How to become a Hardware Engineer: Career Guide, Courses, After 12th, Jobs, Scope, Salary

Steps to Become a Hardware Engineer

Career as a Hardware engineer can be a lucrative option for the aspiring candidates because of the increased investment in the promotion of electronics, IT and Hardware manufacturing in India. The government has allocated over INR 2631 crore in various manufacturing segments in India, creating opportunities for the professionals related to manufacturing and hardware industry.

The following steps will provide explanation on How to become a Hardware Engineer in India:

• Step 1 – Make a decision: Before aspirants begin to pursue their career in hardware engineering, they need to check whether they have interest in the subjects or not.Then they need to understand what are the subject combinations necessary to become a hardware engineer.A career as a hardware engineer is usually hard and aspirants need to have the zeal and motivation to work for the companies even in stressed conditions.
• Step 2 – Choose the correct Subjects: Candidates need to choose science as their specialization to pursue a career as a hardware engineer in India. A candidate must have physics, chemistry, maths along with computer science subjects in 10+2 level. In their graduation level they must choose mechanical engineering as their specialization to become a hardware engineer. Those who wish to become a computer hardware engineer should choose BTech in Computer Science.
• Step 3 – Prepare for college Entrance: The candidates need to pass their entrance exam in order to pursue a career in hardware engineering. Admission to the engineering courses at different levels in India are done on the basis of entrance examination. The different entrance exams are GATE, JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, etc. Candidates need to take proper preparation to qualify for the entrance examination
• Step 4 – After Qualifying Entrance Examination: After qualifying the entrance examination the candidates need to choose the proper colleges to get their admission according to their preference. The candidates should check the top colleges, their cut offs and analyse their fees as well.
• Step 5 – After Qualifying Course: After the completion of the course the candidates can look for job opportunities. The candidates can look for placement options during their stay at the college. Most colleges provide placement assistance to the candidates.Candidates are mainly absorbed in the manufacturing or production sectors.

Types of hardware Engineer 

Different types of hardware engineers with their details are given below-

Aerospace Engineers 

• An aerospace engineer is tasked with the development of planes, rockets, space vehicles and missiles. 
• Aerospace engineers are also responsible for construction of the various prototypes for testing vehicles to confirm the performance. 
• Aerospace engineers style new ideas and techniques that will be employed in defence, aviation and space vehicle systems. Engineers build plans for technically and economically beneficial properties
• Apart from designing they also check the financial viability of the project.
• Aerospace engineers are mainly employed in aviation, defence and space travel sector

Check Out: BTech Aerospace Engineering 

Manufacturing Engineers 

• Manufacturing engineers work to enhance the method of production of various items such as foods, durables, drugs, etc
• They check out the layout of the different manufacturing processes in the industry and try to create an optimum layout to improve the production efficiency.
• They design new instrumentation, processes, procedures and systems and purchase and put it in instrumentation and repair instrumentation. 
• They maintain statistical and financial records and diagnose faults and do planning and organising maintenance and liaising with suppliers, customers and research and development staff.
• Manufacturing Engineers in India are mainly absorbed in the FMCG, equipment manufacturing, aviation, etc.

Mechatronics Engineer 

• Mechatronics engineers are a mixture of mechanical, electronic, and computer engineering whose responsibility is to boost the assembly of products. 
• They scrutinize existing processes and styles and build recommendations for improvement. 
• Mechatronics engineers additionally develop new products and create reports.
• The mechatronics engineer’s responsibilities encompass existing mechanical systems, developing new product ideas and prototypes, coming up with and testing mechanical and electronic systems, and developing numerous automatic systems.
• Mechatronics engineers are employed in different fields such as robotics, Aviation, Manufacturing and research. 

