Hi all,

I am a recent graduate who is passionate about breaking into the IC development industry, specifically layout. While my undergraduate thesis and OJT are not aligned to the role I am seeking. I tried upskilling by attending a training program by a certain company. We were trained in Synopsys Custom Compiler, and gained insights from seasoned engineers. After my training program, I tried to apply for a job at a large company, but sadly I was not shortlisted. Currently, I am attempting to make a design to layout portfolio using open source tools, hoping to add some credibility to my skills.

My passion lies in the IC development industry, however, it is not realistic to wait for opportunities, given my current situation. I was thinking of Test Development Engineer as one role, since the closest thing which is PCB Layout is really REALLY rare to encounter. I was thinking of Failure Analysis as well. Thanks for your time!

 

You are not going to be hired as an IC designer without a strong work history as an IC designer. Catch 22, right?

No, the trick is to get hired in a different role into a group focused on IC design. Then, if you show potential, you will eventually move into that role.

Taking a job in a different role at a company that does not do IC design will not help.

Any portfolio of amateur work is not likely to get you anywhere unless you can demonstrate something extraordinary. And even then, you will have a difficult time getting anyone to look at it.

 

You are not going to be hired as an IC designer without a strong work history as an IC designer. Catch 22, right?

No, the trick is to get hired in a different role into a group focused on IC design. Then, if you show potential, you will eventually move into that role.

Taking a job in a different role at a company that does not do IC design will not help.

That is the catch: there are absolutely no roles right now related to IC design, and that is why I am seeking other roles as of the moment. Another concern would be my fear of being "typecasted" into another industry, and as time goes on, the window of opportunity for getting into the field gets smaller because of the competition and limited companies offering the role.

I could get a masteral degree, however that would require money, so that was why I needed a job with transferable skills so I could actually have some form of credibility

 

Where do you live and are you willing to move? For such a specialized role, you need to go where the jobs are.

 

You are not going to be hired as an IC designer without a strong work history as an IC designer. Catch 22, right?

I wouldn't go that far. I was hired as an IC design engineer with absolutely no experience -- in fact, I didn't even sign up for an interview when they came recruiting on campus because I couldn't understand why they were even there, since my school didn't have a single IC design course. But the Career Center went ahead and stuck my resume in with the others and I was chosen for an interview. I ended up working for them as an IC design engineer for fourteen years, leaving as their senior engineer. A few years earlier (as an undergrad), I had an on-campus interview with TI and I was only interested in working in the defense electronics division and had no desire to be an IC designer, but they were shutting that down and were only interested in interviewing me for an IC design position, so the interviewer and I past the time talking about life in general.

 

I wouldn't go that far. I was hired as an IC design engineer with absolutely no experience

They were obviously looking for someone to train. And you apparently came across as an exceptional candidate. But if the OP is out looking for such a job, it would be different.

 

I am a recent graduate who is passionate about breaking into the IC development industry, specifically layout.

When I was working at Intel, in the late 1990's we went through a hiring phase where we interviewed dozens of people for layout designer positions with no prior experience required. Among the people we interviewed were electrical engineers, chemists, librarians, and artists (though artists generally lacked the ability to understand basic electronics). The last I heard, a chemist (PhD) and a librarian I recommended for hire (and many others, including a BSEE, recommended by others) were still doing layout.

I'm not aware of any similar recruitment efforts since then, but you might get lucky.

 

recent graduate

The first job will not be exactly what you want. But you need a first job before you can get the second one.
The first job will not be exactly what you want. But you can learn to like and even love it.
The first job will not be exactly what you want. But you don't really know what you want to do. You will grow and change.