See also my email to CSY on medical researcher salary
== Thanks Zhang Jiong for sharing your insight. For many years IC design was my dream job.
https://www.glassdoor.sg/Salaries/singapore-ic-design-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,9_IM1123_KO10,28.htm shows SGD 48k annual base salary as the average
- across Singapore,
- regardless of seniority or how much experience,
- “very high confidence” estimate
This figure is surprisingly low. I guess many data points in this sample are recent immigrants from India or China or South-East Asia. These individuals are often satisfied with lower salaries.
https://www.glassdoor.sg/Monthly-Pay/Broadcom-IC-Design-Engineer-US-Monthly-Pay-EJI_IE6926.0,8_KO9,27_IL.28,30_IN1.htm?experienceLevel=SEVEN_TO_NINE shows USD $117k annual base salary for
- Broadcom U.S. IC designers with 7-9 years experience
- high confidence estimate
I think this figure is on the lower half of your estimate of 100k – 150k, because your “sample” might be more successful, more competent engineers. Possible?
I completed a Master’s degree program in financial mathematics, with a lot of training on statistics. So I know a thing or two about sampling bias 🙂
A summary of the factors affecting IC designer salary:
- supply — pool of qualified, experienced IC designers is growing so the skill is not so rare.
- demand — many U.S. employers are driven to downsize due to China competition
- demand — the IC design industry has reached maturity and the downward curve (sunset industry?), because product differentiation can be achieved using industry-standard modules, without custom designs such as ASIC.
- demand — demand is fundamentally affected by company profit. Overall profit across IC design companies is possibly declining because Chinese competitors can undercut everyone else due to cheaper labor and export subsidies.
