u/Ok-Love-772

I'm an EE graduate from a good engineering university in Asia and currently work as a communications engineer. During undergrad I spent ~2.5 years in a hardware research lab.

Recently I got approached by a government organization that's trying to build a small Fabless IC design team. They apparently have a decent amount of funding and want a project that can show real results fairly quickly. They've tried a few things before, but apparently nothing really worked out.

Here's the funny part: they asked me to come up with project ideas.

I'm interested in IC design, but I'm honestly still pretty junior in the field. I have some relevant research experience, but I've never taped out a chip and have never taken a design through a complete ASIC flow. So I'm honestly not sure how qualified I am to decide what a new team should build.

Some ideas I've been thinking about are an LDPC/DSP accelerator, RISC-V SoC, hardware security IP, ADC/DAC, or some kind of communication accelerator. But I am such a rookie to take on these tasks.

So I'd really like some advice from people who've actually done this:

If you were in my position, what would you do?

Would you try to come up with a relatively simple project and help them get started? Or would you tell them they need experienced IC designers first? I don't think they would accept the latter, because they're so desperate to break into the IC industry.

There's also another possibility I'm considering: asking them to support me in getting proper graduate-level IC design/research experience, and then coming back with that experience to help build the team.

And for those who've done a first tapeout: what would you consider a realistic first project for a small team with funding but very little IC design experience?

I'm looking for honest advice, including if you think this whole situation is unrealistic.

I am an engineer with a year of experience. Recently, I was interviewed by a government organization for an engineering position. The job post had not clarified the job role much and only mentioned the skills necessary. When I asked them what I would be doing or what kind of project I would be working on if I got that job, they told me that they wouldn't need me if they knew what projects they needed, and I had to come up with my own project. That sounded very weird. Should I spend time coming up with a project and make a proposal? Or should I just ghost them?

Like everyone else, I have good days and bad days. I usually don't take anything to heart. But sometimes it gets too much that I want to open up to someone or ask questions here on Reddit from people who have been in my shoes. Yet I never do. Because as soon as I try to reach out to somebody, voices in me tell that someone else has it worse. Yes, your problem might be bad, but there are people in way worse situations and it's not worth it to bother other people with such miniscule things. So I simply bury the worry/sadness in my chest. Does anyone else experience the same thing? What do you recommend in my situation?