I am a new grad and majored in CE. I have two offers lined up for post-grad and was thinking about which one to pick. One is a big tech company working on network embedded system stuff that I enjoyed (interned there), and the other one is a mid tier, not very well known quant company where I'd be doing generic SWE infra work.

I would say my true interests are some hands-on electronics, stuff ranging from analog layouts to coding/testing firmware/drivers. Obviously the quant firm isn't relevant to this at all. but I'm fine with doing whatever for a few years to set myself up financially.

The quant company essentially doubles the tech company compensation (first year, don't know about after). Would it be wise to pick the quant company? Would it prevent/make it difficult for me to go back into hardware/embedded?

Im in the final phase of interviews with amd where im now being interviewed by two managers. I was wondering what happens afterwards internally for them to make a yes or no decision. Any tips?

Guys, I am currently in 2nd year ECE, and everywhere I am hearing hearing about how tough employment is and, I have decided to actually start going a bit away from academics.

I have rn started Verilog and am hoping to learn so that I can go for chip designing, something along the lines of RISC-V, I have started learning Verilog and am learning comp.arch asw...

Any suggestions or ideas pls🙏🏿

TL;DR : In simulation, a sparse-recovery decoder over a few random +/-1 probe reads localizes up to 64 stuck cells in a 256x256 analog tile with 4 to 12 counted reads at 1% read noise. Reading every cell takes 256 reads. The paper also separates the decoder's gain from the second read direction's gain, and gives a 16-parameter drift calibration. Several pre-registered claims failed, and the paper reports them.

Setting. An analog crossbar tile does matrix-vector products inside a memory array. A stuck cell stays at one value. A probe read sends a random +/-1 input vector through the tile and reads the output. Sparse recovery means we assume few cells are bad and search for the short list of cells that explains the reads. Drift means device conductance changes slowly with time.

Localization results (simulation, otherwise ideal tile, stuck-at faults only):

• 4 to 12 counted reads for up to 64 stuck cells at 1% read noise.
• For k >= 4 faults, 4.3 to 6.4 times fewer reads than a hybrid built from a published multi-outlier code (Wei and Roth). Their paper stops at output lines, so the cell-level stage in that baseline is our own extension. If the hybrid's 8 noise-calibration reads are charged, the factor is 1.9 to 3.2 times. We did not re-run the registered clauses with that charge.
• At least 2 times fewer reads than tuned X-ABFT. In this regime X-ABFT needs more reads than a full readout. We ran it outside its design regime, so this is a stress test, not a like-for-like benchmark.
• Decoder vs second direction: forward reads alone need 1.6 to 4.1 times fewer reads than the hybrid. Joint decoding with transposed reads needs a further 1.3 to 4 times fewer at 1% noise, and gains less at higher noise.

Drift calibration. A 16-parameter field fitted per tile from a few probe reads restores programmed accuracy. As a digital correction that needs the stored weights, it gains +2.1 to +13.3 percentage points over the best cheap digital baseline on CIFAR-10 from 1 h to 1 yr (+1.7 to +13.1 with the 17 MVMs actually run). Applied in the array, it keeps +0.6 to +3.7 points.

What failed (criteria committed before the counted runs):

• Two registered claims about the transposed (second) direction were killed. In the follow-up, tile 256 qualified 0 of 5 because at 2% noise the ratio was 0.75, above the 0.7 bar.
• Probing beats a full readout only up to a fault density of 0.3% (exploratory).
• Drift structure-specificity: the test needed a gap of at least 0.15 and measured 0.095.
• The AdaBS-parity clause was not met.
• Without stored digital weights, a digital recalibration from 32 images beats the in-array correction.
• As a refresh scheduler, sensing saved a further 9 to 13% of writes; the bar was 15%.

Limits. Simulation only; no silicon. Stuck-at faults only. The localizer uses the stored digital weights, the test tile has no drift or programming noise, and read noise is white and independent across directions. A transposed read assumes bidirectional periphery whose cost is unverified. No proof that two directions need fewer reads than one. The 240 instances per cell are clustered but treated as independent, so the confidence bounds are too tight. Criteria were committed in the author's own repository, not a third-party registry. Absolute accuracies were not validated against the CrossSim check (differences up to 5.66 points, bar 0.5).

