The Best Career Options for EC Engineers in VLSI Companies

 Electronics and Communication is considered one of the toughest engineering branches. However, the rewards that it offers in terms of some of the most challenging and exciting careers make studying this branch totally worth it. VLSI or Very Large Scale Integration also sometimes known as Chip design is one of the sub-domains of electronics, dealing with the particular logic and circuit design techniques required to design integrated circuits.

 

      There are numerous good opportunities for individuals after completing B.Tech in ECE. One can resort to private companies which offer competitive salaries, ample opportunities to learn and an exciting career path. On the other hand, public sector companies also have a number of great opportunities that one can pursue in the electronics. However, if you want a job in the government sector then there are other additional requirements such as clearing the entrance exam conducted by Union Public Service Commission or State Public Service Commission. Out of so many subsets of Electronics and Communication Engineering, VLSI holds special importance as it has some of the highest paying careers for professionals.

What is VLSI?

VLSI or Very Large Scale Integration is all about Integrated Design. In layman’s language it is known as chip design. This is a highly technical field which requires complete understanding of complex semiconductor concepts. VLSI design is mainly treated as hardware design as one is required to define the chip’s architecture, create circuit designs, run simulations, tape out the chip to the foundry and test the prototype once the chip returns from the laboratory. Individuals who are creative and try something more challenging than the jobs out there should look for jobs in VLSI. You will need good programming skills along with excellent mathematical and analytical aptitude. Expertise in high level languages such as Verilog and VHDL, which are probably the most popular languages in chip designing, is one of the important criterions of getting selected for a job in VLSI.

 

Industry news

        These are the times of wearable technology. Even clothes have chips inside them. Then there are the electronic appliances that we simply can’t think of even living without such as microwave ovens, air conditioners, mobile phones, televisions and others. There is little doubt over the bright future of chip designers and programmers and therefore, making a career in this field can be of huge advantage. VLSI engineers can work in wide variety of industries such as Telecommunication, consumer electronics, semiconductor, embedded systems amongst others. These engineering jobs are also the best paid employment opportunities in India.

 

Different Types of Job Opportunities

One can differentiate between different types of jobs in VLSI by either the industry or the work responsibilities. Going by the kind of work, there are mainly four types of jobs:

Design Engineer

          A design engineer, also known as physical design engineer is mainly responsible for design implementation. One needs to be technically sound to efficiently deliver the work responsibilities. One deals with different kinds of chip designs such as ASIC, FPGA, DFT, AMS, PCB and other custom designs. The various job titles that are assumed by professionals handling all this work include PCB designer, Back-end designer, Front-end designer, AMS designer, DFT designer and Library developer.

Verification Engineer

        As the name suggests, verification engineer verifies the design and makes sure that it works fine. India is known for its world class verification facilities and around 70% of projects here are related to verification. Therefore, the demand for verification engineers is maximum in India. To make it big in this field one needs to have strong programming skills. The different types of verifications undertaken by professionals include front-end verification, acceleration, product validation, behavioral modeling, and Verification IP implementation. Modeling engineers, Validation engineers, verification consultants all have similar responsibilities.

Application Engineer

       An application engineer is responsible for creating the interface between the R&D and customers and promoting EDA solution. In order to effectively carry out these responsibilities, an application engineer should have good communication and interpersonal skills. With excellent presentation abilities one can go places under this job title. Field Application Engineer and Corporate Application Engineer are some of the job titles in this field.

There is a huge potential in the market for those interested in VLSI. The demand of chip designers is higher than the supply, which means the existing roles are highly paid as well, a win-win situation for VLSI engineers.

 

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