[hnu0847]

As a child I was equally interested in hardware and software but ultimately ended up earning an MSEE because I wanted to design CPUs. At the time I was in school (early-mid 2000's), software development generally wasn't viewed as being significantly higher paying than EE. The huge boom in software development didn't seem to start until at least a few years after I graduated. While I was in school the general sentiment toward the tech industry in general was somewhat negative due to the recent bursting of the 90's tech bubble. That said I do recall a meeting during my senior year of undergrad called by the chair of the EE department asking for all graduating seniors' thoughts as to why enrollment in the EE program had dropped off so much since our class started. I think "other engineering disciplines are less difficult" was a much more common answer than “significantly higher pay in software".

Throughout my first several years working as a CPU designer, I watched as the software industry expanded rapidly. The potential pay seemed to be much higher than what was available as a CPU/IC designer, and on multiple occasions I seriously considered a career change into software development. The CPU/IC design industry seemed to be consolidating during this same time period.

Then shortly before COVID hit, I started learning of various large software companies moving into the custom IC space, and the number of opportunities available to CPU/IC designers seemed to be expanding. Over the last year or so my pay has increased significantly due to the apparent worker shortage our industry has been experiencing. It's not as high as what I've read an average FAANG SWE can make, but it's now high enough that I'm not feeling the same urge to make a career change that I was several years ago. I'm able to work mostly remote, have a great team, and get to solve interesting problems. That said, a fair amount of my work does consist of writing code. Having said that, the semiconductor industry seems to be notoriously volatile. Things are good now but could quickly take a turn for the worst. All of the software companies currently experimenting with designing their own custom ICs could decide these side projects are no longer viable.

If I was giving advice to a current college student, I would probably steer them toward software development rather than hardware. The unfortunate reality is that there seems to be many more opportunities and much higher pay potential working in software development than hardware. If I had started college 10+ years later I would have become a software developer. Is the CPU/IC design industry different from other EE fields in terms of potential pay and job opportunities? Maybe it depends on the specific employer.