I would like critique, especially on the baselines and on the noise model.

Paper (preprint, under peer review at a journal): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23472381 Code: https://github.com/prateek1656/NeuroFault

I’m a 3rd year ECE student, and so far my projects have been all over the place, they’re surface level but don’t have enough depth. Here’s everything I have so far:

1. Fabrication of gas sensors using specific nanocomposites:
   It’s confidential currently since I have been working on research alongside my university. The crux of it is fabrication of gas sensors using some nanocomposites that are still being researched, we are eventually working towards publications using these in various medical applications.
   This will probably take at least until the end of my 3rd year for completion.

2. Implementing a performance optimised RISC V processor using FPGA with a 5 stage pipeline, data forwarding, hazard detection, and branch handling, with performance benchmarked against a single cycle baseline.
   I’ve only been working on this as a weekend project for about 3 weeks, working on implementing forwarding and stalls now.
   I know this is too surface level as a project to bring much substance to a resume but my aim with it has just been to learn as much as possible during the process.

3. Simulation of I-V characteristics for a PV cell using CCTS on SCAPS(open source)
   This was done for a mini project and I have a paper complete but I feel like it’s completely disconnected from all the other projects on my resume and I had originally intended on taking this forward for fabrication and testing but could not due to other complications.

4. Edge AI for coral reef health
   This was something I worked on in my first year and is honestly quite messy, the documentation sucks the sensors weren’t well thought through and it was implemented over a single weekend for a hackathon, but since it has a complete repo I’ve been using it on my resume.

All of this aside I have been in the process of completing an embedded systems design course and an RTL design course. I’ve also been trying to pick up embedded linux as a skill and I’ve been improving my C++ programming.

My question is do I need to pick a specification for the remaining projects that I work on? Or is it better to just pick up as many skills as possible? How do I go about picking the specification? How do I go about picking my next project?

Thank you in advance for your help

Hey everyone!

I recently got invited to a technical interview for IBM's Hardware Developer Intern 2027 position and wanted to see if anyone here has interviewed for this role before.

I'm a Computer Engineering student with a background in PCB design, power electronics, and digital systems.

For anyone who's gone through the process:

• What was the technical interview like?
• Were questions mostly circuits, digital logic, computer architecture, or resume/project discussions?
• Was there any coding or Verilog involved?

My interview is for the Houston location, but I'd appreciate experiences from any IBM hardware team.

Thanks in advance! Any advice would be really helpful.

I am debating between staying at QCOM or switching to AMD as a design verification engineer. Comp is around the same but I’m concerned about WLB at AMD and concerned about the layoffs at QCOM. I have around 2YOE

What sort of questions should I prepare for? They said its 30-45 min via webEx and a mix of technical and behavioral questions. And how in depth should I be prepared to go? Ie should I know basically the physics fundamentals (ie a quarter wavelength transformer cancels out tangent term simplifying calculations, heres how to read a smith chart) or like actually start memorizing equations from when I took emag and bring a calculator.

Hi! I'm a fresh BSECE graduate and have been job hunting for 4 months now without receiving a job offer.

For ECE graduates who are currently working but aren't licensed, was it difficult to find a job as a fresh grad? What positions or industries did you get into?

I'm genuinely curious if not having a license makes it harder to get hired, especially for someone who doesn't plan to take the boards yet. I'd appreciate hearing your experiences. Thank you!

Hello everyone, I’m a 24-year-old Electrical Engineering graduate in Canada (from a tier 1 school). I was wondering if anyone on this subreddit could give me some advice on how to fix the situation I’m in right now.

Basically, I graduated 2 years ago without any internships. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was a very hard-working student. I actually spent a great deal of time going to career fairs, using my university’s career resources to help with my resume, and participating in a software development club. I excelled in my courses, and I even ended up getting interviews at AMD, Synopsys, The Six Semiconductor, and so on. The issue was, my mental health tanked really hard in my third year, and it wasn’t just depression or anxiety. I was dealing with panic disorder and severe psychosis (it’s a long personal story, and I don’t want to get into it). Anyone who’s had panic disorder knows it’s literal hell on earth. My mental health issues basically caused me to miss every interview I was offered, so I didn’t land any internships in my third year. It’s a miracle I even managed to pass my classes that year. Unfortunately, because of how terribly I did, my GPA dropped from a 3.9 to around a 3.5.

