Unlocking Excellence: Streamlined Recruiting for Computer Hardware Engineering Talent

Cad Crowd Professional Computer Hardware Engineers Staffing and Recruiting 

We provide personalized staffing and recruiting services for clients of all industries and business scales in the nationwide search for the best computer hardware engineering talents.

Introduction to computer hardware engineering

Just about every physical electronic device that goes inside a laptop, a tablet, or a PC is designed by computer hardware engineers. Much of their work revolves around designing and fabricating components like computer chips, processing units, modems, storage devices, and memory modules, but they also build essential peripherals such as keyboards and printers.

The term "computer" must be used in the broadest sense when talking about hardware engineers. In some industries, they work on the design and development of integrated circuits for advanced equipment, such as home appliances, cars, medical devices, and Internet-ready gadgets. Accordingly, the work sectors for hardware engineers spread across various industries such as IT, automotive, consumer goods manufacturing, healthcare, and telecommunications, among others.

In complex projects commissioned by large companies, for example, a complete design of satellite navigation for a car or a GPS-enabled activity tracker can have multiple hardware engineers of varying specializations assigned to work on specific parts or components of the device. Small companies usually hire an engineer or two to handle the entire design process. The hardware engineering work of a complete system may involve several major points of focus:

• Computer Architecture: The main concern of computer architecture is to determine the perfect layout for hardware components so they can communicate effectively with each other. It is the practice of achieving the ideal balance between performance, reliability, efficiency, and cost of a computer system. The implementation may involve motherboard form factors, power supply units, cooling systems, ports, and case designs.
• Very-large-scale integration (VLSI): The fabrication of integrated circuits by combining millions of MOSFET onto a single chip, including memory chips and microprocessors.
• Electronic Design Automation (EDA): Also known as electronic computer-aided design or ECAD. Automation is part of a workflow that involves designing and analyzing integrated circuits, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and semiconductors. EDA is indispensable because a modern semiconductor chip may consist of millions, if not billions, of individual components. This part of the computer hardware engineering process is highly in demand to the point where it has its own industries. Many established EDA companies acquire small businesses and startups with technologies or software that can be adapted to larger systems.
• Hardware Verification and Testing: The verification (or qualification) process involves the evaluation of hardware components’ performance under simulated real-life operation, environment, transportation, and storage. The procedure also makes sure that all components and assemblies conform to environmental regulations and are compatible with the existing electrical power supply. It is basically quality assurance work to verify the safety and functionality of hardware components. On the other hand, hardware testing is much more thorough and detailed because it has to make sure that every single component in the computer system works as it should, following predetermined requirements and quality standards.
• Field-programmable Gate Array (FPGA): The design and development of configurable integrated circuits to be programmed and reprogrammed even after manufacturing. FPGAs are more commonly required in applications that require parallel processing capabilities, speed, and flexibility, such as industrial equipment, telecommunication devices, automotive, and aerospace.

Well-designed hardware components and the computer systems made possible by those components have propelled countless innovations and scientific discoveries that affect every aspect of human civilization. The constant development of computer hardware technology has played a major role in the advances of consumer electronics, entertainment systems, supercomputers, data centers, automotive industries, industrial equipment, medical devices, mobile phones, the Internet of Things, and a multitude of sensors; all have contributed to an improved quality of life.

Cad Crowd, a staffing and recruiting agency, understands the importance of computer hardware engineers in the design and development of consumer products, industrial machinery, and automation industries. Great talents in the profession are irreplaceable in most companies that have them and are hard to find for others who want them. Our recruiters have what it takes to deliver exceptional computer hardware engineers with proven expertise, competence, and integrity.

The right skill set for innovation

And now, when we think that technologies are at their peak point as demonstrated by artificial intelligence in home computers, robotic arms in factories, vacuum cleaners that know their way around the house, virtual reality, smart homes and Mars rovers, computer hardware engineers are nowhere near the finish line in their relentless pursuit of knowledge. Hardware designs are still constantly being improved to be even more powerful, secure, reliable, and energy-efficient.

A professional computer hardware engineer needs to have a diverse and multifaceted skill set, reflecting the degree of complexity of the trade. In this career, it is obligatory to demonstrate mastery in the following areas.

