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

What is a device engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A device engineer is in charge of constructing the blueprint of a device and creating it. As a device engineer, your area of expertise may either be in cellular electronics, medicine, or construction. Your role may further be extended to testing the devices you have constructed to ensure that all features function as they should.

Your daily duties include, but are not limited to, designing your device projects, designing appropriate electric circuits, and analyzing data derived from the functionalities of your devices. Further extensions to your duties may be assessing electronic gadgets and giving already constructed devices necessary revisions in order to improve their efficiency and functionality. You can expect to work long hours in this position due to the demanding nature of your position.

In order to become a device engineer, you would need to undertake a bachelor's degree in either electronic engineering or mechanical engineering. In order to branch into medical device engineering, you would need to undertake a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering. Given that this position requires you to have extensive knowledge of your field, some employers may prefer a Master's or Doctoral degree.

ScoreDevice EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $97,458

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 24.78%

Black or African American 4.13%

Hispanic or Latino 8.96%

Unknown 4.56%

White 57.39%

Gender

female 16.89%

male 83.11%

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 device engineer

Explore device engineer education requirements

Most common device engineer degrees

Bachelor's

62.1 %

Master's

23.0 %

Associate

6.7 %

Start to develop specific device engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	7.80%
Data Analysis	7.07%
JMP	4.60%
CAD	4.53%
RF	4.46%

Complete relevant device engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New device 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 device engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real device engineer resumes.

Research device engineer duties and responsibilities

Stream-Line company design and prototyping activities and manage transitions between internal and subcontract manufacturing with clear, reference, design filing.
Complete the advanced CMOS TCAD simulation.
Work with process integration, modeling and TCAD groups.
Perform BSIM model extraction using ICCAP software for mix signal IC application.

Prepare your device engineer resume

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

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a device engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable device engineer resume templates

Build a professional device engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your device engineer resume.