Want an RF career

[ValhalQoholic]

I have a master's in ECE,  and I'd like to get into RF as a career. I recently got my first job as an elec engineer, it has nothing to do with RF and there will be little opportunity for circuit design in general. While I was looking for jobs, I didn't have any luck in applying for explicit RF positions or related positions in companies that do a lot of RF. I'd like to spend the next couple years getting RF into my resume in whatever way possible.  I already have a list of book recommendations.  I'm looking for advice on how to get RF into my resume. I was thinking about a professional course like this one.  They're expensive, but I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is IF it is worth while.  I'm skeptical because I've taken 4 semesters of analog design and I had an internship that was analog design heavy; however,  I didn't have any luck getting a job as an entry level analog hardware engineer (my current job has little to do with design).  Should I take a professional course?  What are some other options?  Or if there are any RF engineers reading this, I'd greatly appreciate if you shared how you got into the field.

[BillB]

You are competing against a group of generally much older and much more experienced crowd coming from the downsized telecom segment, so you have a tough job ahead of you.
 
Perhaps getting into Amateur Radio as a hobby, then finding opportunities for design work through clubs or special interest groups.  Frankly, contacts are just as important as coursework especially when considering an entry level job. 

RF engineer market < Analog engineer market < digital (CE) engineer market < firmware/software engineer market.

[rstofer]

RF engineer market < Analog engineer market < digital (CE) engineer market < firmware/software engineer market.

And, as a result of that expression, the opportunities in RF just won't be there.  The current jobs are filled, there is no expansion therefore no net new jobs so you need to wait for somebody to retire.

There might be technician level jobs at companies serving the military.  In San Diego, there are a lot of companies serving the US Navy.  OTOH, all the jobs are filled by retired Navy technicians and they are GOOD!  The Navy provides excellent training.  In any event, these are technician level jobs, not engineering level although there are large contractors providing that service - Ratheon comes to mind.

Just for giggles, I went to the Raytheon site and they have openings all over the world.  I didn't drill down...

https://jobs.raytheon.com/search-jobs

[BillB]

Regarding the defense contractor sector, if you are so inclined, are willing to relocate, and are capable of getting a security clearance you will have your pick of jobs. 

[CopperCone]

the rf jobs here have insane requirements you need either a PHD or 10-15 years experience unless you wanna do shit like drive a telecom car around for 15$ an hour (complete bullshit run by shmucks). Dude tried to get me to work for like 12 dollars an hour, I though that he was hitting a crack pipe when he was conjuring these figures

Everyone wants the whole enchilada, DSP and FPGA design training ontop of 5 years microwave circuit layout (where the fuck do you find these people anyway?) and a PHD, and simulator experience, but I assume you get plenty doing a PHD>

I assume the qualified people are eventually gonna die out and retire and they will have a industry wide personnel problem based on how they try to hire and refuse to train.

Defense contractor is different but I don't see any thing decent for analog engineering under top secret, you can get some 'analog' jobs like doing helicopter harnesses and testing with a secret, but it wont be design work for radio, maybe like servicing gunpods, electromechanical crap, etc. Military is nuts about their communications systems being secret and they classify all sorts of stupid bullshit for no reason at all that can probably be determined in 5 minutes with basic tools. But some board of generals thinks its important. If you talk to a random soldier, they won't even speak of declassified equipment (like what frequency some humvee antenna uses) and claim its secret. Look at something like SINCGARS, the waveform is secret, despite it being like 20years old and all over the place everywhere.

[rhb]

Subscribe to QEX from ARRL and design and build some stuff on par with the high end projects.  For example a 100 MHz direct sampling 16 bit SDR using an Analog Devices eval board and a ZedBoard.  That cost about $1000. 

Be patient, get good at RF and a job will find you and very likely pay for your PhD.  So buy good books on RF and read them.  Make sure you know DSP inside out.  Learn about compressive sensing.  You should spend at least 4 hours a week of your personal time reading.  The goal is not to become an expert, but to be familiar with everything so you can carry on  an intelligent conversation.