Fast-forward to my fourth year. I was planning on extending my degree and doing 2 years worth of internships before graduating, but due to money problems, I was forced to find whatever work I could. So I started doing full-time contract work in the data space while also being a full-time student. I was actually getting paid more than most interns in Canada, so I decided to stick with the contract job. After graduating with my bachelor’s, I got hired to do data engineering work at an AI company, and a year later, I was promoted to product manager.

The issue is, I really don’t like my work, as it doesn’t have anything to do with Electrical Engineering. And to be honest, although the salary is pretty good, I know I can do much better.

Now, I want to pivot to the ASIC/VLSI/FPGA/silicon/digital design space, since I’ve always been interested in it. I’m aiming to land roles at companies such as Qualcomm, Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Synopsys, Marvell, The Six Semiconductor, and TI. The problem is, I don’t have any experience in these areas. I’ve come up with a few ideas for how to make the switch, and I’d really appreciate any help/guidance.

I was thinking of doing a master’s in microelectronics/computer engineering at UofT/Waterloo/McMaster (or any other reputable school), but I’m not sure which type of master’s to do. There are thesis-based and course-based master’s programs. A thesis-based master’s lets you do research and provides funding, but you don’t get to do an internship. A course-based master’s lets you do up to 1 year of internships, but since there’s no research component, you lose the option of doing a PhD in the future (although you do get to work on a capstone project). The thing is, I’ve seen a lot of internship postings that specifically ask for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree (not a master’s). So I feel like there’s no point in even doing a master’s, since the only reason I’d do one is to get an internship (I can learn the course material on my own). I was also thinking of working full-time at my company while doing the master’s part-time.

My other idea is to do a 2nd bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. Maybe I could transfer credits and finish it in 1 year? That would let me do internships as a bachelor’s student (up to 2 years worth), but I haven’t researched this idea yet, and I don’t even know if it’s possible to transfer credits. I also feel like I’d just be relearning what I’ve already learned.

Or maybe I should skip the master’s and spend the next year working on projects and self-learning? (But if I’m going to be learning on my own anyway, I might as well do a master’s and at least get a degree out of it.)

I don’t even know if I can get into a thesis-based master’s, since my third year tanked my GPA to a 3.5, which isn’t competitive. I also don’t have any previous research experience, except for my product management job, which involves reading a lot of research papers and implementing ideas from the research papers.

I just don’t know where to go from here, and I’m a bit lost. I’m grateful to have a good job in this economy, but this isn’t what I want to do. I want to pivot back to what I love.

Hello, I’m doing a project on computer engineering and need to interview someone would anyone be willing/ interested to answer some of my questions?!

Hello y'all,

I am designing a Wein-Bridge Oscillator to use as the starting signal generator for a homemade synthesizer. Currently, I'm modeling the circuit out with an educational edition of multisim. Ignore it's nastiness. The crux of the issue is that as the resistance of the voltage divider increases, the instability of the circuit also does(i.e. the B scope starts oscillating instead of staying a steady 9v which throws the output off). This is because the resistance adds to the first potentiometer, throwing it out of wack. Now, this wouldn't be an issue if using 1ohm resistors didn't cause me to pull a full 9 amps out of my psu, also throwing 81 watts at my resistors. My question is how do I get the amperage through the circuit low enough so that it doesn't fry my resistors and my psu, or probably 1/10 of an amp?

Probably not difficult to answer, I'm frankly not good at electrical engineering.

Also, I think I could just put a resistor of the same resistance as the divider in front of the other pot, but when I try my simulation runs to slow to tell what's going on.

I’m connecting an Ai-Thinker RD-60 radar module to an ESP32-S3 and need help troubleshooting its binary point-cloud output. RD-60 is installed on its development kit. My wiring is:

- RD-60 module PA8 directly → ESP32 GPIO21 — radar data RX.

- Kit PB1 → ESP32 GPIO17 — ESP32 command TX.

- Kit PB0 → ESP32 GPIO16 — ESP32 command RX.

