Bytesnap Design graduate, Roberto Holmes
As this summer’s engineering graduates enter the jobs market, electronics companies are competing for talented young engineers with sectors ranging from AI and finance to cloud computing. Conversations with four graduate engineers at embedded software and electronics consultancy ByteSnap Design reveal what attracted them to the industry and what employers can do to stand out.
The electronics industry has spent years talking about the engineering skills gap, and there is little sign of the challenge easing. According to the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s 2025 UK Engineering and Technology Skills Survey, 76% of engineering employers report difficulties recruiting for key roles. Looking ahead, employers also identified innovative thinking (42%) as the most important skill for business growth over the next five years, followed closely by technical and engineering skills (39%) and specialist digital skills and knowledge (39%). Together, the findings underline a growing challenge for electronics companies. Success will depend not only on finding technically capable graduates but also on attracting people with the curiosity, creativity and adaptability to thrive in a rapidly changing industry.
ByteSnap Design recently spoke to four of its graduate and early-career engineers about their journey from university into embedded systems. While their experiences are naturally specific to one employer, the themes they identified offer wider lessons for electronics companies looking to recruit the next generation of engineers.
1. Recruit for potential, not finished engineers
Perhaps the strongest message from the interviews is that employers should not expect graduates to arrive with every practical skill already in place. None of the engineers believed university had failed to prepare them. Instead, they described their degrees as providing the theoretical foundations on which professional engineering could be built.
Whether studying computer science or aerospace engineering, they valued the grounding university gave them in software engineering, algorithms, mathematics and problem-solving. However, much of their experience of embedded software, firmware development and hardware interfaces came through placements, independent projects or learning outside formal teaching.
For employers, that distinction is important. Graduate recruitment should focus on identifying people with the aptitude to become excellent engineers rather than expecting candidates to have already acquired commercial experience. The interviews suggest that curiosity, resilience and a willingness to learn are every bit as valuable as technical knowledge at the point of recruitment, particularly when innovative thinking is becoming an increasingly important business capability.
2. Look beyond academic results
The engineers consistently recalled interview discussions focusing less on degree classifications and more on the work they had actually done. Projects, placements and extracurricular engineering activities frequently became the centrepiece of technical conversations because they allowed candidates to explain how they approached problems, justified design decisions and responded when things did not go to plan.
Within ByteSnap Design’s recruitment process, several engineers described interviews that encouraged discussion rather than simply testing whether candidates could produce the right answer under pressure. They felt this approach allowed them to demonstrate curiosity, logical thinking and communication skills alongside technical knowledge. While every employer has its own recruitment methods, the experience suggests that discussion-based interviews can provide valuable insight into a graduate’s potential as well as their current level of knowledge.
3. Make development part of your recruitment message
Salary will always influence career decisions, but it was not the defining factor in these engineers’ choice of employer. Instead, they repeatedly spoke about wanting opportunities to learn, tackle new technical challenges and continue developing once they joined industry.
Several highlighted the appeal of working across different sectors and technologies within an embedded software and electronics consultancy, allowing them to broaden their experience rather than becoming highly specialised at the start of their careers. Others reflected on the value of mentoring, supportive colleagues and the opportunity to take increasing responsibility as their confidence grew.
For employers, particularly SMEs competing with larger organisations, this is an important reminder that career development is part of the recruitment proposition. Graduates are not only evaluating the job they are accepting today but the engineer they believe they can become over the next few years.
4. Don’t underestimate the importance of culture
Technical capability may secure an interview, but the recruitment experience itself can influence whether a candidate accepts an offer. Several engineers reflected positively on interviews that felt conversational rather than confrontational and on workplaces where asking questions and learning from experienced colleagues formed part of everyday engineering practice.
For graduate engineers, the first employer often shapes the early stages of an entire career. They are therefore assessing culture, support and opportunities for learning from their first interaction with a company. Organisations that demonstrate collaboration, openness and investment in their people during recruitment may be better placed to attract graduates who have multiple career options available to them.
5. Show why electronics is different
Graduates entering the workforce today can choose from a wide range of industries, many of which actively target the same technical skills. Electronics companies therefore need to articulate what makes the sector distinctive rather than assuming graduates will automatically understand its appeal.
For the engineers interviewed, that meant working on products that interact with the physical world, solving complex technical challenges and contributing to projects across multiple industries. The combination of software, hardware and real-world engineering problems was a significant attraction and something they felt differentiated embedded systems from many other software careers.
The competition for graduate engineers is unlikely to become any easier. As demand for engineering and digital skills continues to grow across the economy, employers will need to compete not only with one another but with entirely different industries. The experiences of these four graduate engineers suggest that attracting the strongest candidates is about far more than offering a first job. It means recruiting for potential, demonstrating a commitment to professional development, creating an engaging recruitment experience and giving graduates compelling reasons to build their careers in electronics rather than elsewhere. For an industry concerned about its future skills pipeline, those lessons are worth listening to.
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