FEDEVEL
Platform forum

colhany , 12-17-2023, 03:12 AM

Hello,
I'm an ECE student on my last year towards bachelor's degree. I wanted to know if there are any certificates or anything that might make it easier to get a hardware engineering job after graduation.
Also, what do companies require that a junior hardware engineer know? I have been designing PCBs for quite a while now and worked with USB, switching converters, microcontrollers and more. But in the grand scheme of things, all the PCBs I designed were pretty simple (relatively). Like I have never designed something with a SoC before. Also, is it so hard to find a job outside your country and get accepted in it? I'm an Egyptian, there's very small market for hardware in here so I'm planning to travel, but will any company in, for example, the US accept a fresh grad that will require visa sponsorship and things like that?

Sorry if I wrote too much, and thanks in advance for anyone who will help.

QDrives , 12-17-2023, 02:52 PM

There are companies that are desperate enough to find new employees that they are willing to help with the visa.
I can only talk about small companies, but there the most interesting characteristic is that you already designed boards as a hobby. That shows that you have interest.
I personally am not someone for certificates and the basic knowledge is at least Ohms law. Everything else can help, but you will never know everything they want/use/do, so you will need to continue to learn.

"...pretty simple..." - in my 25 years I also have not worked with a SoC before, so that does not mean anything. There are many fields/variations in electronics that require more or less specific knowledge on certain subjects: high speed, RF, low power, high power, analog, communication.
An IoT sensor is often low power, analog and communication, optionally some RF.
Computing is high speed and possibly high power.
Motor control is high power and analog.
etc. etc.

Perhaps a more important question is: do you want to work in a big team/company or a small one? In a big team team, you only do a small part, whereas in a small team you may need to design the product from start to finish.

Robert Feranec , 12-18-2023, 07:30 AM

From my experience, projects are more important than certificates. I have got my job abroad because I had experience working with the same CPU as the company was using. Maybe have a look at what is currently used a lot e.g. for smaller chips the nRF, ESP32, RP2040, STM32 are used a lot, and make some simple projects with these. I am not sure what CPUs are now popular, NXP iMX series or something else?

colhany , 12-19-2023, 02:29 AM

Thank you @Robert Feranec and @QDrives , I forgot to mention that I've also done freelance work, not just designs as a hobby, and I'm trying my best to always learn more and design more. Though the design part is a bit tricky because I'm limited with the money I have and the huge currency difference in my country, but I try my best to design, order, assemble and test PCBs every once in a while. I understand that design is the most important thing, I just was wondering if there's any type of certificate that is important for hardware engineers, like the solidworks certificates from dassault systems for mechanical engineers for example. As how would I prefer to work, I prefer to work in small teams so that I can do a big part of the product, but I definitely won't mind working in any team at the beginning. My whole concern is that I live in Egypt and I want to work abroad, so why would someone hire me when they can't even meet me in person (yet)? How do I know that I'm good enough or that I'm moving in the right direction

QDrives , 12-19-2023, 08:37 PM

"How do I know that I'm good enough or that I'm moving in the right direction" -- I would say you don't know. At least you do not know until you get a job and know how to do it.
But neither of us said that you should know everything your new employer wants.
To know about job vacancies abroad it may be best to be on LinkedIn and search there or use other job search sites.