• Electronics and computers: The profession demands in-depth knowledge of computer CPUs, GPUs, data storage, memory chips, cooling systems, and peripherals, to name a few. All of them are electronics. Familiarity with the hardware and software/firmware integration process is also mandatory.
• Technology and engineering: Apart from being adept at applying engineering principles to the design process, a computer hardware engineer needs first-hand experience in different prototype fabrication methods and product evaluation procedures.
• Mathematics: When designing complex hardware for large systems, advanced mathematics comes into play. Computer hardware engineers might not be mathematicians, but they know how to practice calculus, algebra, and arithmetic and understand how to use statistics for product development.
• Physics: Knowledge of thermodynamics and material properties, including how they react when exposed to heat and electric currents, would be valuable when designing compact systems consisting of assemblies of different materials.
• Telecommunications: if the system to be designed, improved, or maintained is a computer network, expertise in communication protocols and digital interconnections is vital.
• Design: A computer hardware engineer is also a designer who creates and builds electronic parts and assemblies. A professional cannot avoid extensive use of 3D CAD and simulation software. Design practice also concerns ergonomics, technical drawings, and cost-efficiency.
• Manufacturing: The work doesn’t end when a hardware design is finalized. The engineer has to verify whether the manufacturing process conforms with safety and quality standards.
• Management: A leading computer hardware engineer must be proficient at strategic planning, team management, budget analysis, and resource allocation.

And now comes the soft skills part. We know that not every talent is a good one, or should we say that not every good talent is a suitable candidate for your company. Just because some hardware engineers are technically proficient doesn’t always mean they can perform equally well in every other aspect of the job, such as analyzing problems, discussing progress, reviewing projects, and giving ideas. In those cases, you need someone with good analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Analytical Thinking

When people mention “analytical thinking” in a discussion, what they’re talking about is somebody’s ability to receive information and draw logical conclusions from it. Analytical thinking is about recognizing patterns and breaking down a general issue into smaller, more specific parts. These patterns might be recurrent errors, persistent mistakes, workflow inefficiencies, a wasteful procedure, or a trend in a data set. This process allows the engineers to get to the root of the problem and come up with an effective solution more quickly. You want your employees to have analytical thinking skills because it means they know how to identify a problem and what causes it to happen in the first place.

Some candidates like to mention their abilities to recognize an issue and explain a few different methods to solve it. Many of them probably even used a lot of fancy words to tell you something you’ve already known. Now that you’re looking to hire a computer hardware engineer, the candidate you need is someone who understands cause-and-effect, remembers the sequence of events, classifies issues, finds similarities and differences between things, and clearly visualizes what’s happening.

In short, the engineer can observe a reasonably large amount of information and dense it down into a concise summary. This isn’t to say an engineer should jump to a conclusion; it’s just that the person can quickly process information and accurately recognize the context. Analytical thinking is not a blind guess but an informed assumption made with knowledge and based on evidence. In a computer hardware design project, you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know where it comes from and how it happens to begin with.

Problem-Solving

The next big thing is problem-solving skills. Every day, in any company, there are problems, big and small, that need resolving. As a matter of fact, some engineers are tasked with discovering new problems in hardware before users know that there’s actually something wrong with it. When you want a candidate to be a problem-solver, you’re basically asking for an engineer who can take initiative in the job and find ways to stay productive at any chance.

Having an initiative means the engineers take action without waiting for someone in the upper management to spell out the order. This kind of employee understands the job roles and will find any chance to fulfill them. It also means your hardware engineers have to be creative. Because they decide not to wait until you tell them what to do, they need to be creative as they explore new ways to deal with problems.

Creativity and initiative don’t mean much if not backed by resourcefulness. You can’t expect any of your hardware engineers to try unconventional methods unless they know what they’re doing and can adapt to new developments. Analytical thinkers are also usually problem-solvers. They are persistent people and determined to do everything necessary to get the job done.

There is always a risk with being result-oriented and letting employees take initiative, but it can be a rewarding decision at the same time. What you can do to minimize the risk is make sure that every experiment is done in an isolated setting; if something goes wrong – and sometimes it does – it will not affect progress.

Some of the best problem-solvers in the trade are leaders in big-name hardware manufacturers like IBM, NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Samsung, and ARM, as well as design automation companies like Synopsys and Cadence. The increasing and continuing demand for powerful, sophisticated, reliable, secure, and energy-efficient electronic products - whether consumer, commercial, industrial, or military grade - will also drive the search for capable computer hardware engineers to push for innovations.

Having been in the engineering employment landscape for more than a decade, Cad Crowd has accumulated an extensive database of talent portfolios and built a respectable network of industry contacts, giving us a unique advantage as a staffing and recruiting agency to know exactly where to look and how to make an accurate selection based on your requirements. 

We have custom staffing solutions just for you

You don’t have to be in the computer hardware business to hire computer hardware engineers. More and more companies are transitioning to be more “in-house” in their day-to-day operation. If you mass-manufacture any kind of product in your own facility, the engineers can help you build more efficient automated hardware; the consumer electronics industry also relies on hardware engineers for innovations in smart devices; most new cars are now heavily computerized as well, which means the automotive industry is actively hunting for talented hardware engineers to design parts and components.

Finally, we can say that Cad Crowd might not be the largest staffing agency the world has ever known, but we have what it takes to be your truthful partner. Our competitors will tell you they’re the best at what they do, but we can do better. We are prepared to give you a custom staffing solution designed only for your needs. Another important thing is that there is no hidden fee. Cad Crowd has always been transparent about every cost and fee for the services we provide.