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Digital design engineer education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a digital design engineer. Digital design engineers usually study electrical engineering, computer engineering, or electrical engineering technology. 67% of digital design engineers hold a bachelor's degree, and 24% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 479 real digital design engineer resumes to see exactly what digital design engineer education sections show.

The most common colleges for digital design engineers are the University of Florida and the University of Florida.

There are also many online digital design engineer courses to help get the education required to be a digital design engineer.

What education do you need to become a digital design engineer?

What degree do you need to be a digital design engineer?

The most common degree for digital design engineers is bachelor's degree, with 67% of digital design engineers earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 24% and master's degree degree at 6%.
  • Bachelor's, 67%
  • Master's, 24%
  • Associate, 6%
  • Doctorate, 2%
  • Other Degrees, 1%

What should I major in to become a digital design engineer?

You should major in electrical engineering to become a digital design engineer. 65% of digital design engineers major in electrical engineering. Other common majors for a digital design engineer include computer engineering and electrical engineering technology.

Most common colleges for digital design engineers

Digital design engineers often get their degrees at University of Florida, Pennsylvania State University, and University of California - Davis. Here are the most common colleges for digital design engineers in the US based on their resumes.
Digital design engineer common collegePercentages
University of Florida7.92%
Pennsylvania State University7.92%
University of California - Davis6.93%
Syracuse University5.94%
San Jose State University5.94%

Best majors for digital design engineers

Best colleges for digital design engineers

The best colleges for digital design engineers are Northwestern University, Northeastern University, and Vanderbilt University.

A digital design engineer with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for digital design engineers. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become digital design engineers.

1. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,522

Enrollment

13,760

2. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

3. Purdue University

West Lafayette, IN • Private

In-state tuition

$9,992

Enrollment

33,495

4. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

5. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

6. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Pomona, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,353

Enrollment

24,841

7. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,785

Enrollment

7,711

8. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

9. Minnesota State University - Mankato

Mankato, MN • Private

In-state tuition

$8,184

Enrollment

11,675

10. Texas A&M University

College Station, TX • Private

In-state tuition

$11,870

Enrollment

53,194

20 best online courses for digital design engineers

Advertising disclosure

1. Digital Systems: From Logic Gates to Processors

coursera

This course gives you a complete insight into the modern design of digital systems fundamentals from an eminently practical point of view. Unlike other more "classic" digital circuits courses, our interest focuses more on the system than on the electronics that support it. This approach will allow us to lay the foundation for the design of complex digital systems. You will learn a set of design methodologies and will use a set of (educational-oriented) computer-aided-design tools (CAD) that...

2. Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology

coursera

Whether you’re a high school graduate exploring manufacturing careers, or an operations manager hungry for an understanding of the newest manufacturing technologies, this specialization will provide a foundation in how digital advances are changing the landscape and capabilities of factories. Nine courses – developed with input from the manufacturing industry – touch on Industry 4.0 and its components, including digital manufacturing and design practices, the concept of the digital thread, the...

3. Verilog HDL Fundamentals for Digital Design and Verification

udemy
4.5
(479)

Build a strong Verilog language foundation by implementing combinational / sequential digital circuits and testbenches...

4. System Design using Verilog

udemy
4.5
(413)

FPGA Based Design...

5. Complete Eagle CAD PCB Design: Theory and Practical approach

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4.4
(270)

Complete PCB Design Course for Freshers & Professionals...

6. Verilog for an FPGA Engineer with Xilinx Vivado Design Suite

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4.5
(937)

Using Xilinx FPGA's...

7. Digital Electronics & Logic Design

udemy
4.5
(729)

A complete guide to learning the fundamentals of Digital Logic design...

8. Digital Design Masterclass For Graphic Designers

udemy
4.7
(1,245)

Icon Set Design, E-book cover, Digitizing Sketches, Social Media Design, Wordpress Web Design, Adobe Xd, GIFS and more!...

9. Introduction to VHDL for FPGA and ASIC design

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4.6
(507)

From VHDL basics to sophisticated testbench coding...

10. Crash Course Electronics and PCB Design

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4.7
(13,353)

Learn Electronics and PCB Design from the Ground up with Altium Circuit Maker and Labcenter Proteus...

