sami elbaz
New member
Hi everyone,
I'm reaching out to you for advice on a professional dilemma I'm currently facing. I'm 51 years old, working in a relatively senior position at a multinational company, and I'm looking for a new direction for my career. I'm highly experienced in VLSI and have worked in the Wireless group for seven years before moving to the CPU division which I worked for 2 years. I worked very hard there, even on weekends, and despite learning a lot, my direct manager treated me like a student. The truth is, I learned a lot there and there is still so much more to learn. The main work there was bug fixes, adding features, and maintaining RTL code. There was fierce competition for features and who would do what. I didn't fight for them and was given menial tasks while others received more interesting work. I also wasn't independent enough because it takes a long time to get used to the environment there. They told me that you need to be there for at least 5 years to understand what's going on. I decided to leave and my manager begged me to stay, but I left the division and returned to the Wireless division. Here too, they gave me menial tasks, mainly GLS for a year. I asked for development and got upset, so my manager let me work with an algorithm expert to write RTL and develop something big, but I don't really understand the algorithms. I just implement them in RTL. It's interesting stuff, but unfortunately, I don't understand anything. It feels like a waste of time. I do RTL synthesis here and have also done backend for a few blocks. My manager in the Wireless division announced he was moving to a new position but staying in the division, and he dumped all the tasks he was responsible for on me—fast blocks with low-level RTL. Before he dumped this work that no one wants to do on me, he gave me a big RTL project. But then, a colleague on my team came and took that work from me, and my manager threw the menial tasks at me instead. He disbanded our team—two people—and transferred us to another manager. It seems that I won't be doing big RTL blocks anymore because I'll be busy maintaining the small ones. In the Wireless division, my new manager doesn't understand my work, and I'm doing menial tasks. Although I was promoted to a senior level in Wireless, I'm not sure if I should stay here. In addition, I don't think this division is very stable. There have been layoffs, and a lot of people are leaving. The backend group has been emptied of people. The turnover here is crazy, there is a lack of manpower, and they're throwing a lot of tasks at me. However, I don't work as hard here as I did in the CPU division because I'm familiar with the whole work environment, I'm independent, the work flows for me, and I'm not dependent on people like I was in the CPU division. But the place is not stable, and it seems to me that what I'm developing is at a low level, and I think I'm going backward. Even when they give me something big (I don't believe they will anymore because I'll be busy with maintenance on the small blocks), I don't understand the algorithm. I don't think it's a good thing to develop something without understanding it.
Recently, I was offered to return to the CPU division by the manager I had there. I think he appreciates me, but I'm not so sure because everyone there is younger and sharper than me, and also cheaper. I'm afraid to go back to a place I've been to before. I'm afraid I'll do menial tasks again. I don't know how long I'll last there, but the CPU division is a very stable place and was not affected by the layoffs.
In addition, I'm afraid that my experience in RTL will not be relevant in the future and that I'll have to move to BE, a field that interests me less. I'm not sure if I should do that because BE can also be a field of menial tasks.
I'm also worried about my age. I'm afraid that if I leave the company, it will be difficult for me to find a job because of my age and high salary. And even if I do, it will be difficult for me to prove myself in interviews. I've been to interviews at 5 companies and haven't gotten an offer, even though I felt the interviews went well.
My questions to you are:
I'm reaching out to you for advice on a professional dilemma I'm currently facing. I'm 51 years old, working in a relatively senior position at a multinational company, and I'm looking for a new direction for my career. I'm highly experienced in VLSI and have worked in the Wireless group for seven years before moving to the CPU division which I worked for 2 years. I worked very hard there, even on weekends, and despite learning a lot, my direct manager treated me like a student. The truth is, I learned a lot there and there is still so much more to learn. The main work there was bug fixes, adding features, and maintaining RTL code. There was fierce competition for features and who would do what. I didn't fight for them and was given menial tasks while others received more interesting work. I also wasn't independent enough because it takes a long time to get used to the environment there. They told me that you need to be there for at least 5 years to understand what's going on. I decided to leave and my manager begged me to stay, but I left the division and returned to the Wireless division. Here too, they gave me menial tasks, mainly GLS for a year. I asked for development and got upset, so my manager let me work with an algorithm expert to write RTL and develop something big, but I don't really understand the algorithms. I just implement them in RTL. It's interesting stuff, but unfortunately, I don't understand anything. It feels like a waste of time. I do RTL synthesis here and have also done backend for a few blocks. My manager in the Wireless division announced he was moving to a new position but staying in the division, and he dumped all the tasks he was responsible for on me—fast blocks with low-level RTL. Before he dumped this work that no one wants to do on me, he gave me a big RTL project. But then, a colleague on my team came and took that work from me, and my manager threw the menial tasks at me instead. He disbanded our team—two people—and transferred us to another manager. It seems that I won't be doing big RTL blocks anymore because I'll be busy maintaining the small ones. In the Wireless division, my new manager doesn't understand my work, and I'm doing menial tasks. Although I was promoted to a senior level in Wireless, I'm not sure if I should stay here. In addition, I don't think this division is very stable. There have been layoffs, and a lot of people are leaving. The backend group has been emptied of people. The turnover here is crazy, there is a lack of manpower, and they're throwing a lot of tasks at me. However, I don't work as hard here as I did in the CPU division because I'm familiar with the whole work environment, I'm independent, the work flows for me, and I'm not dependent on people like I was in the CPU division. But the place is not stable, and it seems to me that what I'm developing is at a low level, and I think I'm going backward. Even when they give me something big (I don't believe they will anymore because I'll be busy with maintenance on the small blocks), I don't understand the algorithm. I don't think it's a good thing to develop something without understanding it.
Recently, I was offered to return to the CPU division by the manager I had there. I think he appreciates me, but I'm not so sure because everyone there is younger and sharper than me, and also cheaper. I'm afraid to go back to a place I've been to before. I'm afraid I'll do menial tasks again. I don't know how long I'll last there, but the CPU division is a very stable place and was not affected by the layoffs.
In addition, I'm afraid that my experience in RTL will not be relevant in the future and that I'll have to move to BE, a field that interests me less. I'm not sure if I should do that because BE can also be a field of menial tasks.
I'm also worried about my age. I'm afraid that if I leave the company, it will be difficult for me to find a job because of my age and high salary. And even if I do, it will be difficult for me to prove myself in interviews. I've been to interviews at 5 companies and haven't gotten an offer, even though I felt the interviews went well.
My questions to you are:
- Is it right to leave a less stable organization with a key position (Wireless) for a very stable organization that is the core of the company, where I'll be a "cog in the machine"?
- What should I focus on for the long term, RTL or BE? What's more relevant in the age of AI?
- Would you recommend I return to the CPU division even though the past there was difficult? The CPU division is the core of the company, but they don't develop there—they only improve what already exists by adding features and there are a lot of menial tasks and maintenance. But there is so much to learn there in terms of microarchitecture, but only those who stand out get that. And I'm an introvert.