Electrical Engineering: Test vs Design Job Outlook

[lilikoi]

What specialty has more stability and a better job outlook in Electrical engineering! Test or Design

 

[Perfection]

I have no idea, but I'd guess test because no one the heck wants to do it.

 

[I_am_learning]

My initial thought is Design is more challenging Job. Tests are just monotonous and repetitious. (is monotonous and repetitious the same?)

 

[lilikoi]

I find test interesting? Hmmmmm what about validation? is that the same as Design? What should I expect 10 years into the Job?

 

[skeptic2]

It depends a great deal on the particular branch of electrical engineering you want to go into. Depending the subfield, much design has been outsourced overseas. When I did electronic design, I did at least an equal amount of testing. Even if design and manufacturing are done overseas, qualification testing is still needed before a company commits to that component.

 

[lilikoi]

semiconductor -I am an RCG I have an offer at Intel for both right now,Test ( sort and product development) is offering a lot more money. any thoughts
Thank you

 

[lilikoi]

Help with job offer

I am an RCG My degree is in Electrical Engineering I have two offers at Intel right now. One in Test ( sort and product development) is offering a lot more money. The other is component design. any thoughts
Thank you

 

[fss]

What's more important to you? Which would you rather do? Why do you expect anyone to have a meaningful opinion based on the useless information you've given us?

 

[lilikoi]

Meaningful? No , how about just an opinion

 

[skeptic2]

Go with the one you think you'll be happiest in. If they're nearly equal, go with the money.

 

[phoenixosu]

I would say go with design, if not design validation (product engineering), if not that test. I pick that order because design gives you the most creative freedom which is very important in a job long term, the more monotonous the job the more you will learn to loathe it (the time it take for you to loathe it is proportional to how much of a "free spirit" you are, but you will get there). Validation / PE is generally before test while the product is still in the design phase (this is where I am at right now and as a creative person I'm goin nuts). Test is more a part of qualification and manufacturing, you check an already designed product for manufacturing defects, lots of automation stuff.

As for career paths, design allows the best gateway into an in depth technical career path, PE gives you great management opportunities, and so does test but neither of those are good for an in depth technical career path, they also can serve as a gateway to things like applications engineering or technical marketing and sales.

If you want to be a technical guy who knows a lot about the details of things and like to create, take the design job hands down, the other two run you the risk of pigeon holeing you in the wrong career path (i wish someone told me that about PE).

If you want to move towards the business end of things, management marketing sales type jobs then take the PE job, its the best way up that ladder and probably offers the best route to some very very high pay (my PE job pays very well).

Test is about the least desired job out there and you get a good view into manufacturing, so if you are interested in manufacturing and want to climb up the corporate ladder in a manufacturing environment then go with that kind of job, but IMHO opportunities here are the most limited.

 

[lilikoi]

Thank you for your perspective phoenixosu. The test job is with a better company (Intel) it is Product Development (designing/writing test programs) but you have defiantly stated some of my concerns,didn't know if they were valid. Do you have the same opinion with Product Development Engineer (designing/writing test programs) for cpu's? It's a great offer and a foot in the door.

 

[phoenixosu]

Sounds like that job might actually be "validation" and not "test".

Validation happens in parallel with design and is the process by which designers are checked that they are designing the correct thing, the design bounces back and forth between the two groups (DE and PE)

Test happens when design is done, this is the boring job no one wants.

I've heard Intel's "PE" or PDE as they are calling it I think, is very much automation based, you write a lot of test scripts and run a lot of them, analyze failures, etc. It can be monotonous but it does provide opportunities for lateral movement. Intel is GREAT for lateral career movement!

For reference I am a PE, I do product validation in parallel with design. It does require that I have a lot of knowledge of the product as it is designed but not as much as a designer, and my options for creativity are limited, but if your company embraces lateral movement (mine not so much sadly) then it can be a gateway to a design job. Intel likes their people to change jobs at least once every 5 years, this is good. (I did work for 6 months at Intel designing test hardware as an intern).

 

[Nebuchadnezza]

I would say design =)

 

[lilikoi]

I accepted the position,it is definitely not validation. Wafer sort engineer developing and test programs and failure analysis,first silicon. Determining whether they are bad or good. Is there a overlapping skill set here? Or would you put this in the pigeonhole category?

 

[phoenixosu]

There is some (more or less) overlap with semiconductor processing side of electrical engineering engineering, manufacturing engineering, materials/devices side of electrical engineering, chemical engineering, and engineering management.

It does have some distance from design since most of the job roles there happen after design is finished and the main focus is on manufacturing.

This sounds like a test job.

As always, job descriptions are never a guarantee of what you will be doing, they are often made up by HR heads who don't know about the field and managers who don't have the time to put much effort into it. The best way to find out is to take the job and see where it goes.