1. Computer engineering, with minors in astrophysics and math.
2. 3.36 / 4.0
3. I'm currently working towards my MSEE at Stanford, but I was promoted to designer before beginning the degree.
4. A PhD is not important at all for most industry; in fact, it can sometimes be a hindrance because companies expect that PhD will demand a higher salary than someone else equally competent to do the job. A bachelor's plus about 5-10 years of experience will prepare you for a design position; a master's (with perhaps a few additional years of experience) will put you in about the same boat. Don't bother with the PhD unless a) you absolutely love your research or b) you want to teach at presitigious universities.
5. I've been a designer for about a year. I worked as an applications engineer for about 5 years before transferring to design. Apps engineers effectively deal with the use of an IC: how it fits into customers' designs, how to make it perform best, etc. I was promoted to design mostly by merit of my strong experience in digital design (FPGAs) and software-engineering methodology.
6. I love what I do! I get paid well simply to think about interesting problems all day. I'm paid well simply to know things, and I love learning. I'm a highly-valued asset to my company, and get a lot of perks. I should say that I intended on becoming a designer from the beginning of my career, and it took about 5 years to achieve it.
7. Well, let's see... my average day is probably pretty weird, compared to most people's, but I'll describe it. On an average day, I get up at 8 am and am out the door on my racing bicycle by 8:30 am to get some exercise on the way to work -- about 17 miles each way plus a train ride. I get to work at around 10:30 am, park my bike in my cube, and dig into whatever I'm doing that day.
We have a number of different design teams, each under a different manager. Each team is roughly 7-10 people. I generally have one major project (chip) to work on at a time, though I will sometimes get tossed for a few days around to help out with other teams that are behind and need assistance.
Some days I'm working on Python programs to automate our verification regressions. Some days I'm working on actual digital logic that will go into a chip -- I tend to put the headphones on and disappear into my own world when I have some difficult design problems to solve. Keep in mind that a designer's job is really only about 20% designing -- the rest is verification. Some days I'm working on verification scripts or testbenches. Some days I'm trying to figure out how some tool works, or how to fit that tool into our design flow.
Some days I have to attend long meetings where coworkers critique each others' work -- these sometimes take almost the whole day! We end up ordering pizza or take-out, and we're a jovial bunch, so it isn't as painful as it sounds.
Some days I start simulations (which can take hours or days to run) and then head up into the hills on my bike for an afternoon ride with a couple of buddies from work. We'll stop for tacos and beer on the way back. Or I'll go to the bookstore for a while, or go work out in the gym, and come back when I expect the simulation to be done.
Here's the downside to the job: tape-out. Designs often have a drop-dead date, at which time they have to be done to get on a manufacturing run. If they're even a single day late for the start of the manufacturing cycle, they end up being pushed back 6 weeks or more, which can be absolutely disastrous to the financial planning on a project (and we're talking tens of millions of dollars). As a result, designers often end up putting in lots of long hours near tape-out. This doesn't necessarily mean being physically present; I can do most of my work remotely, from home. It's not uncommon for me to check simulation results several times a night during these times. It's mostly a very relaxed-pace job, but has occassional bursts of madness around tape-out.
- Warren