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Hardware & Storage Engineer Job Market

The Senture facility houses computer server operations that support the full-service, 24/7 contact center's headquarters in London, Ky, on July 14, 2011. Senture recently built a new facility to accommodate current and future growth, through Rural Development's (RD), Rural Economic Development Loan Program. Senture received funding to build the new facility with funding administered through Jackson Energy Cooperative,. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung. Original image from Flickr

The current job market for hardware and storage engineers is growing but that growth is slow. As global device users create exponentially more stored data over the next three years, demand for hardware also increases. Enterprises need hardware experts with a range of experience and skills with storage mediums. Demand for hardware and storage employees, […]

Written By

Jenna Phipps

Dec 4, 2021

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The current job market for hardware and storage engineers is growing but that growth is slow.

As global device users create exponentially more stored data over the next three years, demand for hardware also increases. Enterprises need hardware experts with a range of experience and skills with storage mediums.

Demand for hardware and storage employees, while increasing, will grow at a lesser rate than the demand for software engineers.

See below to learn what positions are available in the storage hardware market and what skills engineers and technicians need to be competitive:

Also Read: SSD Market: Intro, Features, Benefits, and Providers

The Job Market

The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a 2% growth rate for computer hardware engineer positions from 2020-2030, which it notes as slower than average.

By comparison, software engineering demand is increasing more quickly: the BLS expects 22% job growth for the software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers market.

Also Read: Cloud Computing Job Market 2021

Storage Hardware Job Types

Storage hardware-focused roles typically include experience with storage market trends and technologies, including:

Primary and archival storage
Solid-state drives (SSDs), hard disk drives (HDDs), tape, and optical devices
Storage protocols and buses
PC and server architecture, such as x86 servers and CPU cores
Storage technologies, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID)

The following are storage hardware roles in the job market and sample requirements that employers may expect for each role:

Job Title	Storage Hardware Responsibilities
Systems Hardware Engineer	Integrating systems Knowing at least one storage medium Understanding data storage protocols
Storage Administrator	Managing stored files and hard drives Configuring storage systems
Infrastructure Engineer	Managing block and file storage systems Working within data centers Knowing server operating systems and hardware
Hardware Product Manager	Collaborating with development, engineering, and leadership teams Designing hardware product road maps Working with hardware engineers
Senior Hardware Engineer	Testing hardware systems Potentially managing other people and projects Deploying hardware in data centers
Systems Administrator (Advanced)	Monitoring storage area network (SAN) tools Configuring disk pools and storage groups Maintaining tape libraries

Education for Storage Hardware Roles

Many high-paying storage hardware positions require at least a bachelor’s degree, and some require a master’s degree.

Hardware engineers typically have at least a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, computer science, or another related engineering field.

Hardware and storage engineers may also choose to earn a technical certificate from an accredited institution. Common certifications for computer hardware engineers to hold include Certified LabVIEW Developer (CLD) and Engineer in Training (EIT) certifications. The EIT is one step to earning a professional engineering license, according to Zippia.

Storage Hardware Job Openings

There are over 8,000 jobs available tied to storage hardware in the U.S., according to LinkedIn. Here are some of the positions:

Hardware systems engineer – storage
Storage administrator
Infrastructure engineer
Principal storage hardware architect
Senior hardware engineer
Storage management consultant
Senior storage hardware architect
Systems administrator (advanced)
Data center operations
Server administrator

Storage Hardware Salaries

The table below shows a range of salaries for hardware and storage positions, according to Glassdoor:

Job Title	Salary Range (Median)
Server/systems administrator	$73,000-76,000
Storage administrator	$91,000
Infrastructure engineer	$101,000
Systems hardware engineer	$109,000
Senior hardware engineer	$131,000
Senior storage engineer	$133,000

(Source: Glassdoor)

Conclusions

Professional positions in hardware and storage require significant technical experience and often a college degree. Knowledge of storage protocols, hardware configuration, and networking is useful in an enterprise environment that prioritizes technology and storage. Although the hardware job market isn’t growing as rapidly as the market for software-related roles, many requirements for hardware and storage engineering are also useful skills for software roles.

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Jenna Phipps

Jenna Phipps is a staff writer for Enterprise Storage Forum and eSecurity Planet, where she covers data storage, cybersecurity and the top software and hardware solutions in the storage industry. She’s also written about containerization and data management. Previously, she wrote for Webopedia. Jenna has a bachelor's degree in writing and lives in middle Tennessee.