Check Out: BTech in Mechatronics 

Automotive Engineer 

• Automotive engineers are concerned with the designing , production, research and development of the various vehicles.
• They use the various CAD and CAM softwares to develop ideas about efficient design of vehicles and their different parts.
• They build prototypes for various components and test them for their safety, weakness and performance.
• They prepare material, cost and timing estimates, reports and design specifications
• They are tasked to supervise and inspect the installation and adjustment of mechanical systems in industrial plants

Computer Hardware Engineer 

• They are responsible for the ensign and development of the hardware components of the computers that includes circuit boards, processors, memory cards, etc.
• Testing the hardware system of the computers with external systems of the computers.
• They are involved with testing the functionality and performance of the final designed products.
• They are also responsible for collaborating with software developers to ensure the hardware functions for its intended purpose
• The computer hardware engineers mainly work in the IT industry. However, some are responsible for the maintenance of the IT system of other industrial sectors.

How to become a hardware engineer in India

In order to become a hardware engineer, candidates must have at least an undergraduate degree in the relevant field of engineering. Bachelor's degrees are typically decent for hardware engineering jobs, employment options but in some cases the level of sophistication of the job may require candidates with PG qualification. 

School level Preparation 

• Students are needed to complete 10+2 by securing a minimum of 50% marks from any recognised Indian board within the science stream comprising PCM that is physics, chemistry, arithmetic and applied science as mandatory subjects.
• Students should prepare for undergraduate entrances from class 11 in order to secure high ranks in the entrance examination. Many institutes offer preparation and guidance courses for students who want to sit for these entrance exams. 
• Some of the common entrance exam scores required in admission in undergraduate are
• JEE Main
• JEE Advanced
• BITSAT
• VITEEE etc.

How to Become a Hardware Engineer After 12^th

Undergraduate Level Preparation

• After the completion of the 12th examination, the candidates must take up relevant engineering courses in the undergraduate level such as BTech Mechanical Engineering, BE Mechanical engineering or BTech Computer Engineering to pursue a career in Hardware Engineering.
• After selecting the specialization the candidates must take care of the facts that they at least maintain a first class or 60% in their graduate level so that they are able to get offers from top companies during the placement drive or interviews.
• In case of higher studies the candidates must also prepare for the entrance examination required for admission to the PG courses. In this case the most important entrance exam is GATE.

Postgraduate Level Preparation 

• For admission into postgraduate programmes, candidates must have at least 60% aggregate marks in relevant undergraduate engineering programmes offered by colleges. The candidates must also pass the entrance examination required for the courses.
• During post graduation one can prepare for the PhD entrance exam like CSIR-NET, XIMB-RAT (Research Aptitude Test), UGC NET. The candidates must solve previous year papers, mock tests to get an idea about the pattern of the exam paper.
• The candidates can choose the specialization that is necessary for them to become a hardware engineer. The specialization must be chosen considering the future trends in the respective field. 

Courses to become Hardware Engineer 

Hardware engineering courses in India are offered across various levels in India such as Diploma, undergraduate, post graduate and PhD level in India. Candidates have the option to choose from several courses and their specialization in order to pursue a career as a hardware engineer. 

The following are the top courses that can be availed by aspirants to be a hardware engineer in India:

ME in Mechanical Engineering 

Master of Engineering or M.E. in Mechanical engineering is a 2-year postgraduate program offered to candidates who wish to develop in-depth knowledge in the various specializations of Mechanical Engineering. The minimum criterion for entrance includes passing B.E. or B.Tech. in either field of Mechanical, Production, Mechatronics, Automobile engineering with a minimum score of 55% marks or above.

M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering

M.Tech in mechanical engineering is a 2 years postgraduate course that is pursued by the students after the completion of their B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering Course. The course helps the candidates to understand the advanced principles of mechanics, kinematics, material science and maintenance of mechanical systems.

B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering

B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering is a 4 years undergraduate program that enables the aspirants to understand how machines and their design are developed and understand the mechanism of their operation. Let us observe some details of B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering.

B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering Details 

How to become a Hardware Engineer Abroad

Candidates often prefer to pursue Hardware Engineering from the foreign nations. The reason behind this is that the foreign universities provide the candidates with better infrastructural support along with research facilities and of course a better payment. However, the candidates must keep the following thing in mind before opting for hardware engineering courses abroad.

