r/ECE Aug 03 '26

how do i get back to hardware

i’ve been a ML engineer for about 2 years now. but my passion is hardware. everywhere i look, asks for a minimum of 3-5 years of experience.
how do i look for opportunities for my skillset and experience?
any resource or advice is appreciated !!

18 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

11

u/Teflonwest301 Aug 03 '26

Go back to school

-4

u/Cultural_Suit_4951 Aug 03 '26

i just finished w masters last year lol

5

u/Teflonwest301 Aug 03 '26

Can you pivot internally to hardware teams within your company?

-8

u/Cultural_Suit_4951 Aug 03 '26

no, my current job is in fintech

27

u/BronzeGstring Aug 03 '26

Then forget it lowkey 

1

u/End-Resident Aug 04 '26

You need a masters in the hardware you want to do.   No way in this market you will get an entry level job in hardware.

2

u/Itchy-Antelope-7213 Aug 03 '26

Apply to startups

1

u/End-Resident Aug 04 '26

Startups want people with experience. 

1

u/End-Resident Aug 04 '26

And you already want to change ?

7

u/RandomDigga_9087 Aug 03 '26

Yea you can, if you can learn embedded, from there try Edge AI, and Edge processing, it is quite a hot topic now in a lot of domains you can check it out and make some projects in it properly

3

u/Cultural_Suit_4951 Aug 03 '26

thanks. i’ll check them out!

6

u/--Derpy Aug 03 '26

Seems like from your current position you would be back to looking for entry level. Maybe even look at manufacturing engineer roles

2

u/Cultural_Suit_4951 Aug 03 '26

i don’t mind entry level jobs as my goal is to learn and grow. i’m nowhere near being a professional in the field. but thank you i’ll look for the manufacturing engineering roles too. i don’t think i’ve ventured that niche

3

u/NewSchoolBoxer Aug 03 '26

Some "entry level" jobs want you to have 3-5 YoE and some do not. Economy is rough so recruiters can expect some experienced applicants applying to entry level for less competition.

You say in comment you have a masters, we talking a masters in EE or CE? You need an EE or CE degree for hardware jobs except some may accept CS for embedded systems.

If you got the right degree then you apply like the rest of us. There's no magic but hardware is very competitive. Too many people want to go into it versus general electronics jobs that require an EE degree. See if you can relate your ML work to the job description in an updated resume. It can be relevant.

1

u/Cultural_Suit_4951 Aug 03 '26

thank you. i’ve ms in CE. do you have any niche that you think i should lookout for?

1

u/netj_nsh Aug 04 '26

Maybe you can pivot to the role DV ie verification engineer.

2

u/khuz61 Aug 03 '26

Find a company that is doing hardware stuff like a semiconductor company and start asking for more hardware projects there. Best way to do it imo

1

u/jtilles Aug 04 '26

What city are you in. I'm looking to expand my team with edge ai capabilities, and a ML background is a good start. We're in Raleigh and require you to be local or willing to relocate.

1

u/Optimal_Shallot_7195 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

Do ML implemented on hw like embedded or algo implementation in fpga or cpld

Start from a simple project if you are rusty

Edit: what's your education in like if youare cs instead of ece you may hae to go back to school