VSLI 设计工作需要一个优秀的MS EE（or MS ECE/EECS/CS）背景。你需要在本科或硕士期间学习很多技术技能，除此之外，一些额外的知识也能增加你的竞争力，比如学学C++，Python和SystemC-AMS。
除了优秀的专业知识，良好的沟通技巧对VLSI的职位也很重要。假如你是应用工程师或者销售市场工程师，想想你在中国或者巴西的顾客，如果你与他们有着交流问题，啊哈，那就祝你好运了。
非技术的职位也存在于IC设计公司和制造商。但是，对于这种非技术的职位，上升的空间又有多少呢？忘了那些在技术没那么先进时期的榜样吧，我讨论的是现在，或者更重要的未来。
也就是说，VLSI设计（或相关领域，比如EDA）可不是人人都能做的。如果人人都能很容易弄懂VLSI，在硅谷的半导体公司可就不会用12W以上的年薪，H-1B和绿卡的条件，去招EE的PhD去做IC设计了。如果你觉得自己学不懂VLSI，还是考虑下其他出路吧。
所以说，要想做好一名MS EE，你至少需要在VSLI设计领域修满3-8门课程。对analog/RF 和mixed-signal (AMS/RF) IC design 还有 EDA都是一样的，3-8门课程！如果可能的话，在半导体工业领域内，最好参与研发工作。同时，关注下相关领域的最近进展，比如计算机架构，嵌入式系统，信息物理系统还有半导体制造工艺。不幸的是，现今这方面大多数顶级的研究大学都在美国。
在VLSI领域，有着一个MS EE学位的优势非常明显。你去面试VLSI研发工作的问题会少很多；至少能完成4-8个VLSI设计不同方面的项目，比如，处理器设计，SRAM设计，VIterbi解码器，树状加法器（我是viterbi学院的怎么都没学过viterbi decoder？？大哥你那个学校的，好牛啊）；在你的VLSI项目中，你也能接触到工程界的EDA工具，综合的学习硬件设计和验证语言（HDL + HVL）；在学校各种校园活动中接触已经工作的研发工程师，比如技术讲座，招聘宣讲会，毕业生访校活动，IEEE Student Professional Awareness Conferences（你就吹吧你，我听都没听说过）。
当然，你也可以去读个没那么好的MS EE，比如University of South Florida（虽然没听说过这学校，但被黑得好惨）或者在新加坡啊欧洲啊的一些工程课程。但是你学到的VLSI/IC设计技能可能在实际研发工作中根本用不上。虽然在欧洲啊，台湾啊，其他一些地方也招VLSI工程师。但你可能问清楚这些人到底在干啥。不是问他们的项目是什么，而是问他们是给公司创造有价值的知识产权(IP)么？（非常好的建议，此处应做笔记）
跟风的人永远赢不了。胜者必须要是大胆勇敢，并敢于承担风险的。
有人说中国也需要很多工程师。但是，我要说的是，只要他们还在山寨别人，他们就绝不可能在创新上领导世界。（虽然说的是实话，但是还是很伤心。但是我不相信很多人从很多方面对中国人不能创新的解读。与其说这些废话，我们还是看看中国在跟随学习先进技术的过程中作出了多少创新。我下一个课题就是这个了）
所以说，如果你想知道美国之外哪所大学能给提供完善的VLSI设计，AMS/RF IC设计或者EDA的教学，查查DAC/ISSCC Student Design Contest（Take a note，查查看有什么有趣的东西）。哪所大学在这竞赛中胜出，说明它肯定不差啦。
下面是我推荐的一些大学：国立台湾大学，清华大学（台湾），韩国科学技术院，首尔国立大学，以色列的Technion，比利时的KU Leuven（与IMEC有着深入合作）以及西欧一些顶尖大学（德国的Technischen Universität，瑞士的EPFL and ETH Zurich，荷兰的TU/e and TU Delft）。西班牙的Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya，意大利的Politecnico di Torino和Politecnico di Milano，葡萄牙的Instituto Superior Técnico，丹麦的Danmarks Tekniske Universitet也有着不少有趣的项目，但研究水平不是很强。在澳大利亚，英国和法国也有一些有趣的VLSI项目，但是这些地方没有初级VLSI课程，仅仅有高级的研究生课程。（虽然此人言辞傲慢，但他弹指间讲天下英雄细细数来的气度，还真是让人不得不佩服。以我才疏学浅，还不足以辨别他说的正确与否，但是他这份胆识和自信，还真是该让我好好学习的。也许有那么一天，我也能站得足够高，对我的世界细细道来。）
总之，美国之外大学的VLSI设计课程同美国本土大学的课程相比，都很苍白无力。但明显的，也有例外，比如台湾国立大学。
去读读“IEEE Solid-State Circuits”期刊，2013年春，第五卷，第二号（"IEEE Solid-State Circuits" magazine, Spring 2013, Vol. 5, No. 2居然有些章节是免费的诶）。其中有一篇Marcel Pelgrom所著名为“Picking Strawberries”的文章，恰好描述了就是我所说的IC设计研发工程师的创新。
PS：再好好想想，就算是在商科领域，很多人也会去修一个MBA。作为管理者，很多人都先修了EEMS再修MBA。
（所以作者的意思就是，想搞VLSI这么有难度的职业，至少得修个MSEE，还不能是随便什么破大学，美国本土top大学最好了，就算不在美国，也得去他推荐过的那几所大学。我不知道他说的对不对，但是VLSI需要的专业深度，跟CS或者其他工程类工作相比，需要的投入的确更多。简单来说，CS至少还有很多开源项目供初学者参与，在编程的过程中，也许就能成为大牛。但是VLSI是一个让我感觉很封闭的领域，芯片设计架构在MIPS和SPARC之后，近来20年的最先进都设计都由大公司牢牢把握，有什么途径能让人自学成材么？我看很难。所以从知识扩散的角度，我还是同意作者的观点的。）
回答来源：
From Pasquale Ferrara, Ph.D.
