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New here, needs a mentor!

S

sharathsatheesh

New member
Hi
I am a fresh Electrical and Electronics graduate, now doing my MSc in Microelectronics at Nanyang Technological University. I have little experience in the industry and hope to find a job after completing my course in 2014. However it has been hard finding information in this direction, as this field of study is pretty vast, and I haven't found my niche or area of interest yet. I often read the articles on SemiWiki and few other sites, but I am unable to get a pulse of the industry. Maybe its because I am new to semiconductor industry, as it has only been 5 months since my course commenced. Therefore I request those of you here who has been in the industry for some long time to share their views about how they developed their career, and their field of interest. Please share your views and knowledge regarding finding a direction for your career as a beginner.
I know I sound vague, but any inputs are welcome with a warm heart. Thanks in advance!
Sharath
 
Last edited:
Sharath,

The semiconductor industry has many jobs, like:

IC Design (you like to create new things or make them more efficient)
IC Verification (you like to see if this new thing really does work)
IC Test (you like to see if this chip meets specs and is ready for shipping)
IC Applications (you like to explain how this new chip could be used in a larger systems design)
IC Marketing (you like to show how your new chip is better than any other vendor in the world)
IC Manufacturing (you like physics, science or chemistry)
EDA Software Development (you like to create software)
EDA Applications (you like to show how EDA software can be used to design a new IC)
EDA Marketing (you like to show how your EDA software is the best in the world)

It really depends on what you want to do, so we need more information before making any recommendations. What are your skills, talents, desires and interests?
 
Sir,
Thanks for your reply. I have dealt with IC manufacturing during most of my education, and I think my strengths are also semiconductor physics and microfabrication technology. I would love to work and gain industry experience first. But I am also interested in research and academia, as my desire is to do something of my own, where I can make a name for myself.
Sharath
 
Here's a list to the top 25 semiconductor companies in the world, they should be hiring when you graduate.

You will certainly be working with a team of people at any company that you choose to work at, so learn to get along well with others and collaborate.

Coming up with the commercial replacement to CMOS technology will make a big name for yourself.
 
Personally, I would start blogging, it will open up a whole new world for you. Posting in the SemiWiki forum works too.
 
Blogging FTW! I always wanted to suggest to the group I work in to blog about some of the projects we do, specially about that big problems that come up during development, but that are never written about on the papers... the issue, as usual, is finding the time to do it right!

Anyway, would any of you senior guys have in your hats something like to top 25 CMOS sensors companies in the world? That would interest me :D
 
Hmm... I have not published anything so far. My problem, as you said is balancing between studies and the work needed for writing a paper. While my scores are good, I am unable to find out what is my field of interest. I suppose this needs deep and wide reading.
 
SemiWiki is built on MySQL and tightly integrated with Google Analytics and LinkedIn. It is interesting to see the top trending topics and who is reading them. Low power design has always been one of the top trending topics but right now FinFETs is trending well. Electro migration comes up quite a bit as does IP integration.

A blog is 500 words on a topic of personal interest. I have been blogging about the foundries for 4+ years and now people consider me an expert on the subject. With all of the research I have done for the blogs I tend to agree with them. :cool:
 
Good to see someone from NTU. I did my MSc in microelectronics from NUS (long time ago). Daniel has put up a nice list. I would advice to experiment with yourself and see what interests you. Semiconductor industry is a challenging industry where you will see brilliant minds and that is the very reason it has done so will in last 4 decades. You will be fine in any area as long as you have interest and skills in that area. I have been in a technical role (design and verification) and looking to make a move into a non technical role and currently doing an MBA. Most of my colleagues at the office tell me " are you crazy " why are you doing this. So it all depends on your interests and how they evolve. If you are the sort of person who likes to get bored, you might consider making moves within the list mentioned above.
Hope this helps.
Shaz
 
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