Also called: Fab Process Engineer, Etch/Deposition Engineer
Owns one of the hundreds of steps (etching, depositing, cleaning, implanting) that turn a blank silicon wafer into computer chips.
You're in charge of the etch step that carves trenches a few atoms wide. In the morning you check overnight data and spot that one tool is etching a hair too deep. You suit up in a full 'bunny suit,' walk into the cleanroom, and run test wafers until the recipe is back on target.
Estimate based on fab engineering pay; BLS groups these as engineers, all other.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in chemical, electrical or materials engineering, or physics; many have a master's or PhD.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Physics.
Growing much faster than average. No separate BLS projection; the CHIPS Act is funding many new US fabs.
Low risk for 10 years. AI mines tool data and suggests recipes; running experiments and fixing process problems in the fab stay human, and US fabs are hiring.
Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.