Why you should not become a Hardware Engineer 

also most of time chip designer have to read thausands page 📄📃 of pdf on Laptop , screen which is very annoying for me bcoz I find it very difficult even to read a 300 pages datasheet of an FPGA on my screen.

I love this channel! The sophistication and complexity of microchip engineering and bleeding edge tech is analyzed and explained in a way that is much more palatable than anything I've seen before. I have a newfound respect for those involved in this industry. Keep up the great work, very interesting videos. You're a natural as well, especially for an introvert. I love seeing people passionate about their calling or careers. Thank you for the info!

@@johnbroe Thank you :)

@@johnbroe Thank you a lot! :)

A shout out from a hardware engineer in South Africa! Your video sums it up very well! And thank you for the inspiration. Sometimes employers do not understand what it takes to do the job properly.

This is actually really cool. I think I might be a software engineer instead of a hardware engineer

What major did you switch to if I may ask? Software Engineering or Computer Science?

@@ayomidediekola2505 those are pretty much the same thing, so

I'm having a hard time deciding between electrical engineering and computer science . I prefer computer science but they say I'll lack hardware part if i go into that but I'm also scared of going into electrical engineering cos it is a lot of work plus I'm not a math genius. What should I do? Can I learn how to do hardware on the job ?

Please advise me...my issue is down below😣

😂 yes, I know sounds scary

But it makes fun, if you can get a chip working despite a design problem slipped through testing, happing to me, very very cool stuff.

Btw same can exists for software We have 2 years projects for a certain project that can fail Also if you come to game dev in which you can build a game for 4 years only to fail It all depends on where you are in the field But of course the software is much cheaper than hardware

@@ko-Daegu yes but, even in the case of 4 years game dev, software can be tested on the go, along with the design process. In IC design you can (practically) never verify the whole system at transistor level (mostly behavioural simulation is performed) and you have the final proof only after having the first IC samples. If then something is wrong, as you said, another tapeout is not for free both in terms of money and time.

@@ko-Daegu Now it is. Back in the 90s developers had to pay for their tools,. They weren't free like now. And they were priced towards professionals & businesses, so just a C/C++ compiler would cost $300-500 on average. And that's _per seat_ and just one tool.

In which field in hardware did u started? I guess its design/Verification as it is more closer to software development?

sounds like you followed the money.

Just take software engineering, you won't regret it

Take computer science then there’s hardware in it And we work really close with them

I am currently about to finish my 4 year in Computer Engineering, I found after spending time in CS for 2 years I started to love hardware over some of the software design. Instead of CS, I chose to minor in mathematics and CS, and major in CpE, loved it ever since, instead of creating a simulation software for example running off of a clock or counter, I can instead design the logic board and I literally coded all my gates in Xlinux, and imported the circuit onto an Fpga board. Its exactly the description, over software design, hardware takes alot more time and mathematics(Bad Diff eq... waveform analysis/ Fourier...)comparatively when it even comes to projects and etc...

How did you start?

I started with a bachelors degree in electronics and electrical engineering. I know good mixed signal design engineers who started with a physics degree then added a masters in electronic engineering. There are some universities that have courses specialise in analog IC design.

​@@mikail232no they can be simultaneously taught.

Can you tell me more about this? I'm in my senior year for my BS in EE and I'm very interested in the analog IC design but my understanding was that you would have to work for intel, apple, etc and be completely reliant on those companies who can fire you at any moment. What kind of business did you start and what are the barriers you went through? Is it easy to start this kind of business, assuming you have the design knowledge?

Most enterprise dev , there is no math. Most computers barely compute anything!

Games & 3D engine/software use ungodly amounts of mathematics.

@@NinjaRunningWild this is true. But enterprise? Not so much

The mathematics and physics involved in hardware is mostly limited to niche job profiles like analog or EDA design. While most of jobs in hardware like design, verification or layout, are much like software development, scripting or automation jobs and doesn't requires much involvement in maths or equations as those are handled by EDA tools directly.

