Clemson Cadence Challenge

Welcome to the Clemson Cadence Challenge page! As part of their goal to foster a relationship between Cadence and Clemson University, Cadence Design Systems will be sponsoring a campus-wide competition for all willing to participate. To sign up for the competition fill out the form here.

Current Leader board

1st - Jacob Davis, 71 Badges

2nd - Joshua Deji, 27 Badges

3rd - Anderson Moffitt, 18 Badges

Important Dates

• Kickoff ceremony and competition start date: September 27, 2023

  • Kickoff ceremony will be held at Freeman Hall room 078 from 6pm to 8pm

• Help sessions will be held every Wednesday from 11:15am to 1:15pm in the Cadence Lab in the basement of Riggs Hall

Goal

Cadence and Clemson are offering an incredible opportunity for students to participate in a campus-wide competition. Participating students will have the chance to win a 2024 paid summer internship with Cadence in Silicon Valley, scholarships, and Cadence merchandise as well as gain valuable experience using Cadence software. For more information on Cadence Design Systems as well as how to get started using Cadence software visit the Clemson Cadence Project website.

Please note that this competition is being offered to undergraduate students only.

Cadence Support

Access to the Cadence Support website will be an invaluable resource for this competition. This website can be used to download software, access manuals, use training resources, etc... It is highly recommended that you request an account as soon as possible, steps for which can be found on the Clemson Cadence Project website's Getting Started page.

Rules

Competition Goal

• Earn as many Cadence Badges as possible

  • Winner of the competition will be the person with the most badges by the end date of the competition (November 27th)

  • Badges will appear on the Cadence learning map with the ribbon symbol shown below:

Guidelines

• All badges must be submitted using the badge submission form

  • Valid submissions must contain two items:

    • First is proof of the badge. Submissions must contain the name of the recipient, the date earned and the name of the badge. Two options for this can be seen below:

      • A PDF certificate given upon completion of the course, as seen below

• Or a screenshot of the badge on your Credly page. To view this with your name and the date, select the 3 bars in the top right corner then choose "badges". From here select the badge you wish to submit and it should pop up with a similar window to the one below:

• The second submission you must make is a zip file containing all of the files completed for the course's labs

•  (NovemberAll valid badges must meet the following criteria:

  • Badges must have been earned between the start date of the competition (September 27th) and the end date (November 27th)

  • Badges must come from the PCB Design and Analysis section of the learning map, seen below

    • If you happen to finish all badges from this page, you may begin to earn badges from the following sections:

      • IC Package Design and Analysis

      • Custom IC, Analog, Microwave, and RF Design

      • Digital Design and Signoff

      • System Design and Verification

• Repeat badges are not allowed

  • For example, if there is a course for both the 22.1 and 17.4 versions of the software you will only receive credit for one badge if both are submitted during the competition

    • However, if you have earned one version of a badge prior to the competition, then you may complete another version of the badge during the competition

• Finally, in the event of a tie, the award in question will be given to the student with the most hours spent on badges (each badge lists roughly how much time it should take to complete)

Awards

First Place: 2024 paid summer internship with Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, CA (Silicon Valley)

Second Place: $500 scholarship

Third Place: $250 scholarship

As well as:

Cadence merchandise giveaways: randomly selected participating students will receive Cadence merchandise every other week. In order to be considered eligible for the giveaway you must have actively participated in the competition within the two weeks leading up to each giveaway. Details will be further explained once the rules are released.

For more information on the internship guaranteed to the winner, check out the position listed on Cadence's career page. You can also visit the Cadence Interns and Grads page for general information on Cadence's internship programs.

Questions

Please contact JB Bahrenburg at jbahren@clemson.edu or Andrew O'Rourke at aorourk@clemson.edu with any questions regarding the competition.