Yeah FLU lots of demand for embedded firmware. Also with the cost of masks these days, alot more designs build in a hell of alot more csr space (control status registers) for hw control rather then hard coding it in the rtl. So your first ASIC spin can actually be used for protos and even field test units for customers but at the same time you can tune alot of your hardware. With designs that have a fair amount of analog this is even more crucial as you cannot simulate analog to well. Lots of spice and matlab out there but it takes so damn long to run that it would take years to fill out a full test plan.
Anyways if I hear we ever need an IT guy I will let you know chief. If you do hear of anyone post here.