Ok, my bias is towards hardware design, but I have data to support my position. This is my advice to you...

How do you create the most value for yourself out of an NCSU education?

Consider the areas that tend to lead to the most return (in terms of creative satisfaction and renumeration). In rough order, in my opinion, these are IC design (with analog and RF circuit design being closely followed by digital design), followed by support for IC design, followed by embedded SW, with a solid system support, followed by generic SW and board level design. MEMS design is hot right now too.

Develop a specialized skill that is not taught at most Universities. My PhD students that have developed detailed knowledge of the Cadence tools have attracted a premium. Similarly, Synopsys Design Compiler experts. Right now datacom, DSP, MEMS, and optics have long lasting value as well.

Make sure to do depth and breadth. The depth courses in IC design include 511 (Analog Circuits), 520 (ASIC design), 546 (VLSI), 741 (SoC design), Verification (currently 591E), 733 (Digital Circuits), 591X (RF IC design). 544 (interconnect design). Breadth courses include DSP, Datacom, Wireless coms, CPU design (ECE 521), embedded systems, and algorithms (CSC 505). Make sure to build up your SW skills (e.g. via ECE 517 or some other course with large software projects [ECE 521 satisfies this too]). We intend to have a "CAD for Designers" course soon that will lead to especially valuable skills.

In today's (2003) tight job market, graduate get jobs because they find a match between their unique skills and a specific job requirement.  Generic designers are not in high demand.  Obviously, it is hard for me to advise you on what are "unique" skills, but some examples include the following:

• Combination of excellent IC design skills and a good understanding of DSP for wired and wireless communications
• Ability to grapple with large projects, including determining good engineering tradeoffs, and getting things done in a team environment (ECE 520 and 591E give you opportunities to develop these skills).
• Ability to get things done in today's complex tool environment.  (e.g. Contribute to our Cadence Design Kit).

Help in decising on your course progression

Kevin Gard and I put together a set of advice pages to help you structure your plan of work. These can be found at the Analog Alliance Web Site.

Should I consider a Ph.D.?

Deciding to do a Ph.D. is a very personal issue and a difficult one to generalize on. Frankly, I would advise any of you with a 3.7 or better GPA to seriously consider it. Why?

1. It proves something to yourselves and others.

2. It buys you your freedom. Ph.D.'s get treated different than others, even in Industry. Trust me - you'll value this freedom one day. As an over-generalization, BS graduates test things, MS graduates design things, while PhD graduates work out what to build next and how to build it. i.e. The tend to be the most forward looking, and get the greatest freedom to explore new topics, while MS graduates tend to be expected to stay in one technical area and be constantly designing and redesigning.

3. The Ph.D. process is fun. You get to do something very technical in a very free environment.

4. You can be a Professor one day. OK, you hate us now, but seriously its a very satisfying job. However, I will point out that most of our Ph.D.'s go to industry.

What is the downside? You spend 3+ years on a low salary after finishing your MS. You eventually make this loss back but it takes a few years. It is also a serious challenge. Good people rise to it though.

On this topic, your lifetime earnings will be definitely higher, and your starting salary is very likely to be higher than an MS with similar experience. Also you will be afforded more career growth opportunities (in general), even access to the management rungs in highly technical companies.

Feel free to question myself or any of my students on my web page if you have any questions about the PhD.

Feel free to question any of my students on my web page if you have any questions about the PhD.