1
\$\begingroup\$

Please excuse me if my question is very naive or broad. I just wanted to get some direction. I didn't know how else to ask for help.

I am working on Analog electronics and MCUs. It seems to be manageable with my knowledge. I am looking for a job change but many companies are asking if I have experience in High Speed domain/FPGA and DDR. Unfortunately, I do not have experience in any of those domains and my current work doesn't involve me in working at those technologies.

I have tried e-learning websites like Coursera and other sites like codementor, But they also don't seem to have that content. I don't know where to start to learn these things.

Can someone help me with this? Is there any video lectures that I may have missed out to look for. I agree, that we can learn all these while working hands-on, but just asking if there's a possibility to learn the theory of this. Like some PDF material, App note, video lectures or something. As I said, please excuse me for this very broad question. I had no help elsewhere. I specifically would like to start learning about DDR and FPGAs.

Thanks

\$\endgroup\$

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1
\$\begingroup\$

You learn as much as you can, and learn how to learn. Find out what works for you. The best thing is by doing. Get a dev board, then find tutorials on it. When I started messing with electronics early on, the most I could do is make an LED light up. I burned a few up and learned to use resistors to limit the current.

Get a dev board learn how to build different types of registers, muxes and gates, how to use gpios and light an LED. Then learn how to use RAM blocks in an FPGA. Clocks, timing constraints are also important to know. And keep working your way up, DDR would be difficult to learn if you don't have the fundamentals down.

Keep in mind that in a university, you need a basic electronics, digital logic and maybe another class or two before you start to delve into FPGA's. There are also plenty of open courses available to help you learn on your own, but learning on your own takes a lot of discipline.

\$\endgroup\$
4
\$\begingroup\$

Personal projects are the best way to get experience in something that your current work doesn't involve. They have specific success criteria, it gives you something to talk about in the interview, and shows you have initiative. There are low cost FPGA boards (I recommend those made by Digilent) and shields to get you started.

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you. But is it possible that I can learn something any of these online? \$\endgroup\$
    – user220456
    Commented Jun 19, 2019 at 16:49
  • 6
    \$\begingroup\$ You're essentially asking "How do I learn C without ever coding?". There's plenty of books on reconfigurable computing, you can familiarize yourself with the state machines used for DDR memory, and learn Verilog/VHDL syntax. However, if you never actually apply that information then you're going to hit a very low ceiling very quickly. \$\endgroup\$
    – Charles H
    Commented Jun 19, 2019 at 16:54