What electronic knowledge should college students learn?

Many college students have written to me, asking what electronic knowledge they should learn in school. The employment situation is becoming more and more severe, not only in China, but also in the world. The global economic development speed is slowing down, which will last for at least a few years. The semiconductor industry is currently in a low ebb, and many companies are laying off employees and making losses. However, technology is still improving, and Moore's Law is still in effect. The integration, speed, and price of semiconductor products are all developing according to Moore's Law. There are many college students who just muddle through in college, but there are also some hard-working students who want to master more knowledge and
hope to find a good job after graduation, or want to create a career. I admire these students. I believe that hard work pays off, and your efforts will not be in vain. This world is a society where the fittest survive and the unfit are eliminated. Like Huawei, there are countless people coming in and out. Those who can adapt stay, and those who can't adapt leave.

Some netizens asked me, how did you spend your time in college? I am a person with a strong interest in electronics. When I was in high school, I started to pick up a soldering iron and messed up the electrical appliances in my home (I took them apart and didn’t know how to put them back together, but of course it’s not like that now). In college, I was very interested in electronics, and I bought some devices myself (I studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a very good market, and components are easy to buy, whether old or new. At the beginning, I didn’t have much money in my pocket, so I bought some old components), and then assembled the speakers myself. There were so many problems at the beginning that it took me a semester to get it done. Because of the many problems, I often went to the library to look up information and went to the bookstore to read (when I didn’t have money to buy a book, I would copy a passage back), and learned a lot about analog circuits. Later, I assembled an inverter (the school had to turn off the lights at night and there was no electricity). The inverter can provide electricity when the lights are turned off, and other dormitories Even if there is a power outage, my dormitory will not be powered (there is an inverter for power supply). When the lights are turned off, classmates will come to our dormitory to chat (other dormitories are dark), which is also fun. We also watch football games in the middle of the night. We also assembled CDs, VCDs, and video recorders. Our dormitory has become an entertainment center. We can do karaoke, watch TV, and watch videos. In the entire physics department, our dormitory has the most complete entertainment facilities. I don’t know how many VCDs I have watched. Many classmates are from Guangzhou and bring a lot of VCDs from home (some classmates’ fathers were caught smuggling and confiscated a lot of VCDs, so they also brought them to watch). Every afternoon at 6 o’clock, we start playing VCDs, and many people watch them. Through these assemblies, I learned a lot about analog circuits and digital circuits. Although I am not good at other courses, the circuit course is first-class.

I didn't learn much about microcontrollers and FPGAs in college because the knowledge in school was too backward. I learned it only when I went to work.
I think that interest is the best teacher for electronics. If you are not interested, it is best not to choose electronics as a major because it is sometimes tiring (it may take a long time to solve a small problem). Many times, it works in theory but not in practice.

Without further ado, let's talk about what you should master. There is a lot of knowledge in electronics, which is many times more than computer knowledge. To learn computers, you only need to master a few languages, but to engage in electronics, you need much more comprehensive knowledge, such as analog circuits, digital circuits, single-chip microcomputers, circuit plate making, etc.... Because there is so much electronic knowledge, hardware companies generally have more employees and more detailed division of labor and cooperation. Because a person's ability is limited, it is impossible to master all the knowledge. For example, some people specialize in designing shells, some specialize in designing circuit boards, some specialize in factory testing, some specialize in writing programs, some specialize in logic design, and some specialize in high-frequency wireless...

Someone asked me, do you want to change your career now? My answer is no, because no matter what you do, if you don't master it, you will still be useless. The electronics industry needs to specialize in one field, rather than learn one field and then forget it. I have a good foundation in single-chip microcomputers and CPLDs, and I will be able to do this kind of design with ease. If you change to other designs, such as designing shells, you will start all over again.
So in college, you must master some basic knowledge (this is necessary, after all, you don't know what job you will do after graduation). The basic knowledge mainly includes analog circuits and digital circuits and advanced mathematics knowledge (compulsory courses). Then focus on learning some other knowledge, such as single-chip microcomputers, FPGA, PCB design, DSP (these are all elective courses), don't learn everything, learn what you are interested in and have the conditions. Some people write in their resumes what they have learned, listing a lot of things. I think such people are bragging, or they are not proficient in what they have learned. In any field, if you want to be proficient, you may need to learn for 10 or 8 years, not just one or two years. If I were to recruit, I would instead value those who have not learned a lot of knowledge in their resumes, but have mastered it. These people generally have more practical experience. Practice is much more important than theory, especially for those who work in electronics. Especially for high frequency, the theory is good, but the practice is often not, but the practice is good, but it is difficult to explain in theory.

