We have worked with many good electrical design engineers who have not had any previous IC design experience. Most of these designs have been very successful.
Common sense needs to be exercised when determining the difficulty of the project at hand.
Most designers are successful if they start with a fairly simple design and progress to more challenging designs as their expertise grows. Maxim can be fairly flexible in this respect. Depending on the opportunity and the magnitude of the design, we can train up to 6 designers in one class. Depending on the magnitude of the opportunity, Maxim can perform a turn-key design. We can also recommend qualified third party design companies to perform the design for you.