Re:China hires over 100 TSMC engineers in push for chip lead...
by baybal2 on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @03:18PM
(#24135693)
Close to what I experienced myself.
I spent my teens looking up to microelectronics career, and actually self-studied a year, or two ahead for entrance to Nanyang, or NTU semi.eng. programs.
I almost accidentally met two ex-TSMC engineers who worked for Chang almost since his first days at ITRI, and they were very good mentors, and seriously warned me about "a decade+ grind ahead." In the end it were my parents who stonewalled the idea, and sent me to a business degree mill in Canada. And this is all was when I had 2 early admission letters from both Nanyang, and NTU on my desk...
Re:China hires over 100 TSMC engineers in push for chip lead...
by dbancajas on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @03:34PM
(#24135861)
are you earning more than a TSMC engineer now?
Re:China hires over 100 TSMC engineers in push for chip lead...
by baybal2 on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @03:36PM
(#24135882)
Easily, and I am just doing EEng101/MEng101 level work in an engineering consultancy. The work I do now has nothing to do with actual IC fabrication.
Re:China hires over 100 TSMC engineers in push for chip lead...
by blackrock on Thursday August 13, 2020 @12:30AM
(#24139949)
That's too bad. Working on the cutting edge sounds much more exciting.
Re:China hires over 100 TSMC engineers in push for chip lead...
by swordsmith on Thursday August 13, 2020 @06:02AM
(#24141669)
> If the lack of precision, simulation time, and general drudgery doesn't kill your enthusiasm when compared to your textbook learning, then by all means proceed.
Exactly why I stopped, this hits close to home
Re:China hires over 100 TSMC engineers in push for chip lead...
by abledon on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @04:50PM
(#24136803)
> But you really don't want to know how this sausage is actually made.
Please tell me about some quick nasty bits!!!!! I need a joke or entertaining story to share during my friday sprint review
Also, for any aspiring undergrads wandering this way that thought RFIC design was fascinating because they picked up a copy of Razavi's "RF Microelectronics" or something similar and couldn't help but read it cover from cover, the textbooks lie. The analytical equations in a chip design textbook are not reflective of what the actual process is like. While you're still in college, try and get a professor to give you a student addition of Keysight ADS or Microwave Office AWR, along with an SDK from a fab. Then spend a few months of simulation time to see for yourself how much simulated results diverge from analytical models and how painstakingly slow it is to optimize those simulations especially once you start moving into EM simulations. And keep in mind these are simulations, chances are the physical chip will diverge even more due to process variations, unknown parasitics, or even bad simulation models from the fab. If the lack of precision, simulation time, and general drudgery doesn't kill your enthusiasm when compared to your textbook learning, then by all means proceed.
It's still a fascinating subject. Every so often when I need a break from code I'll take out my old RFIC textbooks and read a chapter or two. But you really don't want to know how this sausage is actually made.