so who's a computer engineer?

[RESmonkey]

I'm tying to find out what a computer/hardware eng. 's typical day is like, what they do, who they work for, fun level, etc.

 

[olds]

Is that like a sanitation engineer?

 

[newb111]

A typical day is neffing on ATOT for 8 hours then going home.

 

[Gibson486]

i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.



Your fun level will depends on how much you like your job and how introverted the engineers at that company is.

Now I work in consulting...and well....there is lots of cad work, but atleast i get to go out into the field instead of being stuck in an office.

If I had to choose between the three, i would pick being a applications engineer. Its a combination of all 3.

 

[slpaulson]

I spend most of my time writing firmware, but I also do some circuit and prototyping work.

Most of the time you're just trying to solve problems, whether you're trying to get something to work for the first time, or if you're trying to fix all the bugs before release.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.

this had me lol'ing.

So hardware engineers have to sit in cubicals? I don't mind that, as long as there's internet.

You think anyone can get a job at something they're interested in, aka hardware engineering for game console company? Graphic cards/processors?

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.



Your fun level will depends on how much you like your job and how introverted the engineers at that company is.

Now I work in consulting...and well....there is lots of cad work, but atleast i get to go out into the field instead of being stuck in an office.

If I had to choose between the three, i would pick being a applications engineer. Its a combination of all 3.

We work when there's work, when there is not we don't.

Depends on where you work and the workload, but I could easily see these 2 examples happening.

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: Gibson486
i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.

this had me lol'ing.

So hardware engineers have to sit in cubicals? I don't mind that, as long as there's internet.

You think anyone can get a job at something they're interested in, aka hardware engineering for game console company? Graphic cards/processors?

Pretty much everybody who isn't management works in a cubicle where I work. We do have a lab with a soldering station and some other toys though.

You could work for one of those companies, but they aren't terribly easy to get into because everybody wants to work for them. I had on campus interviews with Microsoft, Nvidia and Intel. None of them wanted me though.

Also, when you say hardware, do you mean designing circuit boards or do you mean designing ICs. If you're going into IC stuff you're probably looking at grad school. At least that was the impression that I got.

 

[RESmonkey]

No idea, I don't go to college until this fall (incoming fresh).

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: Gibson486
i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.

this had me lol'ing.

So hardware engineers have to sit in cubicals? I don't mind that, as long as there's internet.

You think anyone can get a job at something they're interested in, aka hardware engineering for game console company? Graphic cards/processors?

you will sit in a cube no matter which route your take. Hardware engineers go to the lab alot, but lots prefer to have teh company buy them the tools so they can use them in their cubicle. I prefer getting up and going to the lab personally.

graphics cards? processers? You are one of the many mislead people who are fooled into thinking making Intels next big thing is a glourious job. The semiconductor industry blows. It has its highs, but it really has its lows. I did a coop at a semiconductor company and then proceeded to work for them part time. I did it enjoy, but only because it was a fab-less company and the chip we made was not that complex (well, maybe complex is the wrong word). That said, the chips really had its headaches. You spend months on end debugging one problem and then another pops up. SOmetimes, they pop up in triples. It's not so easy to debug chips and fix them because teh chips are already made (you can't just change the design), so your solution will most likely have to be an external solution that ends up doing something to another feature of the chip. It usually takes atleast 5 years to put chip as complex as an Intel processer out on the market. Even then, there are still bugs that have to be fixed.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: Gibson486
i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.

this had me lol'ing.

So hardware engineers have to sit in cubicals? I don't mind that, as long as there's internet.

You think anyone can get a job at something they're interested in, aka hardware engineering for game console company? Graphic cards/processors?

you will sit in a cube no matter which route your take. Hardware engineers go to the lab alot, but lots prefer to have teh company buy them the tools so they can use them in their cubicle. I prefer getting up and going to the lab personally.

graphics cards? processers? You are one of the many mislead people who are fooled into thinking making Intels next big thing is a glourious job. The semiconductor industry blows. It has its highs, but it really has its lows. I did a coop at a semiconductor company and then proceeded to work for them part time. I did it enjoy, but only because it was a fab-less company and the chip we made was not that complex (well, maybe complex is the wrong word). That said, the chips really had its headaches. You spend months on end debugging one problem and then another pops up. SOmetimes, they pop up in triples. It's not so easy to debug chips and fix them because teh chips are already made (you can't just change the design), so your solution will most likely have to be an external solution that ends up doing something to another feature of the chip. It usually takes atleast 5 years to put chip as complex as an Intel processer out on the market. Even then, there are still bugs that have to be fixed.

But SOMEONE still designs the stuff, no? nVidia mainly hires people out of my college for stuff.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: Gibson486
i used to be a firmware engineer....then I proceeded to hardware engineering.

A typical day is differetn at every company.

Here is a run down of teh software version:

1. stroll in at anytime you want.
2. sit in your cube.
3. work while sitting in your cube
4. get something to drink
5. waste 15 minutes talking about nonsense with a fellow coworker at his or her cube while getting something to drink
6. Repeat 2 to 5 until it is time to go home.

Hardware

1. come in from 7am to 10am
2. continue working on yoru circuit
3. finish circuit only to find out that you still need to work on it.
4. you are finished, but then you realize yoru circuit fails to meet spec
5. debug to make it meet spec.
6. continue testing your circuit to death and have someone else tell you that somethign on yoru circuit needs to be fixed.
7. repeat 2 to 6 for about 5 months.
8. between steps 2 and 6, you go home in anger wondering why you suck at life
9. product is released and your circuit ends up on your desk because of problems that have occured in field.

this had me lol'ing.