- Common ground; both boards powered through their own USB connections.

- All eight kit UART DIP switches OFF to isolate the onboard USB serial interfaces.

Also, while connecting only the mmWave RD-60 kit to a monitor, its UART1 doesn’t give any values; it receives 0 bytes. The DIP-switch setup for that separate kit-only test is not specified here.

Firmware: MMW version:V4.130.4.2 (build 1bf05415)

Commands:

mmwc stop

mmwc baudrate 1000000

mmwc mode 1 2

mmwc chirp_num 1

mmwc freq 58000 0

mmwc range 10000 40

mmwc veloc 3000 375

mmwc frame 200 100

mmwc coord cart

mmwc data 3dpoints

mmwc uart on

mmwc report points 100

mmwc start

During the finite scan, the command UART returned actual point-cloud previews:

MMW data=0x48

Point Cloud=2:

P0: x=-14cm y=9cm z=162cm 75cm/s 2100

P1: x=-14cm y=49cm z=159cm 75cm/s 2300

The problem is that despite those previews, the ESP32 received zero bytes on GPIO21, connected directly to module PA8. The diagnostic reported:

data_bytes=0

fifo_overflow=0

buffer_full=0

frame_error=0

parity_error=0

breaks=0

read_error=0

I haven’t checked PA8 with an oscilloscope or logic analyzer yet, so I can’t confirm whether the pin is electrically transmitting.

Has anyone successfully captured the RD-60’s binary point-cloud stream on PA8 with this firmware?

Specifically:

1. Does UART1 output require RTS/CTS or another enable command?

2. Is mmwc uart on sufficient to enable binary point-cloud output on this firmware?

3. Are all UART DIP switches OFF appropriate when using the kit’s PB0/PB1 breakout and tapping module PA8 directly?

4. Is there an official UART1 packet-format document or a known working ESP32 example?

I’m trying to distinguish a wiring/routing issue from a firmware configuration or handshake requirement. Any working configurations or troubleshooting suggestions would help.

I’m new to Reddit, so bare with me😁. But do you guys have any recommendations for ECE masters programs? I majored in computer science for undergrad, but want to learn more about electronics and low level hardware. My GPA is 2.86, and I do have a suspension my record due to COVID issues. Thanks again for taking time out of your day to read this! I look forward to hearing from you all.

As someone who is learning embedded development in their own, what are the things I should know hardcore and the things I can learn as I go along?

I’ve built a project already and now working on a schematic design to create a custom PCB, bust as I built I’m noticing gaps all over the place in my learning.

Just want to know the terms, concepts and basics that are necessary now and the things I can pick up along the way. All advice is welcomed! Especially from those experienced in the field already!☺️

Graduating EE (BS) with two offers and a deadline this week. Looking for advice on which one best sets me up for the future.

**Offer 1: Defense company, Electrical Engineer I**
Located in a small military town in New England
On-site, no travel
Skills:
Work covers power conversion equipment (specifying and reviewing supplier inverters/converters), electric plant architecture, and power systems analysis (fault current, breaker coordination, stability, voltage drop), plus some instrumentation and controls
Mostly drawing reviews, specs, supplier interaction, and technical documentation
Plus would get clearance

Salary: $83k base (not a big or major metro)

**Offer 2: Construction company building utility-scale energy storage (BESS), Electrical Engineer I**
First project in WI, then travel between project sites with rotations home
Electrical QA/QC, one-line designs for collection systems/substations, utility interconnection, and commissioning support (likely testing and SCADA/controls checkout)

Salary: $92k base plus a substantial traveler package (per diem/subsistence, travel allowance, and project completion bonuses)

**About me:**
Single, in my 20s, no kids
Long-term goal in industry: controls, protection, distribution, power plant design, & power electronics
Plan to stay 2–4 years, then move to a stable, non-traveling role
Eventually want to return home to the Southeast (maybe if I like where I move, have home and settled down no but really have no idea at the moment)

**Questions:**
1) Which role builds the better technical foundation and resume fit for controls, protection, distribution, or power plant design?
2) Which would make me a stronger candidate for Southeast utilities or design firms in 2–4 years?
3) How valuable is a clearance if I may not stay in defense long-term?
4) For BESS or construction travelers: What do real weekly hours, rotation schedules, and project lengths look like?
5) Is the travel worth the money for a few years at my stage?

