I was wondering what role on the HW side has the highest compensation and/or growth opportunity. RTL design, DV, physical design, performance architect, post silicon validation, emulation, firmware .. ? Also how do they compare against the generic SW roles of FAANG? I assume FAANG SW >RTL>PD>DV>emultion>firmware>post silicon validation Most TC gods here seem to be SW guys.
Growth is possible in any role if company or team is growing. Pay is pretty much similar for RTL or PD or DV. I think DSP/mixed signal firmware development is probably highly paid and job opportunities are less too
If you are chasing money in hardware, you will need to jump ships often. However, ramp up period is high as well.
I’ve notice RTL teams grow much slowly compared to PD or DV. I think DV is hot right now and will continue to be. A good DV engineer might be able to get on management track much quicker than the others
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