Hiring in Nottingham UK - FPGA/HW professional - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: willd1971
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 09:16:29 am
content: Hi Chaps,Hope posting a job vacancy here doesn't break forum protocol.I have a vacancy for a junior to intermediate hardware developer in Nottingham UK.The key requirements are:Must have experience/sound knowledge of digital design including FPGA firmware developmentMust be able to read a circuit diagram to understand signal routing on a PCB and between PCBsAny of the following would be advantageous:Circuit design and modelling - audio signal and audio powerDetailed knowledge of Ethernet, PC platform, embedded, including protocols, architecture, hardware and software/firmware developmentPCB layoutMicrocontroller development all sizesSupport of product development and life cycleWindows platform end user software development .NET and C++This is a role that we can support to develop the right person. Joining a compact R&D team (currently 7 strong) designing next generation 'net connected' products for an established industry there will be opportunity to share your own strongest skills and to develop new skills over time. We design mixed technology systems including FPGAs, microcontrollers, power amplifiers (100s of watts and arrays multi kW), power supplies, high performance Ethernet, Windows software and databases.If you would like to be considered please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@bartec-vodec.comThe selection process is strictly by face to face interview in Nottingham, the interview will be technical.For more information please visitwww.bartec-vodec.comSalary range for this role is £25K to £35K depending on experience and knowledgeOnly applicants free to work longterm in the UK without restrictions will be consideredCandidates must have excellent written and oral English language skillsWe will try to respond in reasonable time to all genuine applications.The position can be considered open for receipt of new CVs until a subsequent post declares it closed.Thank youWilliam

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 10:50:42 am
content: I have to ask, but is an FPGA professional really only paid £35k? Is that a starting salary?Given that FPGA development is an advanced programming exercise (HDL is more programming than engineering), as well as requiring an engineering degree, I would have expected much more, but maybe my expectations are mislaid.

author: willd1971
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 11:09:12 am
content: Thanks for your comments. To clarify it is a junior to intermediate role, and will most likely suit a recent graduate or someone with a couple of years experience.William

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 11:10:35 am
content: Boy, you are asking for a sheep with seven legs, I would suggest that it might be better to hire three sheeps with four legs or two sheeps if you combine sheep 2 and 3 to one sheep with 5 legs:Sheep 1: HW engineer with specialty in digital design including FPGA firmware development, PCB layout, analogue knowledge on audio signal and audio power routing.Sheep 2:(embedded)SW engineer with knowledge of:Detailed knowledge of microcontroller sw developement, IP, protocols, architecture.Windows platform end user software development .NET and C++Sheep 3: PC SW engineer for Windows platform end user software development .NET, C# and C++, detailed knowledge/experience with IP and security over IP if you are making a product that has open access to the internet.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 12:23:25 pm
content: A recent graduate is unlikely to have the skills you require in those areas. Have you seen the state of university education for electronic engineering? Too much theory, insufficient practical work.

author: msr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 02:14:47 pm
content: Basically what you are asking for is:"A cheap engineer that is able to do FPGA design, microcontroller's programming, PCB design, high level programming in C++/.NET, understand complex protocols in detail and probably do something more at the same time".This is what I understand from your offer and I consider myself a junior-intermediate engineer. It gives the impression that you don't have a clear idea what you are looking for or that you are not interested in talent at all. Unfortunately these kind of offers is not uncommon. In the end I guess/hope you get what you pay for.

author: Spikee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 03:07:21 pm
content: An embedded Systems Engineering graduate has done all those things during college (bachelor).-FPGA design writing and testing-Communication protocols (ethernet (full stack) all kinds of encoding, usb, pci, I2C, SPI, UART ...)-Micro experience using avr , cortex M0 and cortex M3-Multi platform end application programming (QT, C, C++, C#)-PCB design using Altium Designeretc...But you need the best student out of the group because the average one needs a few years extra training to do actually anything useful with it.The best student (DO NOT LOOK AT GRADES, look at practical / hobby experience) should be up and running in a few weeks doing "basic" stuff.