For single-chip microcomputers, you should mainly learn about the 51 single-chip microcomputer. Although there are some other single-chip microcomputers, such as AVR, PIC, MSP430, ST, MOTOROLA, etc., the 51 is still the most used by the most enterprises. There are only a few electronic manufacturers that do not use the 51. For job hunting, if you know the 51, you can go to many companies. But if the other party does not use other single-chip microcomputers at all, then they will not consider hiring you. Of course, it is possible to learn about other single-chip microcomputers, but the focus is still on the 51. The main development tools of the 51 are more mature, and there are quite a lot of suppliers, so there is no need to consider the supply problem. The 51 is an open kernel, produced by many manufacturers, while other kernels are not open and are produced exclusively. To learn about the 51, mainly Keil C51 is used as the main learning method, because Keil C51 is the best compiler in the world (in my opinion), there are many people who know Keil, and the technical support is complete. You should learn based on the Keil C51 V6.xx version, and do not use the DOS version or Keil C51 V5.xx, these versions are almost obsolete, only some emulator manufacturers treat them as treasures and embed low-version compilers, which is always backward. There is no book specifically describing Keil C51 V6.xx. In order to help everyone learn and keep pace with the times, I have written some tutorials for your reference. I will look at some other microcontroller materials when I have time.

PCB plate making, you can learn Protel99, there are many books introducing Protel99, and it is also easy to buy. It does not take a lot of time to learn circuit plate making, you can master it, and if you have the conditions, it is best to actually make a circuit board yourself.

CPLD and FPGA are programmable logic circuits. It is necessary to spend time to learn them. At present, the technology of some enterprises is still relatively backward, and they often use some outdated chips such as 8155, 8237, 138, etc. There is no way, because these are all what we learn in school. Using GAL and CPLD can completely replace these circuits. And the cost is cheap. I feel dizzy when I see the circuits sent to me by some netizens. There are a bunch of 74hc00, 74hc04, 4069, 373, 138, etc. The board is very large. Why not use a GAL or CPLD to solve it? Using these chips not only makes the circuit wiring complicated and prone to problems, but also affects the yield rate and is easy to be copied. To make more complex logic, CPLD and FPGA are the best. The design of CPLD is mainly from Xilinx and Altera. You can learn one of them. These development boards are generally available for purchase, and many people make and sell them. My website will mainly focus on Altera, because the software is free, my website has downloads, and the chips are easy to buy. When learning, I mainly focus on graphic design. After all, language design is still relatively abstract. If I have time, I can deepen my understanding and learn VHDL language.

DSP knowledge requires people to have a good math foundation. If you are good at math, you can take this course. The threshold for DSP design is relatively high, and the development tools are relatively expensive. There are relatively few colleges and universities that offer DSP courses. Most schools do not have the conditions to learn. Those who have the conditions can learn it, and those who don't have the conditions can just not learn it.

Other knowledge, such as high-frequency circuits and shell design (AutoCAD), are highly specialized knowledge. Students who study this major can learn it, but those who do not study this major do not need to learn it.
Summary:
1. Learn basic knowledge such as analog circuits and digital circuits, advanced mathematics, etc.
2. Required courses are single-chip microcomputers and PCB circuit board design
3. Elective courses are CPLD, DSP, high-frequency circuits, shell design, etc.
4. Those with strong abilities should learn more, and those with weak abilities should learn less.
5. Focus on practice, do more hands-on work, and combine theory with practice.
This is my opinion, and I hope you can criticize and correct me.