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

What is a microwave engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a microwave engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $46.04 an hour? That's $95,761 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 9,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMicrowave EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $95,761

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 14.51%

Black or African American 4.75%

Hispanic or Latino 10.97%

Unknown 4.69%

White 64.90%

Gender

female 5.32%

male 94.68%

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 microwave engineer

Explore microwave engineer education requirements

Most common microwave engineer degrees

Bachelor's

63.4 %

Master's

20.7 %

Associate

11.0 %

Start to develop specific microwave engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
RF	32.76%
Google Earth	7.44%
MATLAB	6.96%
Network Design	6.55%
Antenna	5.20%

Complete relevant microwave engineer training and internships

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

Research microwave engineer duties and responsibilities

Perform detailed analysis to determine antenna size, radio equipment and frequency band to achieve maximum system performance.
Design of a 138kV transmission line using PLS CADD and LiDar survey points.
Design 5 RF PC boards in 4 months, as well as supporting documents and schematics.
Upgrade as well as configured the CDMA sets for new software version using ZTE PST and QPST.

Prepare your microwave engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your microwave 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 microwave 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 microwave engineer resume templates

Build a professional microwave 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 microwave engineer resume.