How To Become A Mask Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a mask designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted Expert

David Flynn

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a mask designer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $44.75 an hour? That's $93,084 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 6,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Mask Designer?

David Flynn

Professor of Practice, University of Akron

Everything that you see has been touched by a designer. The field is expanding with technology, but basic communication design principals remain paramount. It doesn’t matter if it’s a newspaper ad or a social post, you must have a professional that knows how to communicate a message, move the viewer's eye, and make the point. Designers work in every company and in every industry, worldwide.

ScoreMask DesignerUS Average

Salary

7.3

Avg. Salary $93,084

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.2

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 10.42%

Black or African American 3.42%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 4.99%

White 70.17%

Gender

female 27.00%

male 73.00%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress Level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.5

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.9

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a mask designer

Explore mask designer education requirements

Most common mask designer degrees

Associate

44.5 %

Bachelor's

40.9 %

Master's

4.5 %

Start to develop specific mask designer skills

Skills	Percentages
CMOS	11.58%
Cadence Virtuoso	10.50%
Virtuoso	8.15%
Drc	4.69%
Lvs	4.69%

Complete relevant mask designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New mask designers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a mask designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real mask designer resumes.

Research mask designer duties and responsibilities

Lead efforts for debugging DRC, ERC and LVS layout and verification issues.
Use of unix and linux operating systems.
Involve in the design and layout of the P7 family of CMOS microprocessors.
Complete verification of both DRC and LVS for layout blocks and full chips.

Get mask designer experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a mask designer. The most common roles before becoming a mask designer include layout designer, design engineer team lead and design consultant.

Prepare your mask designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your mask designer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a mask designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Mask Designer Resume templates

Build a professional Mask Designer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Mask Designer resume.

Apply for mask designer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a mask designer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams