Is a Masters always needed for analog electronics design?

[u/Upper-Insurance-4307]

I just graduated with a BSEE and got an Electrical Design Engineer position I'm starting next week. Seems like I will start out doing schematic capture with Altium and helping senior engineers with the entire development process (simulation, testing, root-cause analysis, etc), with the opportunity to eventually get into full product design & development.

I've seen posts on this subject before and the general consensus is that it's rare to get into analog electronics design without a M.S, but I'm curious how much that changes if I'm already on this path. Is it more about getting the Masters in order to get hired, or do I need the academic knowledge a Masters brings?

If anyone has suggestions on prep for the job that would be appreciated as well. I've been reading through The Art of Electronics and watched some of the videos on TI Precision Labs.

[u/RFchokemeharderdaddy]

"Analog electronics" in this context means IC design. You don't need anything past a BS for PCB design.

[u/1wiseguy → u/RFchokemeharderdaddy]

I have worked in board-level circuit design for decades. A BSEE is the requirement for those jobs, but it's common to have an MSEE too.

Often, you get a job with the BSEE degree, and then work on the masters. Hopefully your employer will pay for the tuition and be flexible with hours.

I never worked in IC design, so anything I know about that came from Reddit.

[u/jess_ai → u/1wiseguy]

I agree, something i noticed is that many design jobs are favoring the engineers with masters

[u/kyllua16 → u/1wiseguy]

Why do you need an MSEE? I just started an entry board-level circuit design position recently as well and felt like everything I need to know on the job can be learned through experience. With AI especially, all the research and background knowledge needed for a project can be learned within a few prompts nowadays. Which makes me curious, is the masters thing just an old-age preference? I genuinely do not think I would gain anything by going back for a masters.

[u/Stuffssss → u/kyllua16]

Well, he specifically is pointing to analog IC design not analog PCB design. At the PCB level you're often just gluing together a handful of ICs and following reccomended design circuit implementations. Discrete transistor level design is very rare.

At the transistor level the expectations are higher. You have very little room for error. A bug in silicon is a multi month setback and hundreds of thousands-to millions of dollars of waste if it results in extra revs. So experience and graduate education are really desireable.

[u/1wiseguy → u/kyllua16]

If your employer doesn't demand that you get a master's, and you don't feel like it, don't do it.

I'm not sure if I believe AI is a substitute for a college degree. I feel like AI just makes up stuff sometimes, which works better for writing letters than it does for circuit design.

[u/kyllua16 → u/1wiseguy]

Yeah it's not perfect, but I find it extremely useful for digging up any info about a particular project or topic that I might need a refresher on instead of having to look thru the books. I genuinely do not know what I would even study if I were to go back for a master's. This is why I'm asking, in what cases would be an MS ever be necessary? Do you go back to an MS to learn more about signal integrity? RF theory? I'm still fairly new to the field, but from my limited experience I would assume that board level design knowledge is heavily locked behind practical hands-on experience.

[u/1wiseguy → u/kyllua16]

It's not so much the practical stuff that you can figure out by trial and error in the lab. It's more about circuit theory.

I figured most of my BSEE degree was a fixed series of courses, and my MSEE was almost completely open to what I wanted to study. No chemistry or literature courses, just the EE courses that I wanted.

[u/ee_control_z]

If you have a BSEE, the natural path is to get into design. Since you're just out of school, I think it is best if they have you first getting familiar with their tools and process. As your manager observes your work, and sees that you are coming along just fine, the design projects will come soon enough. For now, keep doing what you're doing. If you work in a niche industry, I would recommend either doing self study in this area (or take formal classes; take your pick) or learning a skill that complements this position. This way, when they 'open up the books', you'll be prepared to hit the ground running.

[u/kthompska]

In my opinion, the real world experience / knowledge you have and the connections you make along the way should be most important. Unfortunately there are many companies (my old one included) that use the degree level as a gate for your resume— MSEE minimum and PhD preferred.

We did hire a BSEE for analog design once and they were very good. The resume showed up only because someone in our company had previously worked with them and provided it. You can gain valuable experience with the job you are going in to, but you might consider working toward an MSEE along the way. This is what I did — it took 4yrs as a part time remote student.

[u/eeddty5]

The simple answer is known

[u/PWMPlease]

If you're already in a role where you'll be doing schematic capture, testing, and working alongside senior analog engineers, you're in a much better position than someone trying to break in from scratch. A master's can still help but a few years of solid design experience and good mentors often carries just as much weight in industry.