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Fred Bouchard
Fred Bouchard
01:11

Fred Bouchard

Sparetech.com

New Milford, CT USA

"If you come into it with love and humility, you are going to be successful."

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Fred's work combines: Technology, Business, and Working with Others

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Day In The Life

Sales Manager

I manage sales and business development in the semiconductor spare parts market.

02:22

Day In The Life Of A Sales Manager In The Semiconductor Industry

My Day to Day

The semiconductor industry is global, so I start my morning with Asia. I'll work on backlog reports, customer requirements, and shipping. As the day goes on and other time zones start work, I receive new projects. We provide spare parts to other companies. These can be replacements or new and improved parts. My job is to make sure the best parts are being used and if not, determining how to get our customers to use those parts. I also spend a lot of time traveling both domestically and overseas.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

There are some misconceptions that your work is very isolated in this industry. People imagine the engineer or technician in a clean suit working alone in a clean room. While that is a part of it, the semiconductor industry is actual very team-oriented. Each part goes through many, many different steps and many different people. It's also a global industry, so we work with many different countries and cultures. There's a good sense of community and larger purpose in the semiconductor industry.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Chemistry, General

    Université de Montréal

  • Doctorate

    Chemistry, General

    University of Waterloo

Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Sales Manager:

Bachelor's Degree: Materials Science

Graduate Degree: Chinese Language and Literature

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life has been direct

  • 1.

    I was born in Quebec, Canada.

  • 2.

    Growing up, I was always interested in the physicality of objects—I enjoyed playing with physical objects and assembly toys.

  • 3.

    I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the Université de Montréal, and then moved to Ontario, Canada, to pursue my doctorate.

  • 4.

    After graduating with a Ph.D. in chemistry, I was hired by Tosoh Corporation in Ohio, which makes high purity materials in the semiconductor industry.

  • 5.

    Once I got my foot in the door, I was able to grow with the industry and move through positions like technical support, support manager, and sales manager.

  • 6.

    After several years with Tosoh, I moved on to Sparetech.com and have been a sales manager here for 15 years.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Society in general:

    You'll always be working alone in a clean room in the semiconductor industry.

  • How I responded:

    There are some misconceptions that your work is very isolated in this industry. People imagine the engineer or technician in a clean suit working alone in a clean room. While that is a part of it, the semiconductor industry is actual very team-oriented. Each part goes through many, many different steps and many different people. It's also a global industry, so we work with many different countries and cultures. There's a good sense of community and larger purpose in the semiconductor industry.

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