u/Ok-Tough4672

I just want to know what actually is working for everyone who are job hunting (in USA)? So far, I’ve tried direct applications through company portals, reaching out to people on LinkedIn, cold emailing, contacting legit staffing agencies that help with contract and contract-to-hire positions, different job boards, and a few other things.
All these things and I still haven't had much luck. For those of you who are actually getting interviews, what’s working for you?

Hi everyone,

I've been searching for an entry-level role in ASIC Physical Design, Physical Implementation, Physical Synthesis, or STA, and I thought I'd reach out here in case anyone knows of teams that are hiring.

I completed my M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering and spent six months at Intel as an EDA Tools Hardware Engineering Intern, where I worked on STA regression workflows, timing analysis automation, QoR evaluation, and TCL/Python scripting. With my coursework and projects, I've also worked with Synopsys and Cadence tools on synthesis, STA, MCMM timing analysis, clock tree synthesis, RTL-to-GDSII flow, and low-power design.

I've been applying through company websites and networking on LinkedIn, and while I've been fortunate to get interviews with a few companies, I'm still looking for the right opportunity to start my career.

If your team is hiring junior engineers, or if you know of any groups looking for someone with a background in physical design or STA, I'd really appreciate any leads or referrals. I'm happy to share my resume over DM.

I'm primarily looking in the U.S., but I'm also open to relocating internationally if sponsorship is available.

Thanks so much for reading, and I appreciate any advice or connections you can share.

Hi everyone,

I've been searching for an entry-level role in ASIC Physical Design, Physical Implementation, Physical Synthesis, or STA, and I thought I'd reach out here in case anyone knows of teams that are hiring.

I completed my M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering and spent six months at Intel as an EDA Tools Hardware Engineering Intern, where I worked on STA regression workflows, timing analysis automation, QoR evaluation, and TCL/Python scripting. With my coursework and projects, I've also worked with Synopsys and Cadence tools on synthesis, STA, MCMM timing analysis, clock tree synthesis, RTL-to-GDSII flow, and low-power design.

I've been applying through company websites and networking on LinkedIn, and while I've been fortunate to get interviews with a few companies, I'm still looking for the right opportunity to start my career.

If your team is hiring junior engineers, or if you know of any groups looking for someone with a background in physical design or STA, I'd really appreciate any leads or referrals. I'm happy to share my resume over DM.

I'm primarily looking in the U.S., but I'm also open to relocating internationally if sponsorship is available.

Thanks so much for reading, and I appreciate any advice or connections you can share.

I had interview for entry level Physical Design role at Qualcomm(San Diego, CA). I felt the interview actually went well, we had a good technical discussion, I answered most of the questions, and nothing during the interview made me think it had gone poorly.

But after 2 hours or so after the interview I checked the application portal and the status had already changed to "No Longer Under Consideration".
Is "No Longer Under Consideration" always a final rejection, or has anyone seen it change later? Is this how quick the decision is??

I'm not trying to argue the decision, if I wasn't the right fit, I understand. What's frustrating is how quickly the status changed after the interview, especially for an entry-level role. It feels like there isn't much opportunity to demonstrate your potential.

I have an interview coming up for an Application Engineer position at Cadence. If anyone has interviewed for a similar role, could you share what the interview process was like? I'm mainly curious about what the initial screening interview covers and how many rounds there usually are after that.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience.

What are the best websites for learning VLSI basics and fundamentals? I'm looking for detailed explanations that build concepts from scratch.

I don't usually post things like this, but I think I've reached a point where I just need to hear from people who have been through something similar.

I graduated with my M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering in December 2025. I interned at Intel for 6 months and thought that by now I'd at least be getting a reasonable number of interviews. Instead, here I am 7 months later.

Every day feels exactly the same. I wake up, search for jobs, apply, reach out to recruiters, message engineers on LinkedIn, study interview questions, work on projects, and wait.

Then I do it again the next day. And the next day.

The hardest part isn't even the work. It's the silence.

Applications never get a response. Sometimes I get excited because a recruiter reaches out or I finally get an interview, and for a few days I feel hopeful again. Then the rejection comes(and I have heard the same thing: we are looking for someone with more experience or a direct auto rejection mail), and I'm back where I started.

Lately it feels like I'm surviving on tiny moments of hope. A recruiter accepting a connection request. An email notification. A message saying they want to schedule a call.

I've gotten to the point where getting one interview a month feels like a big event.

I'm also on OPT, so there's a timer running in the background that I can't ignore. Every month that passes feels heavier than the last one.

What makes this difficult is that I don't feel like I'm doing nothing. If I was sitting around all day, I'd know what the problem was. But I'm genuinely trying. Maybe not perfectly, maybe not 100%, but consistently.

Yet my life today looks almost identical to how it looked in January.

I think that's what's wearing me down.

Not the hard work. Not the rejection.

The feeling that despite all the effort, nothing seems to be changing.

For those of you who had a long job search after graduation:

• How long did it take?
• Did you ever reach a point where you felt completely stuck?
• What finally changed?
• Was there a moment when things suddenly started moving after months of nothing?

I think what I need most right now is hearing from people who were convinced it wasn't going to work out... and then somehow it did.

Thanks for reading. I know a lot of people are struggling right now, but today has been a particularly difficult day.

I have a Infineon Telephone Interview coming. Any one has any idea what to expect? Do they normally go technical or just introductory ?

Hi, I’m currently in the middle of my job search and wanted some advice on reaching out to startup employees. Do people usually respond to LinkedIn messages? I haven’t had much success so far, so I’m wondering if I’m approaching it the wrong way. What would you suggest?

I had a call with the hiring manager at Qualcomm about two weeks ago. When I followed up, I was told that they would reach out once a decision is made, so I don’t need to keep waiting. I’m trying to understand whether this is a standard part of their hiring process or if it typically indicates that the process is no longer moving forward??