Current status and future of Hardware jobs

Apple / Eng
gb401a

Go to company page Apple Eng

 gb401a
Mar 15, 2019 35 Comments

Hi All,

I do carry the risk of dragging a dead horse up the street, when I pose this question -

Do you think number of hardware jobs is shrinking ? If the answer to that is just too obvious, what could younger EEs do to safeguard a career ?

Apple had a lay-off more than a month ago, specially in hardware projects (on the news). There seem to be shakedowns at Google as well. Many hardware, semiconductor companies are getting bought off, consolidating to operate at most efficiency- meaning lesser jobs.

I’m a kind of EE who likes to work on more “physical” things, like products - EE products or semiconductor products. I’m early in my career with 3.5yoe after Masters. I have a background in EE/RF/Microwave, and specialize in the niche field of Signal/Power integrity. Sometimes I feel I have pushed myself in too much of a speciality occupation.
If Hardware growth slows, i’m gonna have hard time finding jobs, will be in competition with MUCH more experienced fellow EE Engineers.

Any advices for career change, diversification ?

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 TOP 35 Comments
  • Xilinx
    PwhG31

    Go to company page Xilinx

    PwhG31
    I would say don’t put yourself in a hardware/software box. Just be an Engineer. You should know Python no matter what, since it’s a useful tool to any Engineer. You could use it to automate your testing if you are in a hardware role. Add C++ to your resume too. C++ is high performance low level software close to the hardware layer. Do those things and you will at least double your opportunities.
    Mar 15, 2019 10
    • Western Digital / Eng
      Olibri

      Go to company page Western Digital Eng

      PRE
      NetApp, Broadcom Ltd.
       Olibri
      Firmware and embedded require being able to read and understand assembly. It is rare to write it for a job these days.
      Mar 15, 2019
    • Apple
      women

      Go to company page Apple

      women
      Apple, use a lot of assembly. Not actually writing assembly but staring at assembly line by line. Making Clang work the way our HW is designed. I’d say Android couldn’t catch up with this kind of hw/sw efficiency
      Mar 16, 2019
  • 5G will produce a boom in HW starting in 2-3 years, so I wouldn’t sweat it for now. Do what you love, but, yeah, get out of signal integrity.
    Mar 15, 2019 2
  • Cisco / Eng
    yohellow

    Go to company page Cisco Eng

     yohellow
    Hardware will always be there but make sure to strengthen your skills cuz compition will be much higher.
    Mar 15, 2019 0
  • HPE
    hkyoma

    Go to company page HPE

    hkyoma
    I can only speak to the ASIC side of the industry, but for this area companies seem to be growing rather than shrinking as it stands.

    Due to Moore's law coming to an end and the rise of ML/AI/VR/AR/5G, the need for custom baked silicon which can improve performance through hardware architecture rather than just relying on software and "next year's SoC" seems to be growing rapidly. FAANG (sans N) seem to be growing their ASIC teams quickly and the demand for good engineers in this space seems to be out-weighing the current supply. Even hardware startups such as Mythic seem to be doing well and are hungry for talent.
    Mar 16, 2019 0
  • Intel
    mfdg

    Go to company page Intel

    mfdg
    Shoot for an MBA!
    Mar 15, 2019 3