China-Singapore Jingwei Client, January 4th (Chang Tao) "With zero foundation, four months of online classes, you can become a professional chip talent, with an annual salary of 250,000 yuan." "Small class teaching, theory + practical training, Sign an employment agreement, you can’t get a full refund for employment.” This is the enrollment slogan issued by two chip training institutions.
"The number of students enrolled in the first 11 months of 2020 is more than five times that of the entire year of 2019." More training institution staff revealed.
As the chip industry continues to heat up, related skills and talent training have also become popular.
So is the admission slogan "Four months of online classes to become professional chip talents" reliable?
Can the "four-month online course exchange for several hundred thousand annual salary" be realized?
Who created the "carnival" of chip training?
"Absolutely zero foundation is sufficient"
"In 2019, we enrolled less than 200 students, and we recruited about 1,000 in the first 11 months of last year." Wang Min (pseudonym) is the head of admissions of an IC chip (integrated circuit) training institution in Xi'an. She did not expect to report the chip. There will be so many people trained.
"0 basics", "difficulty in employment", and "want to change careers" are the high-frequency words in the admissions slogan of the training institution where Wang Min works. The institution said that the courses are taught by "industry leaders" with 15 years of experience in chip design. The purpose is Cultivate practical IC design talents and get high-paying employment.
Wang Min introduced to Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the IC chip design training courses are mainly divided into four directions. The two front-end courses are digital IC design courses and digital IC verification courses, and the two back-end courses are digital back-end design courses and analog layout design. course.
Wang Min further stated that the current IC verification direction is the most popular, and "the talent gap is relatively large."
"For the front-end, the ratio of verification to design talents is 3:1, that is, a designer needs to have three verifiers. The verification direction does not have that high requirement on ability, and the salary is not bad in all aspects."
Regarding "I don't have any chip industry foundation, whether it meets the registration requirements", Wang Min explained that "There is no problem, our course is mainly for zero-based personnel."
According to Wang Min, the course of verification is six months, the first two months are theoretical study, and the last four months are practical training.
"In the training phase, we will arrange a project to do. These projects are actually done by the company before. It can be understood as training, just like working in a chip company."
"The theory department has recorded videos, and the training phase will arrange weekly meetings and monthly meetings, which can be completed online." Wang Min revealed that they are teaching in small classes with about 10 people in a class, and the tuition for six months is 14,800 Yuan, you can start learning immediately after signing up.
So can six months of study be up to the job?
Wang Min said, “There is no problem at all. Many students with zero foundation can digest the course and are competent for the job.”
Regarding the question of how to prove that the students have the relevant skills in chip design and verification after the course is over, Wang Min explained that if the students successfully pass the training phase of the project, the organization will "tape out" the students. Prove that the trainees have indeed mastered this skill.
"Tank out" refers to manufacturing chips through a series of process steps like an assembly line.
In addition, Wang Min added that if the six-month course is too long, they still have a four-month course to choose from.
"The analog layout design course can be completed in only four months, and the requirements for the students are lower, and the absolute zero foundation is sufficient."
"No employment, full refund"
Similarly, Teacher Xie, who is responsible for enrollment in a chip training class in Tianjin, also told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the chip industry was hot last year, and the number of students who came to consult and sign up soared.
"The last class of 2020 plans to recruit 30 people, and now there are more than 200 people who have signed up. It is estimated that some people will join the class after the start of the class." Teacher Xie revealed, "There is a huge gap in chip talents. The talent gap of less than 30,000 people and the talent gap of one to two million is largely replenished by students from training institutions."
The "China Integrated Circuit Industry Talent White Paper (2019-2020 Edition)" compiled by the China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute, China Semiconductor Industry Association, AMB Education Group and other units pointed out that China's integrated circuit talents are still insufficient in total supply , By 2022, there will still be a gap of nearly 250,000 chip professionals.