• University Ranking of the institute: Do extensive research over internet, online forums, friends, colleagues, acquaintances etc who have knowledge on university ranking of the said institute where you are planning for a course.
• Eligibility Criteria & Admission Requirements: Gather sufficient information regarding eligibility criteria for admission into various courses as foreign institutes are very stringent in terms of eligibility criteria. In addition, to study and work abroad it is mandatory to clear any of the following entrance examinations viz. TOEFL, IELTS to satisfy English language proficiency norms along with clearing any one of GRE, GMAT etc to get admission in foreign institutes.
• Student and Work VISA: Every country has its separate visa norms for both study and work.Prior to applying for any course it is essential to have thorough knowledge on existing visa rules for both study and work.
• Fees & Scholarship: Since studying abroad is itself costly it is well advised to get thorough knowledge on fees structure of various institutes along with scholarship facility and criteria for scholarship in such institutes. 

Benefits of Becoming a Hardware engineer 

The following are some of the benefits of a career as a hardware engineer.

• High Earning Potential : The hardware engineers have the potential to earn over INR 400,000 per annum. However, the pay depends entirely on the job description, location as well as the employers. For example, a hardware engineer in Chennai earns over INR 531,000 Per annum on an average, highest as compared to other cities in India. Globally, a hardware engineer can earn INR 58 LPA in the USA, INR 24 LPA in UK, INR 40.62 LPA in Australia and so on. 
• Future Job opportunities : The Indian government has been investing heavily in the manufacturing sectors, especially in hardware manufacturing. The investment of INR 757 Crore in the hardware sector means that the job opportunities would rise in the future. Also the increase in the FDI for defense manufacturing will also improve the job opportunities in the defense sector. 
• Positive impact of the career: Candidates will have a lot of opportunities to discover new technologies in the profession as a hardware engineer. Hardware engineers have the opportunity to design newer designs that would improve their production process, achieve efficiency in performance of various machines. There are directly related in improving the performance of the company thus it has a positive impact in their careers,
• Higher studies: The candidates of hardware engineering always gave the opportunity to go for a higher education. The graduate engineers can enroll themselves in the MTech courses that include several specializations. The PG engineers can enroll in the PhD course and undertake research in different fields of Hardware engineering. After the completion of the course they can start a job as a lecturer or professor in a college or a R&D expert in a top company. 

Check Out: Career as a Lecturer 

• Progressive career: The career of a hardware engineer has no full-stop, completing the undergraduate is just the beginning. Most hardware engineers can pursue different professional courses (available both online and offline) to improve their job options and career advancement.

Top Recruiters for Hardware Engineers

Some of the top companies recruiting hardware engineers are- 

Hardware Engineer skills 

Analytical skills. Hardware engineers use programming tools to research the various designs and the production layout that is required for the efficient working of the operation or the machines. They have access to various simulation software that allow them to to understand the flaw in the design and rectify them.

Creativity: Hardware engineers must be creative with their design so that they can achieve both the aesthetics and the efficiency at the same time. The hardware engineers have access to different CAD and CAM software that allows them to create new designs before implementation. 

See: AutoCAD courses

Critical-thinking skills: Hardware engineers use logic and reasoning to clarify goals, examine assumptions, and establish the strengths and weaknesses of different designs or alternatives. 

Problem-solving skills: Hardware engineers often havevo face bottlenecks in the production process that reduces the efficiency of the operations. These engineers must be skilled to solve the technical snags so that the operation remains unhindered.

Speaking skills: Engineers usually work in groups and should be ready to communicate with alternative forms of engineers in addition to non-technical team members. The engineers should have good interpersonal skills so that different personnels in the team are working together efficiently.

Some other important skills required by a hardware engineer are

Hardware Engineer Salary 

The average salary of a Hardware Engineer is tabulated below on the basis of their job profile for your reference,