Semiconductor News

Any engineering veteran could tell you that a fulfilling career in the industry requires much more than a degree. Beyond formal education, there are meaningful experiences that are crucial to an engineer’s professional development, such as:

• building lifelong relationships, 
• learning in-depth disciplines, 
• contributing to specialized communities, 
• and collaborating on projects with leading experts.

But without the right resources and direction, it can be challenging to know how to build a successful and rewarding career. Fortunately, there’s a great option available to help engineers advance their careers: joining a professional engineering association.

In an ideal world, it would be easy to ensure your chip engineers are taken care of just by following simple compliance, training, and safety protocols. But in real life, it’s rarely this straightforward. 

Semiconductor operations and manufacturing are full of potential industrial health and safety hazards such as toxic gases, flammable acids, and other harmful solvents. Equipment mishandling or safety control slip-ups can further contribute to unsafe conditions in cleanrooms, laboratories, and fabrication plants. 

While national standards exist to address worker safety and health, accidents can happen when they’re least expected. And without the right preparation and safeguards, these hazards can pollute the work environment and hurt employees.

Because some risks aren’t obvious, it’s crucial to stay vigilant to the causes of workplace accidents and find ways for engineering leaders to safeguard engineers’ wellbeing.

Today, we’re closer than ever to innovative breakthroughs in connected devices, autonomous cars, AI-driven machines, and robots. There has never been a better time for engineers to dive into more advanced technology and rethink the way they work. Yet, with more and more on engineers’ plates, it can be challenging to find time for learning, inspiration, and personal growth.

For engineers who are feeling uninspired or lost in their careers, help is on the way. We’ve curated a list of five inspiring TED talks ranging in topic from personal development and work management to new technology and creative ways to innovate.  Here’s what you need to watch:

As we finish out the second quarter of 2019, it’s abundantly clear this is another transformational year for the semiconductor industry. 

Although global semiconductor industry sales are down, the future should hold significant growth, according to predictions. The Developing Innovation and Growing Internet of Things (DIGIT) aims to further the development of connected technology in the U.S. and foster significant advances — like Facebook’s AI Habitat and a chip startup’s new laser solution — to make AI innovation faster and smarter. Moreover, Lattice’s new field programmable gate array (FPGA) may change the game in building better security and compliance.

Every quarter, we bring you the latest news impacting semiconductor companies and provide busy hiring managers with a quick rundown of the industry happenings you can’t miss. 

Here’s what you need to know about what’s happened in the second quarter of 2019:

Hiring qualified engineering candidates isn’t an easy undertaking. In today’s job market, recruiters and hiring managers need to attract the right candidates using competitive salary and benefits packages, a healthy work-life balance, and a great company culture. Nowadays, job seekers also prioritize career progression, learning development and the ability to work with cutting-edge technology when considering new opportunities.

In fact, 17 percent of high-tech job seekers say the technology they'll work with is their top priority when considering job opportunities, according to a survey by Stack Overflow. Similarly, employees are more satisfied when they can work on leading-edge content with up-to-date tech, according to a McKinsey report.

With newer nodes of dimensions demanding engineers work with more data at faster speeds, innovative technology is more important than ever in the semiconductor industry. Advanced analytics and technologies are not only more exciting, but they’re crucial to engineers’ effectiveness and help them gain a competitive advantage in the industry.

For recruiters and hiring managers, communicating a commitment to interesting projects and innovative technology is key to recruiting and retaining top engineers. Here are a few ways you can accomplish this goal:

With the right skills and experience, engineers can go far in their career. Yet, engineers in any industry—from budding professionals to seasoned veterans —need meaningful connections to enrich their knowledge, find new opportunities, and foster career or personal growth. By putting your best foot forward in front of the right people, you open doors to new job opportunities and career growth.

But networking doesn’t come easy—at first. Many of us can suffer from awkwardness, social anxiety, and discomfort when meeting new people or asking for career help. While it can be stressful to establish these connections, anyone can earn and maintain meaningful relationships by following a few simple steps.

As a hiring manager, you’ll often face the challenging decision of choosing between multiple highly qualified candidates for one open role. And once you’ve made your selection and sent a job offer, you’ll have to break the news to the candidates who didn’t make the cut. Without careful planning and sensitivity, these rejections can leave candidates with a negative impression of your organization.  

While it may be easier to send a curt rejection response, impersonal communications can hurt your company’s reputation and affect your ability to attract top engineering talent in the future. Even if you’ve already made your hiring decision, putting some extra thought into rejection calls or emails can open opportunities for future job openings or contract work.

In this article, we’ll explore a few simple ways to create a considerate (and painless) experience when rejecting engineering candidates.

In March, the USB Implementers Forums (USB-IF) announced the USB4, the latest version of the popular connector. Although the full specifications haven’t been released, the standard is expected to be faster, better equipped, and more standardized than all previous versions.

Hiring top engineers and chip experts in today’s competitive and candidate-driven job market can be challenging. From crafting tailored job descriptions to coordinating technical interviews, each step in the hiring process requires careful consideration. And with changes in technology and shifting demographics, hiring managers need new, creative ways to find and attract qualified candidates. Over time, you may feel your once tried-and-true efforts are losing their effectiveness.

If your current strategies aren’t performing to your standards, considering new perspectives can help you refresh your hiring tactics and access top talent.

Here are three simple ways to rethink some hiring practices:

When it comes to achieving optimal performance and function, analog design is difficult to get right. According to Semiconductor Engineering, analog content causes the most test and chip failures. Additionally, a Cadence report shows that 95 percent of field failures come from analog elements in the design.

As more designs go digital, analog becomes increasingly crucial to enhance better user experience in the chip interface. This means the standards for reliability also increase—adding more stress to quality and performance.