Screenshot of the admissions advertisement of the chip training institution
The curriculum settings and training model of the training institution where Mr. Xie works are similar to those where Wang Min works. However, Mr. Xie said, “We guarantee employment, not employment, and full refund. Their institutions have cooperation across the country and want to go. It can be arranged in any city."
In the recruitment language of training institutions, "high salary" is also a high-frequency vocabulary.
In Wang Min's view, the current rapid development of the chip industry, the prospects are very promising.
"The starting salary of our graduates is 250,000 yuan. Generally, they can get 350,000 yuan in 1-3 years. It is not a problem to get 600,000 yuan in 6-8 years."
Is the salary of the chip industry really as high as the training organization's propaganda?
In May 2019, BOSS directly hired and released the "2019 Chip Talent Data Insight", which showed that the average recruitment salary for chip talents in 2019 is 10,420 yuan, and the average recruitment salary for chip talents with ten years of work experience is 19,550 yuan, which is only for the same working years. Half of the salary of software talents.
"Back-end positions (digital back-end design, analog layout design) have just graduated with a basic monthly salary of 12,000-15,000 yuan, and the front-end (digital IC design, digital IC verification) has a slightly higher salary, but it is definitely not a training class promotion. The annual salary of fresh graduates is like that of 250,000. However, each person’s salary may vary according to the city and company, but the overall salary is at this level. The annual salary of 500,000 or 600,000 is said by the outside world, generally at least 10 years of work experience. "An employee of Zhonghuan Semiconductor who did not want to be named revealed to Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the chip industry's salary is far less than that of the outside world.
The shortage of talents will not be effectively solved in the short term
The aforementioned employee of Zhonghuan Semiconductor, who did not want to be named, also said that the chip industry has high requirements for academic background and professional foundation. “It is difficult to imagine that you can master the corresponding skills through online courses for four months. I think I can master a book in four months. Microelectronics professional textbooks are very difficult. As for the students, the training institution will make tape-out even more nonsense. The cost of chip tape-out is extremely high. At present, tape-out is extremely difficult for many professional companies."
In fact, at present, chip companies have higher requirements for their employees' academic qualifications and experience.
Cai Quangen, chairman of Shanghai Tianshu Zhixin Semiconductor Co., Ltd., introduced to Sino-Singapore Jingwei that most of their teams are full-time undergraduates from 985, 211 or foreign key universities. They have many years of technology research and development experience. "The existing industry experience is more than 20 years. Of world-class technical experts, as well as high-execution technical elites with 5-15 years of industry experience."
Cai Quangen believes that chip research and development is a long-term, large investment, and in-depth research project. It requires a team that brings together software and hardware coordination, excellent technical leaders, and the precipitation of years of practical experience. It also requires finance, strategy, market, and With the full cooperation of sales and other departments, the company's products can be continuously improved and iterated.
"We do not deny that some different types of training courses in the market will also systematically and targeted research on certain topics. But generally speaking, a chip is from the beginning of the discussion to the actual design, development, and tape-out. All need to mobilize the technical resources of the entire team to work together to provide the best products for the market. For such a high-tech industry, it may not be a wise option to adopt quick success and quick benefits in terms of talent cultivation or capital investment." Cai Quangen Say.
In Cai Quangen's view, the popularity of the chip training industry also shows the shortage of chip talents from the side.
The development of the chip field has a huge demand for talents.
From chip design, R&D, manufacturing to chip sales and applications, different talents are required to participate in order to promote the orderly operation of the entire industry chain and achieve steady development and gradual technological breakthroughs in the chip industry.
In the short term, the shortage of talents in the chip industry will still not be effectively resolved.
Cai Quangen emphasized that it is imperative to accelerate the introduction and training of talents in China's semiconductor high-end materials industry. From universities to the front line, the training of talents will be the joint responsibility of academia and enterprises. School-enterprise cooperation and integration of industry and education will remain a long-term Talent training model.
(Zhongxin Jingwei App)
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