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Last I heard it was Micron. Not too sure what X got into. He was definitely a genius though. [Edit] Just checked. He has left the industry a few years back, an

Last I heard it was Micron. Not too sure what X got into. He was definitely a genius though. [Edit] Just checked. He has left the industry a few years back, and is now a software engineering manager. Even the brightest student has given up. Someone on this post said it best, they need to have salaries matching the amount of skill required.

lizknope 3y ago
If X works in something low level like device physics then there are a limited number of companies doing cutting edge fab stuff like that. Intel, TSMC, Samsung. The small number of companies limits your salary potential. It's the same with being a maintenance technician for a piece of ASML 3nm semiconductor manufacturing equipment. You may be highly skilled but if there are only 3 companies in the world that will hire you then your salary potential is limited. I know about 30 people developing hardware at Apple (writing Verilog, custom analog serdes design) and you can see that their software and hardware salaries are similar. In some cases hardware is higher although I suspect that is because of the limited sample size of salary data at the ICT6 level. https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/software-engineer https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/software-eng... https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/hardware-engineer https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/hardware-eng... There is more to life than money but people who care about money need to look into the companies and salaries before they commit themselves to 4 to 10 years of college.
- dumpster_fire 3y ago
  Yeah you're right. It probably really comes down to a lack of potential employers. Hopefully this push by the US can change that.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Other branches of engineering: mechanical engineering, material science, chemical engineering, certainly civil engineering tend to pay at a lower level overall as well. And the purer sciences often require advanced degrees to get "real" jobs at all. When I worked for a computer systems company after school, my impression was that the various types of engineers at the company were on fairly similar pay scales. What I think you've seen the past couple of decades is that out-sized salaries at some mostly software-related West Coast companies have really driven up compensation for specific types of jobs. It seems more likely that will settle down to levels with comparable jobs over time than the other way around as a lot of people who are late to the game try to jump in.
  - ip26 3y ago
    That's an interesting angle I'd never considered. If the government simply creates a lot of potential employers via funding, the labor market becomes competitive, which improves working conditions, compensation, and ultimately attracts talent that would not have otherwise considered the industry. The most interesting part is that outcome is almost a certainty if the government focuses on creating that competitive labor market through their investments; it doesn't require moonshots, breakthroughs, or wild successes to work, yet it can produce them, and can become self-sustaining.
- aleph_minus_one 3y ago
  > If X works in something low level like device physics then there are a limited number of companies doing cutting edge fab stuff like that. Intel, TSMC, Samsung. The small number of companies limits your salary potential. You should be very careful about comparing raw salary numbers: a much better metric to compare is "'salary' minus 'cost of living at the job location'".
  - Firmwarrior 3y ago
    If you're pulling in 400k USD per year, it actually doesn't matter what the cost of living is. You tie up 40% of your income in a 1-2 million dollar house and still save $50-$100k a year while buying everything you want on a daily basis, then retire after 20 years and live like a king
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
markus_zhang 3y ago
I think maybe in Taiwan and China semiconductor engineers are earning a good salary, especially China when government is dumping insane amount of $$ into it. But there is a lot of hype though.
- pclmulqdq 3y ago
  Software salaries in both places are also a lot lower.
  - markus_zhang 3y ago
    Yeah but for companies as Ali and Tencent you can have lucrative salaries.
    - marianatom 3y ago
      [flagged]
      - geysersam 3y ago
        > while it's economy is collapsing. Huh? Funny how 1/5 of the world economy can collapse and it's not even noticable.
        marianatom 3y ago
        According to the office for national statistics in China, for jan/feb of 2023 http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202303/27/t20230327_38464161.shtml http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202303/27/t20230327_38464161..., car manufacturing profits is down 41%. non-metal products manufacturing profits is down 39%. chemicals manufacturing profits is down 56%. electronics manufacturing profits is down 71%!! In fact, all businesses have dropped 22% in profit. Not to mention the 1M+ SMB that failed in the last 2 years. 1 in 5 Young Chinese Is Jobless, and Millions More Are About to Graduate https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/business/china-youth-unemployment.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/business/china-youth-unem... China’s shipping containers pile up at overcrowded port as overseas orders dwindle https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3210870/chinas-shipping-containers-pile-overcrowded-port-overseas-orders-dwindle https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3210870/c... China to raise retirement age to deal with aging population https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-raise-retirement-age-deal-with-aging-population-media-2023-03-14/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-raise-retirement-a... Guizhou Province may become the first provincial government to go bankrupt in China. https://twitter.com/tankman2002/status/1646905359184044032?lang=en https://twitter.com/tankman2002/status/1646905359184044032?l...