One Pro Point for EE: At least maths and physics wount change that fast over time.

Happy to hear :)

Are u hardware engineer?

@@basedgigachadmuslim4544 Hey ! I am Synthesis and STA engineer

@@akashwayal8797 what is Sta?

@@basedgigachadmuslim4544 static timing analysis Briefly, these engineers try to optimize the clock frequency (or speed) of the chip.

Noooo.... Why not ? :D I don't agree ! Thank you Arzi !

I partly agree It's not a classic engineering that involves physics as well but still it's known as another engineering subject as it includes a bit of computers architecture and a bit of electronics and hardware as well and the digital systems course that is taught both in EEE and CS. In my country (Israel), CS Computer Science studies duration is 3 years in contrast to Software or Computers or EE Engineering that lasts 4 years. Software Engineering is CS Computer Science plus 4th year Computers Architecture during the 4 years degree and a bit of electronics.

Very true. Software engineering should be called Software Developer to be more accurate. Actual engineering is much more hands on and fun.

But that's what they said about software engineering years ago, "We hope that someday it will be more like hardware engineering." What they were talking about is standardized components. At the time software was ruled by the "not invented here syndrome" (only trust your own code). Plus there wasn't as much chip design as there is now, so most engineers were using off-the-shelf components and doing board/system design--they weren't _creating_ components. Today it seems there is more trust in software frameworks and more reliance on custom chips, and so software and hardware have moved closer together. But chip design isn't the be-all end-all of hardware design. Tons of products use only off-the-shelf components. If you do need a custom chip there are FPGAs and semi-custom silicon, which radically cut development time and cost for a custom chip (but you pay for it in component cost). With RAM based FPGAs some engineers treat it as agile and spin a rev every couple of weeks. Chip design tools are incredibly advanced and way, way beyond anything I've seen for software development. Each tool in the stack typically costs tens of thousands of dollars, and so having $100,000 of tools (programs) on your desktop (often Unix) is par for the course. However when you look at the cost of an engineer, $100,000 is nothing. Full custom silicon is the ultimate in "waterfall" engineering. Create the spec and _verify_ that it is _perfect._ Architect the chip, design the logic, and _verify_ that it matches the spec. Do the layout (tapeout) and verify it matches the logic--at this point we're able to start getting into automated verification tools, and for FPGAs, layout itself is semi-automated. Create the test vectors to verify the silicon matches the design--which can be about as close to fully automated as possible using modern tools. Finally get your prototype chips, put them in your prototype product, and see if the spec was actually what you needed in the first place. Of course spec verification is 100% human brain power. And so is verification of the logic design. Maybe if you had a formalized specification language then you could get some automated help with verification that the design matches the spec. But then you move even more pain to spec creation. The two steps of spec and design verification takes about 70% of an engineer's time. Note that matching the design to the spec often uses code coverage tools to see how close you are. Getting above 90% is damn near impossible. I'm 66 and used to do chips for the storage industry--disk drives and enterprise disk controllers. Having an intimate understanding of what the chip _needs to do_ helps massively with spec creation. Although I've never had an outright failure of the first spin on a chip, we always budgeted for a second spin. Because at some point _reality_ is cheaper and faster than _simulations._ My chips were never anywhere near as complex as what is possible today. I'm getting into full-stack development these days.

@@ScottyDMcom I admire your knowledge on this topic. I am also amazed by your determination to start will full-stack at this age. I am about 1/3rd of your age, and have recently started my career in hardware and am very interested with the opportunities in future. Thanks for writing a comprehensive comment about this industry and your experiences. I did enjoy reading it all. All of your words seem so much relatable to me, and my work.

@@avisekhghosh2757 can you me to because I am new too and confused between hardware and software what to choose ?

