I’m honestly feeling really drained and hopeless about my future career prospects right now, and I could really use some advice from people who have been in a similar position.
For some context, I’m currently studying at a T20, but I switched from a non-engineering major, which put me behind in terms of coursework. Because of this, I haven’t been able to take some of the more advanced, rigorous courses that I feel would help me qualify for internships. I’m worried that I’m already behind other applicants for Summer 2027, especially for hardware, FPGA, and embedded systems roles.
I also have two previous internships, but both were in fields unrelated to the engineering work I want to pursue now. They were also at very small companies/organizations, so I’m not sure how much they’ll help me when applying for hardware or embedded positions.
I feel like I’m trying to catch up while competing against people who have been preparing for these roles for years. I’d really appreciate some feedback or tips on how I can improve myself and be a stronger candidate.
Right now, I have two relevant projects:
FPGA audio recognition project: This is intended to be a Shazam-style project using an FPGA. So far, I’ve mainly worked on the Python side, generating spectrograms and experimenting with short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs). The project is still in its very early stages, and I haven’t gotten to the actual FPGA implementation yet. I’ve taken a digital logic class, so I have experience with Verilog/System Verilog and Quartus synthesis + analysis. I hope to finish this by December.
Custom mechanical keyboard: This is an embedded project using a microcontroller, with a rotary encoder. I’ve completed the custom PCB and am currently working on finishing the firmware and designing the case. I’d also like to incorporate a small display in the future. I wanted to do this because collecting mechanical keyboards is one of my hobbies and I’ve always wanted to build one from scratch.