What computer career?

What is the career path for a computer engineer in computer architecture field after graduation?

• I do like reading about subjects like Computer Architecture, Advanced Computer Architecture, Digital Systems and Operating Systems.

• Answer:

  Typically, it is hard for BS graduates to work in computer architecture, even if you are talking about positions in application engineering (which is mostly about sales, marketing, and technical support). If you have a MS and a good portfolio of project experience acquired through work experience (including internships and your start-up experience), open source projects, and academic and research projects, you can do the following: VLSI design and/or verification of processors at different levels of abstraction (e.g., at RTL design, physical design, cache design, or signal integrity analysis), post-silicon validation, digital VLSI testing, CAD engineering, and system-level modeling of the processing. To actually work on the microarchitecture (i.e., VLSI architecture of the processor) and/or definition of the instruction set architecture (ISA), you would probably need a Ph.D. or a MS with at least 5-10 years of experience. Also, there aren't many companies that do this. Having said that, design automation tools and methodologies for application-specific instruction-set processors can change the playing field for BS and MS graduates. By using such tools and methodologies, they can modify the architecture of the processors, including their ISAs, modify the compilers to suit the new architectures, and implement the new/modified processor architecture. However, such tools and methodologies are not available to the general public as of yet. On the parallel computing end, you can work with computer networking, maintenance of high-performance computers (HPCs), porting or developing software for HPC, or provide the front-end for Internet services that allow users to access the HPCs. Cloud computing opens up many opportunities for BS graduates in this area.