So hardware engineers have to sit in cubicals? I don't mind that, as long as there's internet.

You think anyone can get a job at something they're interested in, aka hardware engineering for game console company? Graphic cards/processors?

you will sit in a cube no matter which route your take. Hardware engineers go to the lab alot, but lots prefer to have teh company buy them the tools so they can use them in their cubicle. I prefer getting up and going to the lab personally.

graphics cards? processers? You are one of the many mislead people who are fooled into thinking making Intels next big thing is a glourious job. The semiconductor industry blows. It has its highs, but it really has its lows. I did a coop at a semiconductor company and then proceeded to work for them part time. I did it enjoy, but only because it was a fab-less company and the chip we made was not that complex (well, maybe complex is the wrong word). That said, the chips really had its headaches. You spend months on end debugging one problem and then another pops up. SOmetimes, they pop up in triples. It's not so easy to debug chips and fix them because teh chips are already made (you can't just change the design), so your solution will most likely have to be an external solution that ends up doing something to another feature of the chip. It usually takes atleast 5 years to put chip as complex as an Intel processer out on the market. Even then, there are still bugs that have to be fixed.

But SOMEONE still designs the stuff, no? nVidia mainly hires people out of my college for stuff.

yes, they hire them to do the bitch work (cad, testing, etc). testing board level work is not that bad, but testing chip level just sucks.

if you want to design right out of college, then you need to look for companies that do board level jobs (Philips, Bose, Nokia, etc...even then, you will probably not design anything major), not chip level semiconductor companies.

 

[slpaulson]

From my experience it did seem like you're going to get stuck with bitch work at those larger companies unless you go on to grad school. Obviously you can work your way up.

I enjoy my job at a small company because I'm less than a year removed from college but I'm doing design work the same as the senior guys.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: slpaulson
From my experience it did seem like you're going to get stuck with bitch work at those larger companies unless you go on to grad school. Obviously you can work your way up.

I enjoy my job at a small company because I'm less than a year removed from college but I'm doing design work the same as the senior guys.

I enjoy small companies also. if I did my coop at analog devices, I would have probably wanted to stay in the semiconductor industry because i would have been covered up from the real headaches of design. Working at a start up really exposed me to what senior level people did at the chip and board level.

 

[Aikouka]

That software engineer's day sounds so familiar :Q.

 

[CanOWorms]

Lots of people go into engineering thinking that they're going to design stuff. In many industries, for every design-related engineer, there are 10 non-design engineers. For example, in the semiconductor industry you have design engineers (of various types), yield engineers, product engineers, technology development people, verification engineers, apps engineers, etc.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Lots of people go into engineering thinking that they're going to design stuff. In many industries, for every design-related engineer, there are 10 non-design engineers. For example, in the semiconductor industry you have design engineers (of various types), yield engineers, product engineers, technology development people, verification engineers, apps engineers, etc.

What lots do not realize either is that designing is actually the easiest part. Having everything come together and working without bugs is where most of the effort goes into. If the design was complex and hard, then the work that comes after designing will be even harder.

 

[Special K]

.

 

[RESmonkey]

What exactly is debugging all these circuits?

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
What exactly is debugging all these circuits?

its when you have a circuit that is not doing all it is supposed to do or just not performing as great as it needs to.

 

[gamepad]

I'm so glad I decided against anything that has to do with computers.

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Lots of people go into engineering thinking that they're going to design stuff. In many industries, for every design-related engineer, there are 10 non-design engineers. For example, in the semiconductor industry you have design engineers (of various types), yield engineers, product engineers, technology development people, verification engineers, apps engineers, etc.

One of the nice things, at least in my opinion, about working for a smaller company is that I get to take on the responsibilities of a lot of those positions.

For example, for a recent product I finished the firmware (much of it was done before I joined my current project), ran all sorts of verification tests, worked on debugging hardware, software, and mechanical issues, and worked on the manufacturing test fixture. I do like the fact that I'm not pigeon holed into one very specific job.

 

[qaa541]

Originally posted by: slpaulson

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Lots of people go into engineering thinking that they're going to design stuff. In many industries, for every design-related engineer, there are 10 non-design engineers. For example, in the semiconductor industry you have design engineers (of various types), yield engineers, product engineers, technology development people, verification engineers, apps engineers, etc.

One of the nice things, at least in my opinion, about working for a smaller company is that I get to take on the responsibilities of a lot of those positions.

For example, for a recent product I finished the firmware (much of it was done before I joined my current project), ran all sorts of verification tests, worked on debugging hardware, software, and mechanical issues, and worked on the manufacturing test fixture. I do like the fact that I'm not pigeon holed into one very specific job.

These pretty much sum up the industry. I used to work alot with Broadcom and anyone who does any sort of actual design is a PHD and a huge majority of the supporting engineers have an MS. You will not get to do any design at a big company with just a BS. Broadcom pretty much only hired grad students as interns too, so the bar is set quite high there.

OP, like others have said, with just a BS you will do "bitch work" at a big company. Hardware design is overwhelmingly difficult and a long term process that they just dont give to fresh grads. If you want to work at Nvidia or ATI or anywhere fun, you will need a co-op or do really well in school or have previous experience at some other big company. And even then you may only land a test/qa engineer type position.

I cannot stress an internship/co-op if you have no previous experience in the industry. Don't just be a schoolie(degree but no internship/coop/work experience) if you want to work at a big company. Your best chance at doing actual design would be at a small company that designs not to complex stuff like automation controllers or something similar.