Is San Jose the same search as San Francisco?

They overlap for some commuters and not for others. Set the cities you will actually work in, instead of treating the whole Bay Area as one preference by default.

Should I list every tool a chip company uses?

List the ones you have used. Padding the skills line to look local is easy for an interviewer to test.

How to target jobs in San Jose

California

San Jose sits in a region known for hardware and software. Postings range from chip and device makers to application companies and the specialists who supply them. The city name is not the skill. The layer you worked in is the skill.

This page does not estimate salaries or how many jobs are open. Those figures go stale, and there is no source for them here.

Hardware and semiconductors

Device and chip employers hire engineers and technicians who can name the part of the process they touched: design, validation, manufacturing, or quality. Use those words only for work you did.

Software and product

Application and infrastructure employers hire engineers, designers, and product managers. Show the system and your part of it. A tools list copied from the posting is not a substitute.

The suppliers and the offices

Vendors, labs, and corporate teams hire operators, buyers, and coordinators. A supplier role is real experience. Describe the product you supported rather than implying you designed the customer's chip.

The kinds of employers

Large technology employers, manufacturers, startups, and the services firms attached to them. Many postings say San Jose and mean a campus in a neighboring city. Check the office.

How to aim an application

Be precise about the technical layer and about how far you will commute along the peninsula and the east bay. If you need sponsorship or already have work authorization, the application question is the place to be accurate. Do not leave it for later.

What to have ready

Have a resume a plain-text parser can read, with the target title in words. For hardware, keep tool and process names exact. For software, keep the project evidence ahead of the skills line.

Role guides that fit this mix

Questions

Is San Jose the same search as San Francisco?: They overlap for some commuters and not for others. Set the cities you will actually work in, instead of treating the whole Bay Area as one preference by default.
Should I list every tool a chip company uses?: List the ones you have used. Padding the skills line to look local is easy for an interviewer to test.