2/15    I'm a EECS/C alumni. I've been writing SW for a while.  I'm thinking
        of switching to HW.  Doing digital/circuit/FPGA/ASIC design. Digital
        stuff, not analog.  Has anybody done this transition before?  I did
        pretty well in 150, 152, and 252.  I think I can handle it, but I'm
        asking for personal experiences.  Thanks.
        \_ you sick fuck, next you'll be in taking it up the ass from
           Drew Pertula, number 1 heehpohcreet!
        \_ you better get an advanced degree if you want to do hardware.
           you'll be competing with top notch architects from top notch sk00ls
           unless of course you wanna do verification (testing)... boring
           \_ industry sucks, academia rewls!!!
        \_ I did that. I was in LSCS and still inundated my schedule with
           many CS courses (many of which was required for my major) but
           also took 141, 150, 152, and 252. What most people don't realize
           is that hardware courses aren't that hard and when you get into
           the 152/252 material that's when it starts to get very
           interesting. I now work in a VLSI design group and have no
           regrets switching. -jeff
        \_ Considering all the .com fall-outs this might not be a bad idea--
           Software is over-crowded right now.  Hardware is the way to go.
           \_ hardware has its own problems. there are good opportunities but
              geographically you're more limited on where to work. also it is
              not as free in what you do; the problems are often very well
              defined and the focus is on efficiency and optimization rather
              than open-ended creativity.
              \_ Optimization takes a lot of creativity.
        \_ It's probably hard to get a job as a newby logic guy if you're
           a few years out of school.  It's probably impossible to get a
           job as a non-newby logic guy, so you'll have to deal with the
           loss of $ and responsibility.  It might be easier to do an
           intermediate jump to design verification before you try to make
           the logic leap.
           \_ Not completely true. My co-worker never did verification.
              Straight out of college he did DFT engineering and is now
              a logic designer. I've been doing verification for about
              7 months or so and will soon start on logic design myself
              (I graduated last year). You just need to tell your boss
              that you're interested in doing other things aside from
              verification. Good designers usually have done some
              verification themseleves. -jeff
              \_ I merely observed that sw->dv->logic is an easier leap
                 than sw->logic.  I don't believe your experience
                 contradicts (or is even relevant to) that.  In addition,
                 dv and logic usual belong to the same organization, so it's
                 relatively easier to transfer from one to the other.  sw
                 and logic usually are in separate organizations, so a
                 transfer is probably more difficult.
                 \_ in a small organization, sw,dv,logic,testing,customer
                    support is a one man job...