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 03:14:02 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on October 01, 2014, 12:23:25 pmWhen was that ever different? Maybe 3+ decades ago, but that's only because the field was narrower ...

author: willd1971
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 03:30:16 pm
content: Gents,Perhaps one final clarification is appropriate for anyone interested in the role:I'm looking for someone who understands the concepts of digital design including FPGA firmware development.In addition to that they must be able to understand a circuit diagram so they can see the context in which the digital design is placed.Any other R&D skills the candidate has in the list I gave will be an advantage but not prerequisite.The role is suitable for an engineer at the start of his/her career or with a couple of years in industry.Appropriate training and mentoring will be given including shadowing a senior engineer during the initial stage.If this is you and you are interested then please get in touch at recruitment@bartec-vodec.comWilliam

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 03:32:48 pm
content: Quote from: msr on October 01, 2014, 02:14:47 pmGees give the guy a break. He said must be able to do digital design including FPGA development and (rather superfluously) be able to read a circuit diagram. Must read and write English and be able to work in the UK.It isn't that tall an order. The rest was only advantageous and helpfully gives candidates an idea of what other kind of work they might be able to get involved in.As for money I'm sure the OP has more idea of what EEs make in Nottingham than I do.

author: sunnyhighway
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 03:46:51 pm
content: Quote from: Rufus on October 01, 2014, 03:32:48 pmCompletely agree.Ticking any of the other boxes just makes you stand out of the crowd.

author: SevenLeggedSheep
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 12:52:33 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on October 01, 2014, 11:10:35 amI can do all those things. Trouble is he sacked me.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 01:24:09 pm
content: I don't even bother to send the CV for such opportunities. It's funny, when the headhunters are looking to fulfill the position URGENTLY and says 35k. It's a defacto standard in all the advertisements to say, that they're paying 35k for the hardware engineers and when you try to push it up, 38k is their top maximum. Forget it. Start thinking about 50k and plan your budget for around 70k for experienced FPGA dev.My opinion is a bit biased of course, since I am in automotive FPGA stuff, but still I didn't bother with 35k when I had only 2 years of experience.

author: SevenLeggedSheep
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:19:56 pm
content: Not sure why people think FPGA work is in any way difficult or particularly skilled. It's only hanging together a bunch of gates without the effort of designing a board or soldering. IMHO most FPGA work could, and should, be done with a decent microcontroller, and probably will be in the not-too-distant future.

author: Precipice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:31:30 pm
content: Quote from: SevenLeggedSheep on October 10, 2014, 07:19:56 pmBecause an inept (or learning) FPGA guy takesforeverto deliver, if the project's anything other than trivial.Quote from: SevenLeggedSheep on October 10, 2014, 07:19:56 pmUh huh. Sounds like what you've seen FPGAs doing, counts as trivial. An FPGA earning its keep can be doing things that no microcontroller can get within orders of magnitude of.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:41:08 pm
content: FPGAs have timing, logic constraints and cost constraints -- all requiring an experienced engineer to implement.Any idiot can flash an LED with an FPGA...

author: SevenLeggedSheep
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:41:43 pm
content: Quote from: Precipice on October 10, 2014, 07:31:30 pmI know. I just like to liven a thread up

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:43:33 pm
content: Quote from: SevenLeggedSheep on October 10, 2014, 07:19:56 pmYou might be right if it was not such a huge problem to run microcontrollers past 4GHz. If you for instance take an FPGA, it can respond within 4ns on an event.Lets say for arguments sake that a microcontroller takes a total of 100 cycles to jump to the ISR handle the task/interrupt and return to where it was, then that microcontroller has to run on 25 GHz to be able to keep up with the FPGA and that is only one single event. An FPGA can handle parallel tens of these events.What you now see, is a lot of microcontrollers that have special hardware peripherals such as SMEDs (state machine even driven) for such tasks, so actually you get hybrids.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:44:30 pm
content: Quote from: SevenLeggedSheep on October 10, 2014, 12:52:33 pmSeriously or just spicing up the thread?

author: Precipice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:45:09 pm
content: Sorry, it's been a long week(And, fortunately, no FPGAs were involved, or I'd be screaming by now!)

author: SevenLeggedSheep
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 10, 2014, 07:48:58 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on October 10, 2014, 07:44:30 pmSeriously spicing up the thread. It went a bit quiet.I'm a software engineer who dabbles in hardware

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 10:25:25 am
content: Quote from: SevenLeggedSheep on October 10, 2014, 07:48:58 pmPainful when someones salary is higher than yours?

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 01:40:35 pm
content: Might be true in your country, but what I see here is that the starting salaries at large companies are much higher than they used to be.The euro has doubled it.And they are now so high that a company can only slowly raise that salary (think about 1 to 1,5%) in the coming years or the person will be at the end of their scale after only a few years.Both are not very attractive.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 01:51:09 pm
content: The developers salaries in Netherlands, Germany or Sweden are offered higher, than in the UK. My plan was to go to the UK, however I didn't, because of this problem.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 02:04:31 pm
content: It does seem like engineering salaries are much lower in the UK so I am likely to emigrate as well.I noticed that senior elec engineers can get paid up to $120k in the US, which is over £70k, but the highest I saw here was £55k and that was for 15 years experience.Surely the cost of living can't be so different between the two countries. If anything the US is cheaper, lower income taxes, rent may be cheaper (obviously dependent on where I live) and most employers will include health insurance/dental which in effect covers any difference I'd otherwise not pay in the UK.It's not all about the money but it's a big motivator...

