Dear Pado Pado,

I hope this finds you well. I recently came across your blog. Finally a blog talking about financial independence and important life lessons from a semiconductor engineer perspective :-). I immediately knew that I wanted to get your perspective on some questions that have been bothering me lately. I hope you will not mind sharing your thoughts on the same.


I have a PhD in the semiconductor field. My PhD work was on device integration and characterization. Post PhD, I have > 5 YOE predominantly as a device engineer focusing on device characterization, analysis and providing solutions to improve or reach desired specs. I work at a research institute and so understandably the pay and career growth are not that good. Add two-body syndrome to this mix and life is slowly getting frustrated. Now I want to move on, for fresh challenges and of course, also to improve the pay and reach financial independence while making sure my partner also finds a career of their choice. So, a lot has been going through my mind recently. Where to start? – there are multiple parameters to consider like

1) which country to move? I live in Europe, I can either move within Europe, or move to USA or may be south east asia. Of course this depends on multiple factors such as job opportunities for the partner, good health care for family, pay / cost of living / saving potential, work life balance and so on. It is also affected by parameter #2 below.

2) what type of job role to look at? I think this is the most confusing for me. Do I want to stay as a device engineer / researcher but in the industry rather than an institute or should I move towards fab based roles or consider tool manufacturers instead of IDMs or switch to a management path?
If I think rationally, I understand the above questions can only be answered from within. What do I like to do and where would my family thinks they will be happy. I also understand that any change from my current job will be a welcoming change for me.
I noticed that you have switched jobs a few times and moved across the globe. I think hearing your perspective can probably ease my mind into focusing on what is important and explore the next steps. I apologize for such a long rant. and making you read through my boring story. I would greatly appreciate your perspective on my situation.

Thanks for your time and consideration,

A confused fellow semicon engineer

Hello S,

First, congrats on getting that PhD and a position at a research institute. I fully appreciate the many years of effort it takes to achieve these milestones. So let’s get to it. I understand your conundrum to be comprised of two components and I’ll do my best to offer my humble opinion 

1) Which country should you move to.

To lay down my point of reference, I’ve worked only in the US and in East Asia but have worked closely with folks in Canada, the UK, India, and South East Asia (Malaysia). In terms of working culture alone, my experience with European colleagues have shown me that they have the healthiest relationships with career. The downside is that compensation is severely lacking versus the US. Regarding Asia, I hate to down on my Asian brothers and sisters, but it is well known that both working culture and compensation are lacking and I cannot recommend moving there for work unless there are strong motivations outside of one’s career. In terms of that sweet spot between work culture and compensation, the US is hands down the undisputed king. Whether the US is superior In terms of actual day-to-day societal culture, my answer is quite different but this is beyond the scope of this question and post. Getting back on the subject at hand, the US is well represented by both fabs as well as equipment makers and current geopolitics will only see deepening investment in these areas. The world is going through a de-globalization trend and this extends into the semiconductor world via the US Chips act and the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing. There is no better place for a highly educated semiconductor professional to develop his or her career than the US. Since you asked about it, healthcare is only an issue if you happen to be uninsured. If you are working a stable job in our industry you will have access to excellent healthcare for your entire family. Of course life is more than career though and the two-body dilemma certainly complicates things but my take on this is that one can try things out for a period of years and reevaluate after a set time period.      

2) What type of role to look at.

I’ve got an established philosophy for this question; answer the internal call for change. This doesn’t mean job hopping. Rather, it means answering that tug of curiosity when it bubbles to the forefront of the psyche and stays there (however many years that may take). Eventually the learning curve flattens. Eventually one may grow curious of what another role or another industry is like. Perhaps the job becomes too easy and one may simply tire of the current position. This is the time to seriously consider a change and it sounds like this is where you are right now. The decision to move to a new role will inevitably be weighed versus the comfort and stability of one’s current position and this can be incredibly hard to reconcile. But in the grand scale of things, life and career are extremely short and I firmly believe that satisfying one’s intellectual and professional curiosity to be a higher calling than maximizing one’s stability. Also, many people are afraid that leaving their current path will be ruinous to one’s career but in my experience, embracing change has had multiple positive effects that compounded over time. Among the positive aspects of seeking change are:

  • It keeps things interesting via new cycles of learning. 
  • It introduces new challenges and gives you a shot at achieving flow (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)). 
  • It allows one to discover what you prefer and don’t prefer in terms of career.
  • It provides a broader scope of our industry.
  • It exposes us to different types of working cultures.  

The kicker to all of this is that if it doesn’t work out one can always go back to their core competency.

You will notice I conveniently left out much mention of the two(or more)-body dilemma. This is no accident. I am wholly unqualified to answer questions in this realm and the only thing I can add is that I would, probably, most likely, hopefully, earnestly prioritize the other bodies in this equation. At the very least I’d expect to do significant sharing of the sacrifice it takes to pick up and move across the globe.   

Best of luck,

-Padopado