Imagine this, if MS EE is a job requirement for being an applications engineer in the U.S. (and some other countries), and is predicted as early as 1998 (see Engineering an education for the future), what kind of career paths (in a fabless IC design company or integrated device manufacturer, IDM) do you see yourself being in? See Choosing a Graduate Program in VLSI Design & Related Areas: Things to Consider by Pasquale Ferrara on Electrical Engineering + Computer Science (EECS) for more information.
Technical roles require a good MS EE (or MS ECE/EECS/CS) with an emphasis in VLSI design. Having a MS EE (or equivalent) from a prestigious university won't cut it anymore. You gotta have the technical skills, which comes from hard work and studying hard during your BS and MS degree programs. And, you gotta learn extra stuff outside the classroom to stand out from the competition; e.g., learn to program in C++, Python, and SystemC-AMS.
Semi-technical roles require a MS EE (or equivalent) with decent skills in VLSI design, and good interpersonal communication skills and intercultural competence. If your clients are in China or Brazil, and you have difficulties interacting with them as an applications engineer or sales/marketing engineering, woe to you! Good luck in getting enough sales, or in avoiding complains about your poor communication skills, lack of respect for local cultural norms, or worse appearing racist and/or sexist.
Non-technical roles do exist in fabless IC design companies and IDMs. But, how many non-technical professionals have you seen move up the corporate ladder or jungle gym in recent years, from junior positions to mid-level positions and from mid-level positions to senior positions? Forget about those who made it when the technology wasn't that advance. I care about now, or more importantly the future.
That said, VLSI design (and related fields, such as Electronic Design Automation, EDA) is not for everybody. If it is, a lot more people would be doing it, and semiconductor companies would have a hard time justifying >$120,000/year jobs in IC design for EE Ph.D.s in the Silicon Valley, and sponsor the H-1B visas and green cards of immigrant engineers. So, if you can't do this, think about other career options.
Now, a good MS EE would help, especially if you can take 3-8 classes in a VLSI design. Ditto for analog/RF and mixed-signal (AMS/RF) IC design. Or EDA. Ideally, do a combination of these to explore different R&D career paths in the semiconductor industry. Also, pay attention to adjacent research areas, such as computer architecture, embedded systems and cyber-physical systems, and MEMS and semiconductor manufacturing. Unfortunately, most of the good research universities that offer such programs are in the U.S..
The outcomes for the good MS EE programs in VLSI are obvious. You have significantly less problems in technical interviews for R&D engineering positions in VLSI design... You have completed a bunch of VLSI design projects (say 4-8 at least) for various subtopics in VLSI design (e.g., processor design, SRAM design, a Viterbi decoder, a tree adder, ...)... You get to use industry EDA tools for your VLSI design projects, learn contemporary hardware design and verification languages (HDL + HVL), and meet R&D engineers from industry who may be alumni of your university in various on-campus events (recruitment and technical talks, career fair, and alumni-student outreach events, such as IEEE Student Professional Awareness Conferences)... People who say otherwise tend to be technically challenged/incompetent, and/or are jealous of the opportunities/rewards that you are thinking about chasing in a MS EE program (or equivalent).
You can do a not-so-good MS EE, say from University of South Florida, or some random engineering program in Singapore or Europe. However, you may not pick up adequate VLSI/IC design skills that you need for those lucrative R&D jobs. Yes, they hire VLSI designers in Europe, Taiwan, and elsewhere. But, ask them specifically what they do. Not in terms of their projects, but in terms of whether they are doing design tasks that adds value to the company/organization by creating highly valuable intellectual property (IP).
Copycats never win. Winners have to be bold and courageous, and take risk.
People can say what they want about engineers in China. However, as long as they copy others, they can catch up with others but they cannot lead the world in terms of innovation.
On this note, there are MS/Ph.D. programs in electrical and computer engineering outside the U.S. that offer you a decent background in VLSI design and AMS/RF IC design, or EDA. E.g., look at the DAC/ISSCC Student Design Contest, and figure out which universities outside the U.S. are doing well in the contest. Ditto for various programming/research contests in EDA. See 45th DAC/ISSCC Student Design Contest.
Some universities that stand out include: National Taiwan University and National Tsing-Hua University in Taiwan, KAIST and Seoul National University in Korea, Technion in Israel, KU Leuven (their collaboration with imec should ring a bell with you) in Belgium, and some of the top technical universities in western Europe (the top Technischen Universität in Germany, EPFL and ETH Zurich in Switzerland, KTH in Sweden, TU/e and TU Delft in the Netherlands). While there are interesting research projects at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain, Politecnico di Torino and Politecnico di Milano in Italy, Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal, and Danmarks Tekniske Universitet in Denmark, their research is not as strong. There also exists a bunch of research labs in various universities in Austria, U.K., and France that work on interesting projects in VLSI design, but they do not have adequate classes in VLSI design, let alone advanced graduate classes in VLSI design.
In general, for non-U.S. research universities, coursework in VLSI design pales in comparison to U.S. research universities that have competitive programs in VLSI design. This is obvious. There are exceptions, such as National Taiwan University. However, you should remember that they are exceptions.
Read the recent copy of "IEEE Solid-State Circuits" magazine, Spring 2013, Vol. 5, No. 2. An article about "Picking Strawberries" by Marcel Pelgrom captures what I wrote about in terms of innovation for R&D engineers in IC design.
P/S: Just think about it, even in the business side, you would probably want to pick up a MBA, too! On the management track, a lot of people would pick up a MS EE (or equivalent), and subsequently a MBA.
