Back in september 2023 I started an electronics engineering position at the company I'm currently working on initially hired to, among other things, work on designing/developing circuit boards, test and troubleshoot PCBs and more.
As it turns out I've mostly been working on the part around testing, troubleshooting and verification since then and quite minor and few hardware development tasks. Although I see the learning outcome behind things like troubleshooting and verification, where you can familiarize yourself with various solutions used during the design phase, I would've loved to be able to contribute and learn electronics design stuff. Hence why I've been looking somewhat on newer roles that involves more design tasks.
To give some context on my situation:
At the moment I currently posess a bachelors degree in Electronics engineering, and taking a masters degree in Cybernetics (basically with a focus in electronics and embedded) which is set on being completed in june. So I believe I have the formal education in place for moving forward with my career.
However during the application and/or interview phase on many such positions, a common topic that usually arises are what type of hobby projects, or what kind of projects you've been working on, where I assume they're interested in this so that they know if you can solve the various challenges they can throw at you.
I mean, I can talk about relevant subjects and projects I've had during my bachelors and masters. I can also highlight how, even though I've been mostly working on minor development tasks and mostly testing, troubleshooting and verification, I've familiarized myself with common design choices and things to consider during the development phase.
Unfortunately, I'm not the type of person who, after having spent several years in uni doing electronics stuff, and while I do electronics work at... well... work, can just jump on a personal project that consist of electronics when I get home. However, once in a while I get a sudden boost in motivation to do some small projects, like for instance this https://www.reddit.com/r/PCB/comments/1swogov/review_request_led_baton/
My first question basically to the people working in hardware/electronics engineering and development roles, or those working in recrutiment for that matter is:
What are some good projects to do in your spare time to boost your chances of getting this kind of job?
I'm kinda looking for stuff that strikes a balance between something that could be made within a reasonable timeframe and could simultaneously be of enough interest to a potential employer to discuss during an interview and hopefully land a job.
And question number 2:
I see an increasing amount of positions either have it as there direct requirement or as a "nice to have" requirement to be familiar with Altium Designer. Although I have done some small projects and edited some designs in it, would that be enough to say that I'm familiar with it? and also, Altium has quite a large support community with wiki's made, if I highlight how I'm able to search up information I'm not too familiar with is this the kinda thing they're after more than necessarily just "knowing" the software?