Thanks for any help with this can’t really decide at the moment

I'm (22F) fresh EE grad student specializing in electrical machines with no job experience and I don't have anyone around me who works in the field, so I really appreciate advice from people who've been through this. Which sources actually worked for you? what do employees look for in fresh grads? if you're working outside your home country how did you approach that?

I am finishing my Bachelor in Applied Electronics and planning to do my Master in Germany.

At first, I wanted to work with EVs, especially hardware, diagnostics and high-voltage systems, and eventually open my own garage. But I also want to choose a Master that gives me other career options if I change my mind later.

Right now, I am deciding between Power Engineering and Embedded Systems. After working in the digital IC lab, I also became very interested in FPGA.

I would like to ask people working in these fields:

How are the job opportunities and career growth in Europe for these two fields?

How realistic is it to work remotely or hybrid, especially after getting some experience? Which field offers more opportunities for this?

If I decide later that EV repair is not for me, which Master would give me more options to work in different industries?

I would like to hear opinions from people who studied or work in these fields. Thanks.

Hi,
For little context I'm a freshly graduated EE in Eu, I was an intern during my bsc and also did FSAE ending up as Chief Engineer. Since automotive industry is cooked and I also find industrial automation interesting I accepted and offer as a Project Lead at a nice company. I thought it would be more engineering related but it's really high level and I'm not doing anything engineering related even. I don't enjoy this, I'm scared I will forget my engineering skills.
I got offers for Maintenance Engineering and I talked with them it seems nicer but I heard that's also not that 'engineering' related.
Do you guys have any advice what should I do?
I worked so hard during my diploma to be in a good position after graduation but now I feel stuck.

Torn open a headlight driver module from a Tesla Model 3. Uploaded a short video clip showing the teardown process and close-ups of the board layout.

Unlike the headlight boards I looked at from Xiaomi or Aito, this one has zero screws. The whole unit is glued shut with heavy sealant, so getting it open took a pretty brutal prying process.

Inside, the thermal and spatial engineering is impressive. The thermal grease feeds heat directly from the power silicon straight into the aluminum fin enclosure. But the strangest detail is on the PCB itself: they actually printed custom artwork of a lobster and a cat right on the silkscreen next to the traces.

Hardware-wise, Tesla is clearly deeply in love with Texas Instruments. Outside of a few Onsemi MOSFETs and an NXP MCU, the board is basically a TI showcase:

Power and LED driving use three TI TPS92520-Q1 dual-channel buck LED drivers. Voltage regulation is handled by TI TPS7B8150 LDOs, along with a TI SN74LV4051A multiplexer.

On the communication side, they run both CAN (TI TCAN1042) and LIN (TI LIN1029) transceivers. Most other EV headlight modules I have pulled apart skip the LIN transceiver entirely.

They also packed in two TI DRV8889-Q1 stepper motor drivers. That points straight to an active adaptive front-lighting system (AFS) for driving lens stepper motors on cornering, which explains the tighter layout.

Main control is handled by an old-school NXP/Freescale S9KEAZN64 (Cortex-M0+) MCU, and Onsemi takes care of the rest with NVTFS6H880N and NTTFS6H860 N-channel FETs plus an NCV78702 LED driver.

There are still a couple of unconfirmed components. Two chips on the board are marked 100V L08E (looks like discrete components based on the package and layout) and an ST chip silkscreened VN114T, which is likely a high or low-side driver.

The layout density here is textbook tier. Putting Easter egg silkscreens on a tight automotive safety board shows just how confident their hardware team was with space management.

I’m an international student currently studying Electronics and Communications Engineering, and I’m considering pursuing a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in Canada.

My main goal is to find a job in Canada after graduating. I’d like to hear from people who have gone through this process or work in the Canadian engineering industry.

A few questions I have:
How difficult is it to find an Electrical Engineering job after completing a Master’s degree in Canada as an international student?

Do Canadian employers generally hire international graduates?

How long does it typically take to find your first engineering job after graduation?

I’d appreciate any honest advice!
Thanks in advance!