Is circuit a promising career?

Hi all I am a newbie who are on the door to circuit career, I am hesitating on the door. All my knowledge about circuit design come from two books. "CMOS circuit design,layout and simulation" and "analysis and design of analog integrated circuits". It seems to be I have basic idea about circuit, but it seems to the software is so important in circuit design and it is very unclear for me about future possible reseach goal in circuit design region. Can anyone clear a few questions for me? 1. Can anyone recommend some sources(online preferred) on a recent circuit design project (like research goal, tradeoff, design and layout), it will be greatly appreciated. 2. what is the recent research goal in circuit design? 3. where can find job information about circuit design and what is their requirement? 4. what is goal of circuit design? Does it reach its limitation too? How long will it last after the device reach its physical limitation? 5. If I decide to become a circuit design engineer, what abilities are important and how to improve these abilities.\\ 6. what is the best place to know current research goal in circuit design 7. Is their online source on cadence system software? I hope some great professional guys can help me clear and I am really appreciate your answer. Thanks a lot

The books are useful but buy some prototyping board and start building if you want real experience. Start with something simple like controlling a 555 timer.

Software is important in many applications but not everything needs it. Have a look at an audio amplifier. Software is easier than hardware to learn in my opinion.

Airbus A380? Nintendo Wii? Google for hobby electronic projects and you'll find hundreds.

You are probably thinking about what intel are trying to achieve with the Pentiums. The field is much wider than that. Much research is being done into low power methods but also in lowering manufacturing costs. Pick a university and see what their electronic department is working on - most are on-line.

There may be a Monster.com equivalent in your country but try something like that which advertises all types of jobs on-line. Google it.

There are physical limits and there is research to find other ways. Don't worry about electronics disappearing any time soon.

You need to understand electronics but that covers a lot of things. You might really want to think about taking a course because the self-taught route is a hard one.

The current goal is always to design a product that will do what the customer wants it to.

Cadence. If you are trying to get a pirate copy then you will need a good crack because lots of electronic design software needs a hardware key. This software costs thousands of dollars - it is hard to get for free. Linear Technology have a Switcher CAD tool on their web-site which is basically an on-line pSpice engine - try that.