Experts talk about career development planning for single chip microcomputers

From an ordinary engineer to the technical vice president of Shengyang Semiconductor Co., Ltd., and taking "technical staff" as the ultimate career goal, what kind of life wisdom does the protagonist Wang Shenghe of this article reflect by insisting on a technical career path? With 14 years of experience in MCU planning, application and R&D, Shengyang has stood out in the MCU market. What kind of competitive methods does it contain? What is the secret of balance between working hard and exercising calmly, and still looking young and handsome at the age of 50? In this issue of elite interviews, we will get close to Wang Shenghe and listen to him talk about how to cultivate technology deeply and also find a career development path that can "have both fish and bear's paw".

What do you think of the development trend of local MCU manufacturers? What is the current situation of Taiwanese MCU manufacturers in mainland China?

The development process of single-chip microcomputer manufacturers in mainland China and Taiwan is very similar. They all have to go through a process from OEM for advanced countries to independent research and development, but the speed of development is different. Take Taiwan's IC manufacturers as an example. They used to be OEMs for the United States, Japan and other countries at the beginning, and gradually mastered some key technologies in the process, thus forming independent research and development capabilities. This process took a long time. The development of single-chip microcomputer manufacturers in mainland China also follows this model. However, with the increasing frequency of international technical exchanges, coupled with China's strong domestic demand market, rich talent resources and sufficient funds, the process of mainland manufacturers from OEM to independent research and development is faster and easier. But on the other hand, the increasingly fierce global competition has become the main difficulty faced by mainland manufacturers. Since the foundation of mainland Chinese manufacturers is relatively weak, it is not enough to rely on the strength of enterprises alone to compete with foreign manufacturers. Therefore, mainland China should learn from South Korea and increase its support for local IC manufacturers.

Due to some political factors and to protect the competitiveness of Taiwanese manufacturers, the Taiwanese authorities will restrict IC manufacturers from investing in the mainland, especially some high-tech industries cannot come in completely, and some traditional or low-tech industries are transferred to the mainland, while the IC manufacturers remaining in Taiwan are gradually developing towards high-end and other fields. However, the situation is also developing and changing, and more and more "high-tech" work is also transferred to the mainland. Take Shengyang as an example. In addition to IC design, market planning, technical planning, definition of IC specifications, IC verification, marketing and after-sales service and other businesses have been carried out in mainland China. Since large home appliance companies are concentrated in the southeast coast, Shengyang's business in the region has accounted for 2/3 of its total revenue.

What is the future development and application prospect of single-chip microcomputers? What competitive strategies should local single-chip microcomputer manufacturers adopt?

Since the counterfeiting of general-purpose ICs is quite serious, customized ICs will be the main direction of future single-chip microcomputer development. In addition, although the market for 16-bit and 32-bit single-chip microcomputers has increased, 8-bit will still be the mainstream in the next three to five years, but the growth rate will slow down. From the application perspective, Shengyang is optimistic about consumer electronics and home appliances, especially small and medium-sized home appliances, which belong to the more mature single-chip microcomputer application field; followed by high-end automotive products. At present, Shengyang has launched a series of products for the automotive peripheral field, mainly used for car anti-theft, vehicle electronics, infotainment, tire pressure monitoring, odometer panels, etc.

Single-chip microcomputers have good application prospects, but the competition among manufacturers is intensifying. Therefore, for local enterprises, in order to stand out, the quality must be good, and at the same time, they must pay attention to the environmental protection and reliability of the products, because the requirements for safety of products such as home appliances and automobiles are getting higher and higher; secondly, give full play to the cost-effectiveness advantages of local manufacturers in specific application fields. However, this cost-effectiveness must be based on passing performance and reliability; third, move towards high-end fields such as automotive products. Since automotive single-chip microcomputers have strict requirements on temperature range and noise resistance, and the power system requires a five to ten-year test period, performance is particularly important in this field; fourth, in view of the high flexibility, strong plasticity and close integration of single-chip microcomputers with terminal products, new products should be launched quickly, new application fields should be explored, and new market opportunities should be sought.

In addition, local manufacturers should unite to compete with foreign companies and improve their overall competitiveness. At present, Taiwan's MCU manufacturers have unique competitiveness: cost-effective + unique applications, but some mainland companies are still in the copy stage and should move towards independent research and development as soon as possible.

