and the experience I gained during each step, from my graduate studies to my first job to my current job, to capitalize and build on my knowledge and expertise in my field.

Secondly, I care about working with people and helping others. I think it’s very important to help, to contribute, to volunteer. I volunteer in my professional life, mostly through IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), by leading conferences, presenting at symposia, serving as editor-in-chief of IEEE journal, etc. Some colleagues of mine also volunteer professionally; others don’t. I believe that when you volunteer you should not expect to get anything in return. However, I have often ended up receiving from my volunteer activities as well. For example, if I am a good organizer today, it is because I have had the opportunity to practice that skill with different activities. Or if I communicate well, it is because I have had the opportunity to practice my public speaking skills. I have done the same in my Armenian life. Since my childhood, I have volunteered in Armenian organizations – initially in the diaspora communities and since 1991 in Armenia as well.

What do you consider is the biggest achievement of your life?

I think my biggest achievement is my family. Although I care very much about many of my other achievements, my family is my closest circle and their success is the most important to me. I consider the accomplishments of my two kids, my wife, our small family and my larger family, my parents and the bigger circle to be an important achievement of mine.

Mr. Zorian, you are involved in so many committees, boards, you chair and co-chair some many different units, how do you find time to combine all these activities?

(Smiling) Time management, it’s an important thing to all of us. All of us, including myself, do many things.  It’s a matter of prioritizing; we can never achieve everything that we want. We can only do a subset, and choosing the right subset is the issue. I may want to do one hundred things, and I end up doing twenty things. But which twenty to choose and how to divide my time to make those twenty successful are the critical questions. Of course, I am disappointed sometimes with myself because I want to do certain things, but we cannot achieve everything we want to, so choosing a certain subset and optimizing those is my goal.

Mr. Zorian, how would you build your career and your life, were you to live in Armenia today and were you in your mid-twenties-early thirties?

If I were a young man in Armenia or elsewhere, I would treat my education as my passport. I would pursue my education to strengthen myself.  Once I had the best education possible, once I am able to standing on my feet, I would move ahead to use that to build my career. I think that education should always be your priority in your twenties. I know that some people disagree. They think that there are shortcuts, or other ways to achieve good results. That’s possible. You may succeed financially in certain things, but long-term success requires a strong education base.

Do you believe the young generation of engineers in Armenia is ready to be entrepreneurs and prepared for starting their own companies? Is Armenia the right place to build careers and pursue dreams of starting a business?

I strongly believe that Armenia has the right atmosphere, the right environment for youth to create new businesses. I would not recommend starting a business before gaining the education and the experience necessary, but the possibilities and the potential in Armenia are quite strong. I am talking about targeting not only the internal market of Armenia, but rather the worldwide market. The global connection is a major advantage and one can benefit a great deal from it. As a nation that is split among so many countries on every single continent, Armenians can benefit the most from technological advances. Today, whether I am sitting in California, or in Paris, or in Buenos-Aires, or Yerevan, I have the ability to do the same thing. So I would rather create my company, create my business in Armenia, in my own country, on my own soil. I know that certain young Armenians prefer to get out of Armenia. Of course that’s a learning experience, but it’s not to access better capabilities. You can accomplish a great deal from Armenia today thanks to our global connections, so I encourage young engineers to start from within Armenia rather than from the outside.

Armenians throughout history have periods of success and of challenges. I think we are living in a very special period now. We have an independent Armenia with lots of choices, lots of openness, and lots of opportunities to be connected to the world. I think that this is a special period during which Armenians can prove to themselves, to their 4,000 years of history that they are high achievers, and that they can cater not only to themselves but to the world. Each Armenian has an obligation to make sure that this golden period is very successful.

Mr. Zorian, it is always a pleasure to have you in Armenia. Please share your first impression, when you arrived to Armenia this time.

Armenia is always beautiful in the summer, and it is always a pleasure to be reunited with my team and the Synopsys family.

 What will you take with you from Armenia this time?

I would have loved to take Armenian apricots with me, but unfortunately that is not possible. I cannot bring in fresh fruits to the US. However, I am enjoying them here as much as possible.