Engineering17-2061.00Specialization

Computer Hardware Engineers

Research, design, develop, or test computer or computer-related equipment for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use. May supervise the manufacturing and installation of computer or computer-related equipment and components.

$138,080

Median Pay

4-6 years

Training

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Career Overview Video

AI Impact Assessment

AI Resilience Score

Score 3/6: high AI task exposure, growing job demand means AI will assist but humans remain essential

🟡AI-Augmented

How we calculated this:

AI Exposure

High+0

73% of tasks can be accelerated by AI

Job Growth

Growing+2

+7% projected (2024-2034)

Human Advantage

Moderate+1

EPOCH score: 16/25

Total Score3/6

Methodology: v2.0 - GPTs are GPTs / BLS / EPOCH Additive ScoringUpdated: 2026-01-09

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Key Responsibilities

Update knowledge and skills to keep up with rapid advancements in computer technology.
Design and develop computer hardware and support peripherals, including central processing units (CPUs), support logic, microprocessors, custom integrated circuits, and printers and disk drives.
Confer with engineering staff and consult specifications to evaluate interface between hardware and software and operational and performance requirements of overall system.
Build, test, and modify product prototypes, using working models or theoretical models constructed with computer simulation.
Write detailed functional specifications that document the hardware development process and support hardware introduction.
Test and verify hardware and support peripherals to ensure that they meet specifications and requirements, by recording and analyzing test data.
Direct technicians, engineering designers or other technical support personnel as needed.
Provide technical support to designers, marketing and sales departments, suppliers, engineers and other team members throughout the product development and implementation process.
Select hardware and material, assuring compliance with specifications and product requirements.
Store, retrieve, and manipulate data for analysis of system capabilities and requirements.

Education & Training

Typical Entry Education

Bachelor's degree

Time to Job Ready

4-6 years

Based on Job Zone 4. For formal education duration only, see education_duration.

Technology Skills

PCB design software (Altium, Cadence)FPGA design toolsCAD softwareProgramming (C/C++, Python, Verilog)Simulation softwareVersion control (Git)Test automation tools

Key Abilities

Oral ComprehensionWritten ComprehensionOral ExpressionDeductive ReasoningInductive ReasoningInformation OrderingProblem SensitivityWritten ExpressionNear VisionOriginality

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Find jobs and training programs for computer hardware engineers- Median salary: $138K/year

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Compensation Details

$81,630

10th Percentile

$138,080

Median

$212,770

90th Percentile

Based on 82,660 employed workers

Also Known As

Analog Design EngineerAnalog IC Design Engineer (Analog Integrated Circuit Design Engineer)Application Specific Integrated Circuit Design Engineer (ASIC Design Engineer)Application Specific Integrated Circuit Design Verification Engineer (ASIC Design Verification Engineer)Computer DesignerComputer EngineerComputer Hardware DesignerComputer Hardware DeveloperComputer Hardware EngineerComputer Installation Engineer

Data from O*NET 30.1 and BLS Occupational Employment Statistics

O*NET Code: 17-2061.00