[sonofron]

"I used to work in Cadence R&D. The problem isn't the engineers, the problem is the management. Cadence is a mergers and aquisitions company that just happens to focus on the EDA market. It is also run by some of the biggest, least caring about the EE profession jerks in the industry."

I know an indian guy who just finish his MSEE and went to work for cadence(january?). makes me wonder. Honestly, I know some EE's who run their own business, and that set up sounds more attractive to me. But, i need to feet wet working for a someone else before venturing on my own.

"I've been out of work for almost a year now, and I have 10 years of experience doing both IC design and creating EDA tools. It's tough and ugly out there, I tell you...."

From what i gather, all fields are down, except nursing (i read that on FR somewhere). I realize no 2 or 4 year degree profession is safe from eventual layoffs, etc. If i could stand to go to school for another 4 to 8 years i would go into medicine or law. They are telling college kids these days that grads can expect to change jobs at least three times in their life. Good luck.

[tucents]

I would guess that the health field is doing pretty good hiring based on the the number of number of columns devoted to it in the employment in the Sunday newspaper. It seems reasonable, also, since healthcare is paid for largely through insurance (private and government). It may be one of the last strong employment areas. Even if private insurance plans becomes less generous, there is soon going to be a huge swell in the aging population as baby-boomers enter retirement and get on Medicare. Geriatric medicine is going to be big!