The struggle to enter VLSI industry is for real

   The best moment of your life is when you finally get to work on something you had hankered about, craved for, dreamed about. All the sacrifices you made by not attending those parties with your friends, all the weekends you toiled on with your work, all the head scratching moments you spent with the analytical problems you slogged on, become worth it, when you finally achieve your goal. Trust me, there is no better feeling. I was in a similar situation, and after all the hard work, I finally started my career in the VLSI industry. Well, you see so many experienced engineers in India working in the field of VLSI, though ever wondered how these folks might have got a kick-start towards their careers, then you would find this post relatable. Everybody out there is talking about the projects they participated in their career, years of experience in the field, though rarely people talk about the struggle they underwent towards their goal. In this post, I would be talking about my experience on how I started with my core industry career.

   Well, I was an average student through out my student life. And Trust me, nothing hurts more than not being from a premier colleges like IIT's, NIT's in India. So anybody who is from school or high-school reading this post, my advice would be to give your best shot now and life becomes much easier. I am an alumnus of Mumbai University, and graduated with an Engineering degree from Vivekanada Education Society's Institute of Technology, Mumbai in the principle of Electronics and Tele-communication, batch of 2016. To be honest, I didn't have a specific goal for a good period of my student life. Though, having said that, all I had was ardency to find my interest. In my BE curriculum, 'Digital Electronics' interested me. And that was all, I had to carry this thread from here on my own. Later, though my internship at BARC, Mumbai, I worked on a relevant project, which further intrigued me. And then undertook projects relevant to my field.

   Now, it's a given that rarely any core industry would visit a non-IIT or a non-IIT campus for placements. And the chances of a VLSI company visiting an ordinary college campus are very bleak. Most of the companies visiting the colleges are from software IT domain, and that's where the real struggle begins. I was preparing for my GATE exams in my final year BE, and the hopes of getting into core industry through campus placements were diminishing. There was already family and peer pressure ready to daunt. And thus had to secure a job, with a fear of 'what if nothing works out'. And to my biggest scare, things actually didn't quite go as expected. Well, you know the struggle for a general category aspirant in India and the number of students get into an IIT Master’s program. I didn't do much extra-ordinary in GATE examination, I could manage an AIR of 3390 in ECE paper. Though a silver in the clouds was that I did learn about the mistakes in my approach. Unfortunately, the next GATE examination was a year far, and I decided to proceed with the existing job I had in my hand. And I have no regrets over it, well, in fact I think I would have sullen sitting at home if I would have not taken the job. I remember, I used to work almost everyday after office hours for my next GATE attempt. All I wanted was a kick-start in core industry and things would be railed to normal again.

   To my surprise, I missed my second attempt to GATE examination as well. And everything just came falling apart. Well, this is the time I decided to change my approach towards goal, and I started applying for all job posts in ‘Digital Design’ domain that came to my notice. I utilized every option to my cognizance, and tried every medium to reach out the recruiters in my field. I wasn’t surprised here as I was quite aware that nobody entertains an engineer from a non-premier institute in India. I had even walked into a couple of Semiconductor firms just to get my resume acknowledged. And here was I, failing at all my attempts. My ‘falling apart’ feeling had plunged to the lowest nadir. In the meanwhile, I was going on with online courses to upscale my knowledge in the field, just in case, if I stand an interview, I wanted to be prepared with the industry domain knowledge. I remember, travelling from Hyderabad to Bangalore, just to attend a 1 day workshop on ‘Static Timing Analysis’ subject by ‘VLSI System Design’ group, in order to upscale my knowledge in the domain, though primarily to build my network. Though, result wise there was no change.

   That’s when I realized that nobody, literally nobody, wants to listen to a fresh BE graduate degree holder, of-course, unless the degree has a stamp from an IIT or NIT. Meanwhile, I was acknowledged about the private teaching organisations, which trains enthusiasts like me into the field and help me them with landing a relevant job. I had started preparing for entrance examinations of a couple of such institutes. I had cleared the entrance test and availed myself a good 40% discount at one such institute in Bangalore. The after discount fees were a significant amount too for me. Though fortunately, till then I got an offer from a similar institute in Hyderabad, which guaranteed a 6 month company sponsored training program in the Logic Design domain, and I save myself a big expenditure. And currently, I am working in a VLSI company as Logic Design Engineer and applying my skills in Digital Design and Implementation Flows (Synthesis, CDC, STA, LEC).

   So, to conclude, well yes, it won't be easy at all. Your dream will make you cry, but trust me, it will get the best out of you. Never give up! Because only dreams are worth chasing. Thanks! See you soon!