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 02:06:13 pm
content: Quote from: Scrts on October 11, 2014, 01:51:09 pmSalaries aren't necessarily the whole story, of course. For example, my daughter thought the rates for casual work in Australia were wonderfully high - until she got there and experienced the cost of living!But you knew that

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 02:14:52 pm
content: Quote from: Scrts on October 11, 2014, 01:51:09 pmDevelopers salaries in the NL aren't that high. I quit my job and started as a self employed consultant because of that.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 03:10:06 pm
content: Besides you pay 42% income tax upto 50% I heard in the UK that was around 25%

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 05:44:22 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on October 11, 2014, 03:10:06 pmFrom £40k with no student loan, I would be earning £30k per annum, which is about a 25% tax rate.From £50k with no student loan, I would be earning £36k per annum, which is about a 28% tax rate.From £60k with no student loan, I would be earning £42k per annum, which is about a 30% tax rate.Student loan is an additional 9%.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 05:47:20 pm
content: Actually in the NL there are quite a few tax deductions so you'd have to earn way above average to end up in the highest scale.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 07:11:47 pm
content: Well, you must always count in the expenses for the living...E.g. I didn't think of hospitals when emigrating until I had to wait 10 hours with the appendicitis pain and when I asked how much should I wait more, they said: at least 6 hours if lucky, because it's not bursting for you. I have private health insurance paid by the company, but who cares - you still go to the same hospital in case of emergency, but just get your paid money back at the end of the year. This still makes me to think of the moving to other country like Germany.

author: old gregg
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 07:18:34 pm
content: be relief friends, it isn't a UK problem I think. Some months ago (june maybe) a similar job offer appeared on another forum. Aturia (hardware/software synth manufacter) wanted to hire a young graduate with skill list as long as Godzilla's legs. (FPGA, java, C++/C, internet language, pcb routers ect... and basic understanding of chinese !!). The graduate should been under 30 years old .

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2014, 10:07:09 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on October 11, 2014, 02:04:31 pmSalaries for engineers can be higher in the USA, but it depends a lot on the company and the location. Did you see the other thread with the poor guy being made to work 6 days/70 hours a week and buy all his own equipment for ~$50k a year?The cost of living in the USA is lower at the retail level (goods, services, cars, housing are remarkably less expensive than the UK), but other costs like health insurance and education are much higher.

author: TopLoser
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 13, 2014, 10:20:09 pm
content: Quote from: mojo-chan on October 12, 2014, 01:35:59 pmComplete and utter nonsense, total bluff. Stop it please.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2014, 08:55:03 am
content: A link to any credible source might help your case.

author: gregariz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2014, 11:09:41 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on October 11, 2014, 02:04:31 pmSenior engineers in the US can earn well north of 120k but its generally for postgraduate qualified engineers. In most of the companies that I have been in its typically masters and above earning that money and doing the bulk of the design work. It's an employers market and has been for years. I suggest to give yourself the best chance you move to a fairly large city with a decent tech hub so that you can move about a bit. Silicon valley is ideal but its expensive to live there and the commute can be traggic, places like Austin & Portland maybe worth a look. It's unlikely you'll get the dream job first shot so you need avenues to move ie. don't move to areas in decline.. Cleveland. The other thing to note is that you will work for your money. Hours are longer and workloads are heavier than I have experience in the UK or Aus, but YMMV of course.

author: willd1971
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 07:57:59 am
content: The original job vacancy is now filled

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2014, 10:44:45 am
content: Quote from: willd1971 on November 18, 2014, 07:57:59 amDare I ask how many of the skills quoted in the OP had ticks next to them?It reminds me of looking for the perfect partner, you know, age 24 years and 3 months, must be good looking, humourous, caring, 5'10", svelt, long term relationship, no nasty habits, good listener, low maintenance, of own means, generous, and know when to be around and when to bugger off.ie, the person you're looking for does not actually exist, and by specifying all that extra stuff you're automatically putting off a large pool of individuals from applying, and instead end up with more than your fair share of chancers and bullshitters who turn out to be not quite as good as they seemed on the basis of their resume and a 45 minute interview.