The Designer's Guide Community Forum

The Designer's Guide Community Forum
https://designers-guide.org/forum/YaBB.pl
Design >> Analog Design >> career question
https://designers-guide.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1210403646

Message started by kidman on May 10^th, 2008, 12:14am

Title: career question
Post by kidman on May 10^th, 2008, 12:14am

I've been wondering what do employers look for in fresh graduates for analog design positions? THANKS

Title: Re: career question
Post by Stefan on May 10^th, 2008, 12:18am

A clean shirt and shoes without dirt ?

To be honest, that's such a general question that it can't be answered. Check out your local newspaper or the companies websites for job offers.
That'll do the job ...

Title: Re: career question
Post by loose-electron on May 14^th, 2008, 3:45pm

An interest and motivation for the topic. Beyond good grades and a a good education? Show something in your resume that indicates that you enjoy the topic - amateur radio, building your own computer systems, hobby electronics, IEEE activity -- anything that shows an interest beyond the "it's just a job" perspective.

Title: Re: career question
Post by Sharrock52 on May 23^rd, 2008, 4:11pm

I work for a chip firm in Sunnyvale, CA, and in my department we hire about 10 new grads a year as Applications Engineers. If you don't pass our screen for understanding of basic analog circuitry you don't get an interview. The questions get a bit tougher when you come for interview. The biggest issue we face is that new grads often don't have a good grounding in analog. We speculate that classes on digital topics are of more interest to the majority of students. So a student who has a real passion for analog will probably have gained a good understanding of the analog basics during his undergrad years, and he'll shine in our evaluations.

We also value work ethic, and an ability to talk to customers. So you get extra credit if you worked as a waiter to pay your way through college -- seriously! Of course, maturity is important to us as well. We want people who will keep their commitments and will show up on time when they have meetings or specific duties. And you have to dress for the interview -- no, I don't much care how you dress per se, but I do care that you have the maturity and foresight to know that dressing well is expected in interview situations.

Good luck!

Title: Re: career question
Post by Eugene on May 24^th, 2008, 11:29am

It is of course important to answer your interview questions correctly to demonstrate your knowledge and your ability to think on your feet. However, I also look for job candidates to ask questions when given a chance. As a new graduate, you may not have enough experience to ask hard technical questions. But then again, you may just hit on a very deep question, which would impress your interviewer. But more importantly, if you truly interested in a field, your curiousity should outweigh your fear of asking dumb questions.