Hardware Engineer (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Hardware Engineer designs and develops computer hardware such as circuit boards, chips, modems, and keyboards. Works with computer software engineers and developers to improve technology.
Job Outlook
There were 56 Hardware Engineer (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3336 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Hardware Engineer industry, which includes the Hardware Engineer (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Hardware Engineer (General) jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $127,106.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $110,263.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Hardware Engineer (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $100,914.
Education and Experience
Posted Hardware Engineer (General) jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 67.36% |
| Master's Degree | 34.68% |
| Doctoral Degree | 8.57% |
| Other | 3.15% |
Posted Hardware Engineer (General) jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 19.5% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.41% |
| 6 to 8 years | 18.42% |
| 9+ years | 22.67% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Hardware Engineer (General) positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (44.21%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (28.54%)
- Problem Solving (21.19%)
- Operations (20.74%)
- Management (20.65%)
- Leadership (16.61%)
- Innovation (14.39%)
- Research (13.97%)
- Writing (11.81%)
- Planning (11.06%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Hardware Architecture (43.02%)
- Hardware Design (21.08%)
- Computer Science (24.46%)
- Computer Engineering (38.37%)
- Electrical Engineering (43.02%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- I2C (7.11%)
- Industry Standards (5.66%)
- Sensors (10.9%)
- Microcontrollers (4.55%)
- Serial Peripheral Interface (6.38%)
- Scripting (8.06%)
- Root Cause Analysis (4.05%)
- Test Equipment (6.29%)
- Systems Architecture (11.09%)
- Systems Design (14.29%)
- Systems Integration (18.11%)
- Test Planning (15.55%)
- Software Engineering (8.25%)
- Spacecraft (7.24%)
- Signal Integrity (6.29%)
- Simulations (15.14%)
- Robotics (4.71%)
- Prototyping (9.96%)
- Physics (11.38%)
- New Product Development (15.68%)
- Mechanical Engineering (11.76%)
- Project Management (16.69%)
- Python (Programming Language) (15.55%)
- Product Lifecycle Management (8.47%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (15.46%)
- Firmware (17.35%)
- Electronic Engineering (3.79%)
- Electronics (12.93%)
- Embedded Systems (14.16%)
- Debugging (20.58%)
- Linux (12.01%)
- Operating Systems (9.45%)
- Digital Electronics (3.13%)
- Computer Hardware (5.59%)
- Control Systems (10.21%)
- Printed Circuit Board (10.15%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (11.35%)
- Automation (14.41%)
- Avionics (9.39%)
- Software Development (9.8%)
- Systems Engineering (25.95%)
- Artificial Intelligence (6.19%)
- Oscilloscope (11.09%)
- C (Programming Language) (7.9%)
- Computer-Aided Design (5.82%)
- AutoCAD (2.91%)
- Space Flight (6.8%)
- Project Engineering (8.82%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Computer Science (32.77%)
- Computer Engineering (51.4%)
- Hardware Architecture (57.62%)
- Hardware Design (28.24%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Hardware Engineer (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Hardware Engineer
- Hardware Systems Engineer
- Project Engineer
- Spacecraft Engineer
- Systems Engineer
- Hardware Technician
- Systems Integration Engineer
- FPGA Engineer
- Hardware Engineer Co-Op
- Lead Hardware Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Hardware Design Engineer
- Electronics Engineer (General)
- Circuit Design Engineer
- Hardware Quality Assurance / Test Engineer
- Electronic Design Engineer
- Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Engineer
- Signal Processing Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Hardware Engineer (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Meta (155)
- Apple (119)
- Southwest Research Institute (110)
- Amazon (107)
- Actalent (75)
- Blue Origin (59)
- Cisco (52)
- Northrop Grumman (51)
- Open Systems Incorporated (44)
- Lockheed Martin (37)
North Carolina
- Lenovo (6)
- Southwest Research Institute (5)
- CyberCoders (3)
- Entegee (3)
- Milvets Systems Technology (3)
- Inframark (3)
- Cisco (3)
- Honeywell International (2)
- WilsonHCG (2)
- BD (2)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- ASIC Design and Verification Graduate Certificates
- Computer Engineering Master's Degrees
- Computer Engineering Graduate Certificates
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.