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by ThePhysicist
470 days ago
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I did my PhD in that area, building the first working superconducting quantum processor (working in the sense of showing quantum speed up, although practically useless of course). That was one of the most fun things I did my entire life, I basically could work on all of the aspects of the computer from the cryostat, the microwave setup, control electronics, PCB manufacturing, chip design and fabrication, soldering, measurement software (written in Python and C++) to doing quantum theory calculations and analysing and visualising data. Nothing I did in my software career ever came close to that level of satisfaction (though there was also a ton of frustration involved). So yeah I would be happy to work in that area again, though today there aren't that many well paying jobs there yet so I would take a big pay cut if doing that work, but if I wouldn't need to worry about money I would definitely work in that area again. |
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The irony here is that if you look at the job postings of quantum hardware vendors, they ask for a laundry list of skills that only a small handful of people on Earth realistically possess (you included).
People are given the impression that there's this outsized demand for Qiskit jockeys, when in reality, what we're currently calling quantum computers are basically physics experiments with the cables cleaned up and hidden in a cabinet. The results you get from these things are tightly coupled to their hardware implementation, and you need people who can work, or at least think, up and down the full stack to get even scientifically useful results. Same goes for quantum sensors, networks, and other so-called adjacent technologies.