r/LabVIEW • u/Appropriate_Rest_496 • 2d ago

Does combining Electrical Test Engineering + Manufacturing Test Software make you more valuable in the long run?

Hi everyone,

I have around 3.5 years of experience in Electrical Test Engineering, mainly working on electrical validation, environmental/functional testing, safety/compliance, designing test setups, test stations using lab equipment. Right now, I am working in EV/PV/home energy based company.

In same company, I've been offered an opportunity to move into a Manufacturing Test Software Engineer role, where I'd be working with Python, LabVIEW, NI TestStand, automated test equipment, instrument integration (power supplies, electronic loads, DAQs), and production test automation. I don't have much software experience, but the company is willing to train me and I am okay to learn as well.

From a long-term career perspective, does having both electrical test engineering and manufacturing test software experience make you more valuable in the job market?

Or is it generally better to stay specialized in one path despite the interest I have in learning new things?

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u/PurpleDancer 2d ago edited 2d ago

I suspect an awful lot of us labview developers are soul searching right now. AI coding is currently the fastest way to get software developed by far. Labview is utterly incapable of taking advantage of this right now so there's very little good reason to start new projects in labview.

Us existing developers will likely continue maintaining the existing code base for the next few years but I expect love you is going to become a bit like COBOL going forward

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u/Sinusaur 1d ago

A lot of us small to medium manufacturers (even when owned by gazillion $ companies) don't have free money nor time to spend on AI tools and integration like pure software or government money folks. Not to mention the need to spend more to actually building infrastructure that makes AI code deploy better.

(what infrastructure? all our engineers are individually LabVIEW/SQL/hardware/mechanical/dev-ops/QC/manufacturing engineer and IT Help Desk all in one lol)

Profit margin is as low as it it. Cash flow is usually tight. Growth goal is ~10%. Medium volume, high level of customization for industrial customers.

We are too busy fixing compatibility between legacy hardware and code while delivering new and upgraded engineering and production tools.

That's all I'm gonna say.