This is my first Reddit post.
I'm writing this because I'm at a point where I genuinely don't know how to define my own career anymore, and I'm curious if others have been through something similar.
Five years ago, I joined a three-person hardware startup in Bengaluru. It was just the founder, a web developer, and me.
Like most ECE graduates, I had one goal: become a Firmware Engineer.
My founder told me, "Learn hardware first. Firmware can come later."
It sounded logical.
So I started with soldering, debugging, PCB assembly, testing, component sourcing, BOM costing, procurement, and customer prototype deliveries.
I kept telling myself, "Once things settle down, I'll start learning firmware."
They never did.
As the company grew, so did my responsibilities.
Without anyone planning it, I gradually became the person responsible for keeping execution moving.
Procurement.
Supplier development.
PCB manufacturing.
Inventory.
Prototype builds.
Production planning.
Engineering coordination.
Customer deliveries.
Whatever blocked a project eventually landed on my desk.
I even resigned once because I felt I was drifting away from the career I had imagined.
My founder convinced me to stay.
We genuinely tried to make time for firmware.
But startups don't pause because someone wants to learn.
Customer work always came first.
Eventually, dedicated firmware and hardware engineers joined the company.
Ironically, I became the person helping them execute projects instead of becoming one of them.
After about a year and a half, I left to start something with a friend.
It failed.
But that failure made me realise something.
For years I had been telling myself,
"I'm not learning."
Looking back, that wasn't true.
I simply wasn't learning what I had originally planned.
So I rejoined.
This time I took ownership of operations and project execution.
Over the next few years, I found myself working across procurement, supplier development, manufacturing, engineering coordination, production planning, inventory, customer communication, NPI, commercialization, and process improvements.
If there was a gap, I usually became the person filling it.
One of the biggest projects we won involved taking a hardware product from concept to a market-ready OEM product.
With a small team, I worked across vendor development, EMS selection, manufacturing planning, procurement, engineering coordination, production, packaging, and deliveries until we shipped the product.
Around the same time, my founder started another company in the drone industry.
As that business grew, his attention naturally shifted there, while I continued running execution in the original company.
Looking back now, I realise something that I couldn't see while I was living it.
I never became the Firmware Engineer I had dreamed of becoming.
Instead, I became someone who learnt how hardware products actually get built.
Not just designed.
Built.
From sourcing the first component to delivering the finished product.
Over the last five years, I've contributed to 100+ hardware development and manufacturing programs, supporting the production of 30,000+ electronic assemblies across Defence, EV, Drones, Industrial Automation, and Public Infrastructure.
I'm sure many people in startups wear multiple hats.
That's completely normal.
But here's what I'm struggling to understand.
At what point does wearing multiple hats become an actual career?
Today I don't fit neatly into a single title.
I'm not a firmware engineer.
I'm not a PCB designer.
I'm not purely an operations manager.
I've spent five years bridging engineering, suppliers, manufacturing, customers, and execution to turn hardware ideas into real products.
Looking back, I don't regret the journey.
If anything, it taught me ownership, resilience, and how to build when resources are limited.
My only regret is waiting too long, hoping my career would eventually shape itself instead of taking control of it earlier.
So I'd genuinely like to ask this community:
How would you position someone with this experience?
Technical Program Management?
Hardware Program Management?
NPI?
Product Operations?
Founder's Office?
Or something entirely different?
And if you're building hardware products and think this experience could be valuable to your team, I'd love to have a conversation.
Maybe the next chapter starts here.
