Career Prospects for Computer Engineers in USA

In the past two decades, if one engineering stream has steadily gained prominence, it is ‘Computer Engineering’. Fuelled by the success stories of IT companies in USA, the universities are witnessing students joining Computer Engineering en-masse.

Career Outlook

Both IT and non-IT companies need the help of computer engineers to create technologies that facilitate computers & networks. There are constant advancements in computer technologies, so you should be able to adapt to changes and upgrade your skills constantly to be successful in the field. Computer Engineers in USA have plenty of options to work in IT companies in departments including design, development, assembly, manufacture and maintenance of computers, networks and anything associated with the company’s IT infrastructure.

Career Options

Various career options for Computer Engineers in USA include:

• Computer Hardware Engineer
• Computer Software Engineer
• Computer Programmer
• Network Architect
• Web/Software Developer
• Database Administrator 
• System Analyst

As a computer engineer, you can work in companies that belong to almost any industry including:

• Information Technology
• Telecommunications
• Automotive
• Aerospace
• Manufacturing
• Computer hardware system design/development
• Software development

Your job roles are not limited to the above mentioned ones. Often, you may find excellent employment opportunities with defence and law-enforcement agencies of the country as they too need to keep up with the rapid changes of the technology. Here are some interesting ‘niche’ areas of computer engineering:

• Working with radar & communications technology
• Supporting embedded computing systems for nuclear medicine
• Military software support
• Designing new motors & sensors for robots and similar equipment

You can even choose a teaching career and work in the Computer Engineering department of colleges and universities in USA.

Salary Information

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the overall employment opportunities of computer hardware engineers are expected to by grow 7% between 2012 and 2022. Graduates from accredited universities and those who hold experience with computer software will see the greatest opportunities. The annual mean salaries of software applications developers are $96,260, while the same of those in the systems sector are $104,480.

Top paying companies

Even though there are hundreds and thousands of computer engineering companies out there, you may want to aim for the best. These are the highest paying companies for Computer Engineers in USA: Facebook, Riverbed Technology, Juniper Networks, Google, National Instruments, LinkedIn, Rackspace, Salesforce, Citrix Systems, and Akamai.

Computer engineers have favourable job opportunities all over the world. At any given time, there are over 10,000-15,000 employers in USA alone, searching for computer engineering graduates. Continuing education is important for computer engineers. Engineers who keep up with the rapid changes are likely to get job promotions than their counterparts.