9 years of hardware circuit design, but now very confused

I have done 9 years of hardware circuit design, 5 years of smart phones, 4 years of medical equipment. I am very confused when I see this problem. My favorite work has developed into this dilemma.

I chose the hardware because I didn't want to sit in front of the screen day after day to knock the code to dawn. The elements in the hardware circuit design work should be richer. Various instruments, various components, labs, factories, and computers are drawn in front of the computer. Taiwan, the supplier came to pick up another customer, personally feels a lot more interesting than boring to write code. At that time, hardware was still the main selling point of the product, and the software and hardware were evenly matched.

But now, relying on a large domestic user base, China stands at the forefront of global Internet development. The industry is developing at a fast pace. Relevant talents must be hot. Compared with traditional manufacturing, in fact, software and hardware are inferior to the Internet industry. A grade. The problem is that within traditional manufacturing, software development is also better than hardware. Why?

Personal experience of this situation is different in different industries.

Because of the large amount and homogenization of consumer electronics, IC manufacturers will provide comprehensive, integrated chip solutions targeted at the early smartphones, using processors, baseband modems, RF units, audio units and many other functional modules. They are all separate, but now they are all single-chip solutions that integrate various communication standards and function modules. The design is just an application at this time. Don’t make mistakes. The EMC performance of the whole machine RF audio will be OK. Of course, definitely It's not that simple, but it's undeniable that there is little room for the hardware design. After the homogenization of hardware, it turns into a background. The difference between the products is the software. The software that is used to attack the city is also the software. The stage is naturally more valued in the company. The treatment and development are naturally better than the hardware, but with the Internet and The difference between traditional industries is relatively small.

Another thing that is embarrassing is that the hardware is profound and profound, and some technologies that reflect the level of hardware design are gradually becoming unnecessary in consumer electronics. At the beginning, we also researched the benchmark Nokia and wanted to do the best quality, but later found out Everyone who has played the phone for a year or two will throw it away. It does not need to be so elaborate on your design. The senior leaders are also tempted to increase costs and waste working hours. Mobile phones are like this, not to mention other consumer electronics. It can be seen that the demand for hardware technology in this industry market is not high, and there is a deep sigh here.

In the field of large-scale equipment such as industrial control and high-end medical equipment, the situation of hardware is much better, but the requirements for knowledge will be higher, not only the knowledge of digital circuits and embedded low-level software, analog circuits, high-power, high-reliability design. necessary. There are no ready-made chip solutions; there are no ready-made designs for reference. The huge system, long life cycle, and reliability-related design requirements (errors can be fatal) all determine that the hardware has more room to play. Deep hardware technology has also come into play. The German company I am in has been working for more than 20 years. At that time, I read the reliability system design document written by a German hardware system engineer in the project team. I thought it was not stupid, but I have read it three times and I haven’t fully understood it yet. The rigorous logic is very impressive. He said that he laughed and said that there are two people in the big department of Germany who can get it. This is the technical threshold for Germany to be unable to be used by the Chinese cottage.

In this complexity, the degree of attention and treatment of hardware engineers is comparable to that of software. I have also verified with the Germans that the treatment of software and hardware in Germany is at the same level.

I am a hard-working engineer who writes the answer really hard, and so much, I don’t know which street to go to, let’s summarize it:

1. The Internet is exploding, and even the pigs will fly on the vents. We can't catch up with the legs and feet. If we can't fly, we will be down-to-earth. The industry has ups and downs. Maybe you will be sleeping all day. It’s been rolled up, and in this era, too much is impossible. Before that day, at least self-cultivation, weight reduction, and easy to be rolled.

2. The development of gong (zi) is determined by market demand. Domestic enterprises are engaged in high-end manufacturing, and the demand for hardware technology is not high. Naturally, they are not willing to pay such a high salary.

If you haven't graduated yet, still hug the internet.

If you have already got the hardware thief boat and want to take the technical route, the individual feels that he has chosen the road and sticks to the end.

If you are on the hardware of the thief ship and do not want to do the technology, you can consider transferring the project manager, the hardware and the supply chain and other departments have a lot of contact, the skin is more professional, and there is no problem, the career prospects are also good.

I sincerely hope that the colleagues in the hardware industry will be better and better. . .

Subsequent updates:

I didn't expect to receive so much praise and attention. Thank you very much. I have received some private letters and asked me what kind of hardware employment direction will be better in the future. How to become a good engineer and even find me a draft, I It’s not a big bull in the industry, I don’t want to force it, but there are so many people who trust me. I think I also have the responsibility to jump out of my habit and give them a response.

I am an ordinary circuit design engineer. My expertise includes digital circuits, analog circuits and embedded low-level software. Of course, product knowledge and project management skills are a must for all engineers. We talked about the hardware, the fields involved are too wide, IC design, FPGA, RF, EMC, electrical engineering, etc. Basically, the products are different, the packages required for hardware technology are different, I have some Understand but not deep, so out of my rigorous attitude, my vision and knowledge are not enough, and I am not qualified to give you responsible recommendations. All I can do is share some useful experiences of me, I hope to have something for everyone. help:

When I went to Germany to do the project 3 years ago, I noticed a young man in the office. I was very embarrassed. I didn’t talk much to people around me. Later I had the opportunity to work together and found that his ability was very strong, and his young appearance was not very good. Proportionately, some curiosity asked him to graduate a few years. He answered more than a year. I was amazed at his level of graduation for more than a year. I think that my level was really weaker than him, but why am I 3? I saw him a few years ago. He used to sign an internship contract with the company. He worked in the company every week for a day, and such practical activities are very common among their classmates. Their university life is basically It is spent in busy study and practice.

This caused me to reflect on my own university life. What am I doing at the time? In order to get enough pressure on the college entrance examination, the university must not continue that state. The number of electromodes are all in school, but it is not clear what these circuits can do for them, and the exams are left behind. After a few years of work, I need to encounter problems, and then I will turn the university textbook out again. There are many colleagues around Tsinghua University, Jiaotong University, and Huake. But everyone is sighing. If I knew that it was used to do this, then I learned. If you can combine university education with reality, then we can get less detours. If we do more practice, we can increase the amount of useful accumulation. play games? Who will waste that time. Sleep late? I have the leisure time. what? Pick up a girl? In front of a clear life ideal, do you mention me with a girl? Oh, the girl still has to bubble.

There is no regret medicine for us to eat, but our medical records can be shown to you. I think that for most students, they are passively receiving schools, social arrangements to push your knowledge and activities, think about if the school does not organize the Challenger Cup and the like. The game, then we are not doing things? But can we be more active and take the initiative to understand the society and understand what your dream company's products look like? What are the engineers there doing? What skills are they improving? What forum are they all in? How is the knowledge in your textbook used in specific products?

Everyone's life is full of confusion. Their own direction and goals can only be found through their own practice. I hope this medical record can be used as a guide to give you some useful tips and help. Regarding the direction, it is not an ordinary problem that I can accept.