11. PCB Design using OrCAD/Allegro from Basics to Expert level

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4.4
(480)

Learn Or CAD/Allegro PCB Design: Schematic (Or CAD Capture), Footprint's (Package Editor) & Board Design(PCB Editor)...

12. ESD - An Analog Design Viewpoint

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4.5
(482)

How to apply ESD protection to analog/mixed signal ICs...

13. DSP From Ground Up™ on ARM Processors [UPDATED]

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4.4
(386)

Digital Signal Processing on ARM : DFT, Filter Design, Convolution, IIR, FIR, CMSIS-DSP, Linear Systems...

14. Master Digital Product Design: UX Research & UI Design

udemy
4.6
(8,540)

A complete design education for product designers: Research the user experience, then design a great user interface...

15. Verilog HDL: VLSI Hardware Design Comprehensive Masterclass

udemy
4.3
(1,906)

From an expert with 15+ years experience. Core Design principles for VLSI, Soc, Processor and FPGA. VHDL alternative...

16. Digital Timing Basics for VLSI Interview & SoC Design

udemy
4.5
(295)

A VLSI Course on Timing Concepts frequently used in Physical Design (Static Timing Analysis - STA), RTL & Circuit Design...

17. FPGA Embedded Design, Part 1 - Verilog

udemy
4.6
(922)

Learn FPGA embedded application design starting with the basics and leaving with your own working designs...

18. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) From Ground Up™ in C

udemy
4.3
(668)

Practical DSP in C : FFT, Filter Design, Convolution, IIR, FIR, Hamming Window, Linear Systems, Chebyshev filters etc...

19. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) From Ground Up™ in Python

udemy
4.2
(806)

Practical DSP in Python : Over 70 examples, FFT,Filter Design, IIR,FIR, Window Filters,Convolution,Linear Systems etc...

20. CMOS Analog Circuit Design

udemy
4.4
(768)

By Prof. Phillip E Allen...

Top 10 most affordable universities for digital design engineers

The most affordable schools for digital design engineers are California State University - Long Beach, brigham young university, and california state university - bakersfield.

If the best universities for digital design engineers are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for digital design engineers.

1. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

2. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

3. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

4. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

Mayaguez, PR • Private

In-state tuition

$4,094

Cost of attendance

14,302

5. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

6. Florida International University

Miami, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,556

Cost of attendance

19,434

7. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Pomona, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,353

Cost of attendance

21,302

8. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

9. West Virginia University Institute of Technology

Beckley, WV • Private

In-state tuition

$7,464

Cost of attendance

17,166

10. Purdue University

West Lafayette, IN • Private

In-state tuition

$9,992

Cost of attendance

22,430

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for digital design engineers

The hardest universities for digital design engineers to get into are Northwestern University, Northeastern University, and Vanderbilt University.

Some great schools for digital design engineers are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for digital design engineers based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

2. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

19%

SAT average

1,466

3. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

4. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

5. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,520

6. Princeton University

Princeton, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,503

7. Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX • Private

Admissions rate

51%

SAT average

1,395

8. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

9. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

Admissions rate

9%

SAT average

1,516

10. Tufts University

Medford, MA • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,461

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for digital design engineers

The easiest schools for digital design engineers to get into are Capitol Technology University, oregon institute of technology, and south dakota state university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a digital design engineer without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for digital design engineers.

1. Capitol Technology University

Laurel, MD • Private

Admissions rate

69%

SAT average

1,070

2. Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,139

3. South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,149

4. Pennsylvania State University - Altoona

Altoona, PA • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,094

5. Cleveland State University

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,111

6. Purdue University Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne, IN • Private

Admissions rate

97%

SAT average

1,080

7. Suffolk University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

85%

SAT average

1,131

8. Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA • Private

Admissions rate

87%

SAT average

1,093

9. Saint Cloud State University

Saint Cloud, MN • Private

Admissions rate

86%

SAT average

1,086

10. Portland State University

Portland, OR • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

1,111

Average digital design engineer salary by education level

According to our data, digital design engineers with a Doctorate degree earn the highest average salary, at $130,962 annually. Digital design engineers with a Master's degree earn an average annual salary of $119,036.
Digital design engineer education levelDigital design engineer salary
Master's Degree$119,036
Bachelor's Degree$106,493
Doctorate Degree$130,962

Digital design engineer education FAQs

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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