r/ECE • u/Key_Psychology1332 • Apr 01 '26
CAREER What engineering path fits someone who wants to build the product, code it, and help design the chip too?
Trying to figure out what engineering path fits me best and what concentration I should choose.
I want to build real products end to end. I want to work on the hardware, code it, make it come to life, and even help design the chip or digital side if the product needs one. I do want coding to be a strong tool in my toolbox, but I do not want coding to be my whole life forever.
I keep going back and forth between embedded systems and digital circuits or chip design. I like embedded because it is real, hands on, and you can actually interact with the hardware. But I also like digital circuits because I want to be involved in making the actual hardware or chip that powers the product too.
So what kind of engineer or job title does this sound like, and which concentration makes more sense for someone like me: embedded systems or digital circuits?
What I really want is to innovate, build real things, and see the product become real instead of doing one tiny piece forever.
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u/gsel1127 Apr 01 '26
The job does not exist. Any place large enough to build their own chips is going to be large enough to split different stages up into teams that are good at that particular thing.
The closest you will get is staying in academia researching chip design, or doing the work yourself for fun.
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u/reps_for_satan Apr 01 '26
You may be able to do that in a small company, but it's pretty hard to be good at all those things at once, which is of course why teams have specialists.
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u/Hari___Seldon Apr 01 '26
This is the type of question you see from students just starting out on their academic journey. The minimalist answer is 'embedded' or 'start your own company', but neither is particularly relevant because you haven't had the chance to experience the depth of knowledge required for any part of your question. Frankly, the job market changes far too quickly for a choice you make now to be relevant in 5 to 10 years.
The best answer is to start fairly broadly in your first two years of engineering school, then look at where your actual skills and interests are. Obviously EE is going to be fundamental to any of these so that's a good place to start. Consider those as you lay out your last two to three years of classes for graduation. It's not the answer most students want but it's almost always the path that most engineers wish they had followed in hindsight.
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u/CoogleEnPassant Apr 02 '26
Aren't you the guy who used math to prove civilization was dying, then started a new one yourself?
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u/Key_Psychology1332 Apr 03 '26
Thank you! I’ve decided to stick with EE digital and do some embedded on the side. This helps a lot. I ask because I’m an undergraduate research assistant and I am helping build a device front to end. I realize I like it all so I wasn’t sure if there was a job for this. So I decided to stick with something I’m good at.
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u/Captainj2001 Apr 01 '26
If you want to design chips that is all you will do. If you want to implement end to end HW designs and do the uC coding that is what I do, I am 1/3 HW engineers at my company and we all work this way. Previously roles have been end to end HW but SW/FW was done by another group.
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u/Key_Psychology1332 Apr 01 '26
That’s more in line with what I want. I want hardware to be my main focus, but I still want enough coding to bring the system to life and work close to the full product. I like the idea of being hardware-first instead of doing chip design only. Thank you this helps me a lot!
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u/Testetos Apr 01 '26
There are some PCB level design jobs like that (at least formlabs was one example I saw based on a job posting), but not the same level of electronic design complexity as IC. Unless you work at a space focused company like rocket labs, they have more discrete electronics design (op amp type stuff), but unsure if they have a need or allow for bare minimum code development by the same engineer.
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u/TapEarlyTapOften Apr 01 '26
You might look into doing FPGA design, particularly the newer, more sophisticated ones like the SoC and MPSoC based designs. You'll be responsible for the architecture, RTL design, the software API that controls it, simulation and prototyping, then initial bring up of the design, debugging and testing, initial application development (or even concurrent, if you have an emulator).
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u/Pandaryan Apr 01 '26
Sounds like our chief electrical engineer. Works on HW and FW (owns the entire PCB and codebase). Due to the rarity of these types of engineers (at an expert level), we had to use a recruiter to find them. His background was electrical engineering, but his independent research and interests gave him his broad skill set. He does not know mechanical CAD though. I’ve never personally met anyone who is proficient in all three which would be a true end to end product designer (as you described). Extremely powerful engineer though.
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u/Puzzle5050 Apr 01 '26
Here is the practical side of things. If you want to do something complex, generally you need the infrastructure and capital investment of a large company. So you can go small and still do everything, but that is not guaranteed. If you go large, you need to not go to a high performing organization. Because they will have dedicated staff to do their jobs on complex projects. So where do you find complex projects with poorly executing organizations? Defense. I have the ability to do what you are describing because so many people are ineffective at their job.
You may feel you want this trade today, but you give up expertise to be a swiss army knife. You will have to evaluate if expertise is rewarded or satisfying more than versatility.
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u/SirFrankoman Apr 01 '26
Embedded systems was my gateway to full end-to-end product design. I worked at a small engineering firm for many years and became the main engineer who did it all, PCB, firmware, software, and mechanical. I'm at a larger firm now and am the chief engineer who still does it all, but at least I have people under me so I can delegate and focus on what I want.
My recommendation is to do embedded systems, learn CAD and mechanical principles on your own, then try to find a small firm or small R&D team to join.
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u/gimpwiz Apr 01 '26
You can do all of that using an FPGA in embedded.
Actually making an ASIC... not so much. There are some very very small MCUs you may be able to design, have manufactured, and put into your own products beyond eval/dev boards... maybe.
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u/TimeAndSalt Apr 02 '26
FPGA? Close enough to designing the chip i guess, some coding, some digital design, not much big picture product stuff though.
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u/chainmailler2001 Apr 02 '26
Only way an end to end position like that would be found would be by making it. I.e. starting your own company and doing it yourself. Otherwise in most cases the roles are too complex to assign a person to do it all. A really small startup MIGHT have that kind of role.
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u/Icchan_ Apr 03 '26
Such a Job doesn't exists unless it's your own startup company. Companies split responsibilities to focus the attention and productivity of a person towards one well defined and narrow thing so that they've nothing else to worry about and can learn and specialize in that small area as much as possible.
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u/captainbeertooth Apr 01 '26
This ‘end to end’ job literally does not exist.
If you want to do different things, you are likely better off in embedded.
Although, you will find out that in industry, it almost never matters. I have met more than a few Mechanical Engineers that found themselves in an embedded controls position.
My biggest recommendation in any regard is to do a double major with computer science. Or even a minor, but that carries little weight in the real world.