Students studying Computer Science in the university have a variety of careers to choose from. Students may become Web Designers, Programmers, Database Developers, Networking Professionals, Hardware Engineers, etc. Each of the careers has its challenges and opportunities, although some are relatively more difficult than others. For instance, being a hardware engineer presents challenges and opportunities in equal measure, and a person will indubitably like and dislike his job at the same time. This paper is an examination of the things that a hardware engineer may like and dislike in his job.
Among the things that may make a computer hardware engineer dislike his/her job is the fact that it is sometimes difficult to identify a problem in a computer system. Despite the fact that there are some procedures to diagnose problems, a computer system that has malfunctioned may tire a hardware engineer before he/she identifies the specific problem. For instance, a computer may stop working, prompting the hardware engineer to establish whether it is the hard disk that has been damaged, the motherboard, the battery, or even the processor. It may prove tiring to eventually know what the exact problem is. Another thing that can make a computer engineer dislike his/her job is the fact that some parts of the computer system are difficult to repair. For instance, it may prove very hard to repair a damaged processor or to repair a disk drive that has malfunctioned. Additionally, in case the motherboard has problems, it will take great expertise in computer engineering to repair it. Thus a computer engineer may get discouraged if he/she tries to repair a computer part without success. This may even make the engineer feel like he/she has failed in his/her work. Lastly, a computer engineer working for individual clients may dislike his/her job due to trust issues. Computer laymen who bring their spoilt computers for repair may distrust him/her if, after the repair, the computer gets spoilt again. A layman may even think that the engineer has stolen some functioning parts.
Despite all these difficulties, computer hardware engineering is a very rewarding career that is bound to make the person who practices it proud of it. One of the main reasons why a computer hardware engineer may like his/her job is because corporations respect computer hardware engineers and thus they have attractive packages for these professionals. Additionally, a large proportion of computer hardware engineers get satisfaction out of solving other people’s problems. This implies that apart from the monetary benefits that may come with repairing people’s computer hardware, the hardware engineer will be getting substantial satisfaction from helping people with their hardware problems. Additionally, while working with computer hardware, especially the motherboard, the hardware engineer gets substantial knowledge related to programmable logic. This knowledge can help him/her to solve industrial problems. This may even lead to inventions and innovations. This is also another aspect of hardware engineering that may prove to be lucrative.
From the discussion above, it is apparent that there are numerous advantages and disadvantages of computer hardware engineering which may make a hardware engineer like or dislike his/her job. Although the reasons for disliking the job are seemingly more and weightier than the reasons for liking it, computer hardware engineering is a rewarding career that guarantees financial stability as well as self-discovery. It is thus of essence that Computer Science students consider choosing hardware engineering as a career.