lets c lockheed, northurgrupman, bsi all defense jobs. i am sure they have other jobs too. but i was mentioning all that regading sponsorship issue as well. stiffler, 1 thing is for sure one need to define system. but either is narrower or broader term system means a whole entity and "in any company" [ a recent graduate; does not have a whole lot of expertise to design one. he may even be a Phd(no offense) he does not basically have a whole understanding. it takes time.] when i said vlsi [ it does include all electrical eng. concentrations, may be power module, electronics etc.... ]. Yes, i do still believe that telecom will and has always been the major turn around so far for electrical eng. jobs. lets see... 1989 rapid growth. -->> SS7 on ISDN 1999-2001 -->> 3G/CDMA implementation long/short haul fiber line implementation 2001 recession -->> crash of telecom. [ of course we can contribute to a lot many things. but if u look at the job loss in telecom in 2001-2002 that is more than couple of millions alone. at least 40% of all jobs lost in at least US.] I am sure there are other parts too that will play a significant role. but my limited knowledge restricts me. ================================================= my half asleep comments as always (o: what do I know?