I know someone who programs EDA tools and this is what I have observed: You need to know how to make an IC out of lumps of metal, or at least know someone who

I know someone who programs EDA tools and this is what I have observed: You need to know how to make an IC out of lumps of metal, or at least know someone who does. If this were simple they wouldn't pay designers so well (sweeping generalisation based on a sample size of 1). Your real problem, though, is the extremely conservative nature of your potential clients -- understandable when you consider the huge sums at stake in manufacturing, but frustrating nonetheless. If you can create a tool that works exactly like an existing one did in the olden days, then they might be interested. If you use "modern programming techniques" for goodness sake keep stumm about it.