@@mayankkaushik1091 Sure, one thing is if u r not sure, or u don't have any specific interest in aligning you carrer into something, you could pick software anyways. Although the type of work we do here is different from software, but from high level most of the roles in hw and sw demands/ have exposure to almost equal qualitative and analytical skills. If you enjoy sw dev work, then you definitely would hw too. But only choose hardware if you have interest and passion for this field, since initially it is little difficult to enter into hw industry, as vacancies are relatively less. Finally it boils down to what you would like yourself to be called, a hw engineer or sw engineer.

Yes, it’s getting better! Thank you so much for your constant support ☺️

If you do hardware design for ASIC and verification, you just need a computer with the right tools.

I agree. I do know someone that does verification and he says that his main tool is a text editor. However, verification is not design. Most verification engineers start out, and you can correct me if I am wrong, as working EE's doing things in labs.@@delko000

True 🙂

Yes, it is easier but who cares 😅 Ahah

Really??

Can't get it pls come again!! Plss

1. You can be self-taught of course 2. 😅This depends on your job role. If you are on technical ladder, then not much.

There isn’t a fixed education when it comes to software engineering, or not just yet. There are a lot of self taught developers out there & they tend to excel better & is competitive. If circuits, processors, computers speaks to you, programming won’t be a question. Or forget it, just begin to write programs. It’s accessible and it’s out there. Engineers in general works together though 😬

Nice to meet you ! It’s true, everyday learning is inevitable part of the job 😊 It makes it fun !!

is it very tiring and stressful?

Thank you so much 😊

hey there i am in the second year of EE bachelors and wanted to talk to somebody who was in your field as i prefer embedded systems in comparison to anything else in my course so if you don't mind could i add you maybe like in discord or any other social media?

Sir is it. ???🤔🤔#I am interested in telecommunication

@@Yoyo-ck9pm Well someone has to design, develop, test all the HW for 5G for example ..

Yes sure, you could attend a coding camp or self learn a couple of programming languages. It is definitely possible :)

If you're interested in semiconductor engineering, AI, processors etc then Electronics is the way to go. Look at the course content and module choices

Bro can you feedback your exp abot VLSI field?? Cuz I am gonna pursue in India pls tell me...

Hardware industry is not ahead of the software industry. The problem is the barrier to entry. This barrier means much more funding and labor goes into software. This doesn't mean software is "better" than hardware. It's just that the industry is much more developed because it has far more people, money etc. supporting it.

Well, I spent 4 years at university to learn the basics, then multiple years industry experience and, as Anastasi said: you need to be constantly learning. If you don't yet have an engineering degree, I recommend you look at open courseware from MIT, you can follow the complete undergraduate electronic engineering courses for free: but you won't get a degree by just following the courses. You will need a degree to get hired somewhere where you can learn the practical aspects to make you a fully functional hardware engineer who can design tings that can be sold.

Yes :)

Sad

Me too...rn I'm focusing on c/c++ and electronics 🙃

Basic courses in electronic circuits, programming languages like C, python … later on courses in Analog and Digital design, RF design, hardware description languages like Verilog

Can I be a hardware engineer with a computer engineer degree?

Awesome! Qualcomm is a good company. Good luck with your internship:)

@@AnastasiInTech Thank you. Keep up the good work.

Ah I'm pretty late , but please can you tell me how you got got internship, like what was the process and what are qualifications please, I'm in electrical engineering and I'm into machine learning and coding so I'm bat eyeing intel and Qualcomm

@@diwakarsingh8455 It was through an on campus drive. Had an Online test (Digital electronics,basics of coding and aptitude). Second round was an interview. I am currently in my third year of electronics and communication engineering.

@@exaltant2464 woh that's cool , damn I don't think Qualcomm is going to come to my college, all we get here is big hard-core industries where if I get selected I've to work like on hard wires , but I really don't wanna be that , I like tech , so I'm currently learning python, machine learning bit of AI and SoC projects, so will it help in this company cause I've apply by myself?