u/Additional-Key5049

Hate to be the one to ask questions that have been brought up frequently but I do want to inquire about the future of RFIC and the job market.

Just from surveying reddit and other forums it seems like RFIC slowed down significantly after 5G and mmwave stuff kind of proved to be a bust and that hiring is especially slow and work is severely limited outside of defense (geographically and company wise). For anyone who has industry insight is this an accurate assessment of rfic right now?

Additionally Ive also heard that the interesting and cool design work that goes on in academia is nothing like industry and that industry has shifted from innovation to squeezing a few % of performance from already existing ips and improved processess. I understand this is most of engineering but it seems like for such a specialized and niche field its a bit lacking in cool work compared to all the stuff going on with Serdes and mixed signal in the AI space.

FYI trying to figure out grad school plans rn

Hate to be the one to ask questions that have been brought up frequently but I do want to inquire about the future of RFIC and the job market.

Just from surveying reddit and other forums it seems like RFIC slowed down significantly after 5G and mmwave stuff kind of proved to be a bust and that hiring is especially slow and work is severely limited outside of defense (geographically and company wise). For anyone who has industry insight is this an accurate assessment of rfic right now?

Additionally Ive also heard that the interesting and cool design work that goes on in academia is nothing like industry and that industry has shifted from innovation to squeezing a few % of performance from already existing ips and improved processess. I understand this is most of engineering but it seems like for such a specialized and niche field its a bit lacking in cool work compared to all the stuff going on with Serdes and mixed signal in the AI space.

FYI trying to figure out grad school plans rn

Currently finishing up undergrad and interested in doing AMS or possibly RFIC design. Currently planning to pursue a masters Im curious if this would be enough to break into AMS. ? I figure its unlikely with RFIC.

Additionally how does starting work at a midtier/defense and gaining experience for 4-5 years (if granted the opportunity) affect my chances of ever doing Chip Design at a major (apple, qualcomm, ADI, etc)?

Is this still a good field to go into it seems like research and oversll development outside of defense is on a decline?