Recently started my career at a robotics startup. Though I always wanted to be in product design/development or general fun design engineering, honestly I really enjoy the work so far and I’m excited to learn a lot really fast. I also know robotics and AI/ML with respect to hardware folks is a niche market and I’m not sure how many options there might be out there for a longer term career. I got to the final stage for Amazon Robotics last month, I would have taken an offer if I was given, but company culture and WLB-wise I’m unsure if I would want to be there long term. Besides Amazon Robotics/Robotics AI and the guys in Boston the only other bigger name companies that I know of with robotics opportunity for hardware folks are EV/AV/UAV companies. Design Engineering is definitely something I always wanted to do, I’m an artist and the aspect of translating concept to visual to product is always exciting. What path should I go into long term? Relevant factors are potential autonomy/ownership, growth prospects and money. I know very little about both these fields/careers but would love to get more insight from some of y’all. 21 yr old TC: ~$175 (60k base + company stock estimates for the next year—so basically 60k lmfao) YOE: 0 #engineer #hardware #bostondynamics #apple #googlenest #googlepixel #microsoft #lucidmotors #rivianautomotive
I think both go hand in hand, especially with respect to tech companies
Oh that’s nice to hear, in what way? Honestly in my current role I barely touch any CAD lol. Then again i think I have a limited understanding of what “design” means - got asked at an interview to “design a gantry robot” and I was stuck 😵💫
Because as a HW engineer you will have to do everything eventually anyway lol. I don't work in tech obviously, but I have to wear many hats, including designing with CAD, testing equipment, and yelling at buyers to put my parts on order. Product lifecycles of hardware are a lot slower than software, so you will end up doing a lot of different things as the project progresses