What do you think is the most important quality to become an excellent MCU development engineer?

There are many key stages from the development to the product end of the MCU. First, to develop new products, you need to understand the market demand and application technology before you can determine the IC specifications; after the IC specifications are determined, you can start IC design; after the IC design is completed, you need to verify it; after the verification is completed, you need to make a demo version for market promotion. These stages require MCU engineers to have excellent qualities.

First of all, they must understand technology and pay attention to the long-term accumulation of technical experience. For example, setting IC specifications is the key to determining the success or failure of ICs. Only when the specifications are well set can the ICs be made well. However, IC specifications cannot be set behind closed doors, but must be combined with the market and product side. Therefore, engineers must be familiar with the entire R&D and production process of the complete product, understand the production links and product expertise, and understand the relevant processes and IC designs within the IC. Therefore, it takes at least ten years of experience to fully master this technology, and it is only possible to complete it if you have been promoted to the position of engineering supervisor. Therefore, this kind of talent is very valuable in any company, and only about 2% of people can do it.

Secondly, you must understand the market and have a keen insight into the market in order to become a senior technical manager or a supervisor in the engineering field. Otherwise, you can only be an ordinary engineer forever.

Many MCU engineers complain that there are few promotion opportunities for technicians and consider changing careers or jobs. What do you think of this problem? What suggestions do you have for their career development and planning?

The mobility of MCU engineers is indeed very high. The higher the mobility of technical personnel, the harder it is to accumulate experience and establish technical roots, which is very detrimental to the long-term development of technical personnel and the company. There are two main reasons for this. First, the company does not provide a promotion path for technical talents, thus forming a situation where laymen lead experts, resulting in a large loss of talents; second, the positioning and value issues of employees themselves.

From the operating experience of Taiwanese companies over the years, many technology companies will plan two paths for their employees' career development: engineering and management. Both types of talents can be promoted and developed, and their future status and treatment will be similar. In fact, the status of technical managers will be higher, and their words will carry more weight, because they have accumulated too much experience, and the know-how is deeply hidden in their hearts. Therefore, if a company wants to develop, it must provide such a path for engineering personnel to follow, so that engineers can take root. If a company can keep some of the best technical people and accumulate experience, it will be very helpful for the company's transformation or cross-domain development of the next generation of products.

From an engineer's perspective, whether to work in technology or switch to marketing or sales depends on the individual. If you are suitable for technical work, like to do it, and have the ability to do it, then don't be confused or hesitant, just keep going down this path, accumulate knowledge seriously, and strive to change to an engineering management role, which will also have a good development prospect. If the engineer himself likes to work in marketing, he should not rush to change his career, but should switch after accumulating a certain level of technology so as to develop into the role of sales director. Because talents with technical backgrounds who are suitable for sales are also scarce talents in technology companies. Such talents will communicate deeply with customers at the technical level and are more likely to gain customers' trust.

From my personal experience, the accumulation of technology is like saving money. When you are older, you will have a great deal of technology wealth. If you treat your youth as capital and squander it at will, you will end up with nothing. The accumulation of technology is also like exercising your body. If you don't take care of yourself, don't exercise, and don't maintain yourself when you are young, you will be sick all over when you are old. Therefore, engineers should seriously accumulate technology when they are young. And the accumulation must first have a certain degree of stability. Don't change careers or jobs at will. This may involve a value issue. Some people choose to change jobs for a few hundred yuan more salary, and give up practice and learning in a formal company. This kind of job-hopping, on the surface, makes more money, but in fact it is spending your own capital. Therefore, in the long run, it is a loss rather than making money.

Can you talk about your future career development plans?

My ultimate goal is to get out of the current tedious affairs and become a technical "staff" (consultant) for the company. I will no longer hold a specific position or be responsible for a specific department, but will specialize in solving difficult problems that ordinary people cannot handle, such as communicating with the technical department of important customers, or temporarily taking charge of a project team based on a specific project. These are based on deep technical accumulation, a broad customer base and a certain degree of trust. I will not consider starting my own consulting company, because the success rate of technical people starting a business is not very high, and there are many restrictions such as the need for suitable partners.