lizknope 3y ago

If X works in something low level like device physics then there are a limited number of companies doing cutting edge fab stuff like that. Intel, TSMC, Samsung. The small number of companies limits your salary potential. It's the same with being a maintenance technician for a piece of ASML 3nm semiconductor manufacturing equipment. You may be highly skilled but if there are only 3 companies in the world that will hire you then your salary potential is limited. I know about 30 people developing hardware at Apple (writing Verilog, custom analog serdes design) and you can see that their software and hardware salaries are similar. In some cases hardware is higher although I suspect that is because of the limited sample size of salary data at the ICT6 level. https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/software-engineer https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/software-eng... https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/hardware-engineer https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/hardware-eng... There is more to life than money but people who care about money need to look into the companies and salaries before they commit themselves to 4 to 10 years of college.

dumpster_fire 3y ago
Yeah you're right. It probably really comes down to a lack of potential employers. Hopefully this push by the US can change that.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Other branches of engineering: mechanical engineering, material science, chemical engineering, certainly civil engineering tend to pay at a lower level overall as well. And the purer sciences often require advanced degrees to get "real" jobs at all. When I worked for a computer systems company after school, my impression was that the various types of engineers at the company were on fairly similar pay scales. What I think you've seen the past couple of decades is that out-sized salaries at some mostly software-related West Coast companies have really driven up compensation for specific types of jobs. It seems more likely that will settle down to levels with comparable jobs over time than the other way around as a lot of people who are late to the game try to jump in.
- ip26 3y ago
  That's an interesting angle I'd never considered. If the government simply creates a lot of potential employers via funding, the labor market becomes competitive, which improves working conditions, compensation, and ultimately attracts talent that would not have otherwise considered the industry. The most interesting part is that outcome is almost a certainty if the government focuses on creating that competitive labor market through their investments; it doesn't require moonshots, breakthroughs, or wild successes to work, yet it can produce them, and can become self-sustaining.
aleph_minus_one 3y ago
> If X works in something low level like device physics then there are a limited number of companies doing cutting edge fab stuff like that. Intel, TSMC, Samsung. The small number of companies limits your salary potential. You should be very careful about comparing raw salary numbers: a much better metric to compare is "'salary' minus 'cost of living at the job location'".
- Firmwarrior 3y ago
  If you're pulling in 400k USD per year, it actually doesn't matter what the cost of living is. You tie up 40% of your income in a 1-2 million dollar house and still save $50-$100k a year while buying everything you want on a daily basis, then retire after 20 years and live like a king
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

markus_zhang 3y ago

I think maybe in Taiwan and China semiconductor engineers are earning a good salary, especially China when government is dumping insane amount of $$ into it. But there is a lot of hype though.

pclmulqdq 3y ago
Software salaries in both places are also a lot lower.
- markus_zhang 3y ago
  Yeah but for companies as Ali and Tencent you can have lucrative salaries.
  - marianatom 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - geysersam 3y ago
      > while it's economy is collapsing. Huh? Funny how 1/5 of the world economy can collapse and it's not even noticable.
      - marianatom 3y ago
        According to the office for national statistics in China, for jan/feb of 2023 http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202303/27/t20230327_38464161.shtml http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202303/27/t20230327_38464161..., car manufacturing profits is down 41%. non-metal products manufacturing profits is down 39%. chemicals manufacturing profits is down 56%. electronics manufacturing profits is down 71%!! In fact, all businesses have dropped 22% in profit. Not to mention the 1M+ SMB that failed in the last 2 years. 1 in 5 Young Chinese Is Jobless, and Millions More Are About to Graduate https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/business/china-youth-unemployment.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/business/china-youth-unem... China’s shipping containers pile up at overcrowded port as overseas orders dwindle https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3210870/chinas-shipping-containers-pile-overcrowded-port-overseas-orders-dwindle https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3210870/c... China to raise retirement age to deal with aging population https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-raise-retirement-age-deal-with-aging-population-media-2023-03-14/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-raise-retirement-a... Guizhou Province may become the first provincial government to go bankrupt in China. https://twitter.com/tankman2002/status/1646905359184044032?lang=en https://twitter.com/tankman2002/status/1646905359184044032?l...