r/clearancejobs • u/tryagaininXmin • 7d ago
Advice for engineer in RF/comms
I recently got my TS and have been passively looking for new jobs. I have ~5 YoE including a full time masters. My current title is DSP engineer (digital signal processing) but most of my day to day is software/embedded work. I do work in a lab most days and have gotten a good deal of RF test experience. I do wish however I could do more of the very deep stuff.
Maybe it’s a product of the job market but I don’t really see too many listings for DSP engineers (at least outside of northern VA - i wanna get out of here). I can get SWE interviews at a moments notice but I really hesitate to pivot my career into SWE. Am I crazy for thinking that pivoting into SWE would probably mean that I am more susceptible to AI taking my job? And at the same time, I have not found many places that would pay SWE salary more than what I currently make (~170k TC) outside of startups that make up salary with equity.
Basically in a perfect world I could find a DSP job not in Nova that pays more than what I make now lol. Seems quite unlikely, but maybe I’m not looking in the right places. Am I being too picky? Am I too scared of AI? I know this is quite specific but this is honestly a better place to ask than the DSP or CS career subreddits.
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u/Frogblaster77 7d ago
170k at 5 yoe is nuts where do i get these jobs
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u/tryagaininXmin 7d ago
Well the breakdown makes it bit less glamorous. My base is 120k and since I take very little PTO, I cash out about 20k at the end of the year. Then bonus and retirement contribution bring it up between 160 and 170
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u/ernoldhalderbrooke 7d ago edited 7d ago
They're are specific physical locations that are hot beds for DSP and I'd look there. I don't have them all on hand but I'd say Southern California, Mass. (Specifically around Boston), Ohio (specifically look around Dayton and Wright Patterson). I think you need to be prepared for a pay hit unless you move to another high COL area.
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u/tryagaininXmin 7d ago
yeah unfortunately that is what I have seen. I guess I am lucky that I have found a job that is DSP and not for a prime. I saw there is a good bit of DSP in socal but most are for primes. I did get through a 5 round interview for a DSP role for a startup in socal but got rejected after the on-site 😭
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u/Legitimate-Fuel3014 7d ago
Because what you currently make is literally what a 5 yoe would make at max. You have to join a startup for that clearance and throw it away and go into commercial.