Have you ever felt lost in translation when conversing with a group of people they have known each other for some time, and you are a newcomer to the conversation? The subject may be brand new for you, and you may be confused about what is happening in the conversation.
As a sample, I share the following text from a comment from Yuri Panchul:
“After interviewing many recent EE and CS graduates for RTL and DV positions in three companies, I made an observation. There is an evident gap between what they learn in school and what the industry needs. They usually know some Verilog, can write an FSM, answer a question about STA, and explain the 5-stage MIPS / RISC-V pipeline or Tomasulo algorithm. However, many students struggle in essential areas, such as organizing data processing pipelines with dependencies and flow control. This know-how is beneficial but crucial to work in diverse areas: networking, where you have to process a stream of packets; GPU, where you process a stream of colored triangles; interconnects, where you process a stream of memory read and write requests; and so on. The urgency to address this gap is apparent, as these practical skills are the backbone of the industry’s operations.”
This paragraph has so many technical terms and abbreviations that it requires extensive knowledge of their meanings in each world. I decided to try translating it into more easy-to-understand words by asking AI for help understanding its details. The output is the following text as an expanded answer.
In the context you’ve provided, the initials refer to specific areas and roles in electrical engineering and computer science related to the design and verification of digital systems:
- EE: Electrical Engineering. This field focuses on studying and applying electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. EE professionals work on various technologies, from microchips to power station generators.
- CS: Computer Science. This discipline covers the theory and practice of algorithm design, software and hardware development, and various forms of computation. CS graduates often work in software development, system architecture, and data processing.
- RTL: Register Transfer Level. This design abstraction helps define the data flow and control logic in digital circuits at a high level. RTL is crucial in semiconductor and hardware design, serving as a step between high-level hardware description and the layout level.
- DV: Design Verification. This role in semiconductor engineering involves ensuring that a design meets all specifications and intended functionalities before it is finalized. It is a critical step to avoid costly errors in chip manufacturing.
Your statement highlights a common issue in the transition from academic education to industry requirements, noting that while recent graduates are typically well-prepared in theoretical and specific technical skills like writing Verilog, designing finite state machines (FSM), conducting static timing analysis (STA), and understanding processor architectures like MIPS and RISC-V, they often lack practical skills in system-level design and data flow management necessary for fields such as networking, GPU development, and managing interconnects. These gaps indicate areas where industry and academia must collaborate more closely. As educators and industry professionals, you play a crucial role in this process, ensuring that students are equipped with the practical skills they need to succeed in the industry. This collaboration is essential to prepare students for real-world engineering challenges.
This is the easy translation that can be done using artificial intelligence. The Verilog Meetup is a much deeper experience focused in building the environment to help people navigate the semiconductor industry, have an easy flow while creating new devices, and work in all the activities related to the electronic design value chain sharing knowledge and experience from everybody involved in the activities.
Are you ready to start your journey to reach the goal of being a designer of electronic-based applications?