I believe there are about 3 career paths in RF:
RF designer-making
Rf circuits and components (software and/or hardware)
:
test engineer-
fielding testing components, products or software
and :
planning/optimisation-designing
and deploying wireless networks and managing(optimising)
them.
I believe the first of these require no
training other than the university education as
such there is rarely any organisation I know of
that is into it. Most of the time you get a job
and get trained on the job but you must have very
strong theoretical understanding of rf circuits,
electronic designing (including PCB design) and
some exposure to the use of software for such designs.
The second is similar to the first but is often
less stringent. There are some easy ones like drive
testing a cellular network but that requires previous
exposure except the employer is willing to show
u( though it is actually very simple). Others are
a little more technical but I am not aware of any
institution offerring training hence u can get it
on the job
The last often requires some previous
work experience or specialised knowledge and is
mostly Vendor based (i.e Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola
etc). You can obtain training in this area very
easily. All vendors have training centers in most
parts of the world and you can get the adresses
easily on the Internet, just use a search engine
or guess(like
www.ericsson.com). To get a very good start
in the industry I advise that you attend a training
with the vendor that has the largest market share
in your locality-this increases ur chances and gives
you higher mobility. Otherwise attend a training
with Ericsson as they have a very large share of
the Telecom industry(my personal opinion)
But it is good if you have a job to start with,
so try out some of the telecom operators in your
locality, anyone will be good for a start. Never
mind contract jobs- you need a start, with time
you will get a better grip.
To get a good
view of the skills, opportunities and current rate
of the industry's market go to
www.jobserve.com, type 'rf engineers' ('rf planning
engineers' 'rf planning and optimisation engineers'
etc one after the other to get max results) in the
search box . Pls do that right now
Though
no one gives a guarantee but I like to tell you
that with some careful planning on your part and
hard work you will do very well in a short while.
I will be happy to hear of ur success soon
