How To Become A Circuit Design Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a circuit design engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

These professionals are in charge of creating circuit layouts of new products, microcircuits, microprocessors, etc. Circuit design engineers test and debug circuit designs. They analyze the existing systems to troubleshoot defects and improve the design. Their job is to design and incorporate analog and digital circuits. As a circuit design engineer, you define and implement electronic plans. You also interconnect the electrical framework. You are responsible for the entire circuit design process.

The minimum educational requirement is a bachelor's degree in electrical or electronics engineering or any related field. You must have previous experience in a related area. You must be familiar with testing procedures and equipment and knowledge of simulation software. Employers expect applicants to be proficient with a computer and the MS Office. Your job requires you to have analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills. The circuit design engineer earns $88,475 on average annually.

ScoreCircuit Design EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $107,694

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 19.89%

Black or African American 4.61%

Hispanic or Latino 10.51%

Unknown 4.66%

White 60.15%

Gender

female 25.60%

male 74.40%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.2

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a circuit design engineer

Explore circuit design engineer education requirements

Most common circuit design engineer degrees

Bachelor's

63.5 %

Master's

16.3 %

Associate

12.9 %

Start to develop specific circuit design engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Circuit Design	14.32%
CMOS	6.47%
RF	6.42%
Verilog	4.65%
CAD	4.44%

Complete relevant circuit design engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New circuit design engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a circuit design engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real circuit design engineer resumes.

Research circuit design engineer duties and responsibilities

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Manage client order request generate from sales, provisioning and designing data, voice and IP network services.
Size transistors to reduce RC time constant in dynamic flip-flops and to achieve equivalent performance in high frequency.

Prepare your circuit design engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your circuit design engineer resume.

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