Valve Is Looking For Hardware Engineers. Interesting.

Last month, Valve said that the company was "a long way" from shipping any kind of gaming hardware, let alone a dedicated games machine as some people had expected. Some new job listings for "electronics engineers" with the company, though, show that more people are at least being hired for that "long way" in the future.

Seemingly far more specialised than someone hired to work as an engineer on Valve's own Steam infrastructure, successful applicants will join a "highly motivated team that's doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We're not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here — help us invent whole new gaming experiences."

Interesting. Especially since it's not too long ago we also got a look at a weird control pad the company had been working on.

Here's the ad in full:

Electronics Engineer

For years, Valve has been all about writing software that provides great gameplay experiences. Now we're developing hardware to enhance those experiences, and you can be a key part of making that happen. Join our highly motivated team that's doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We're not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here — help us invent whole new gaming experiences.

Duties:

Work with the hardware team to conceive, design, evaluate, and produce new types of input, output, and platform hardware

Requirements:

Hands on prototyping experience

Lab and measurement skills

System level design experience

Knowledge of embedded systems/microcontrollers

Experience with high speed serial interfaces

Experience with schematic entry

Experience with circuit simulation

Four years relevant experience

Recommended:

Board layout (analogue and high speed digital)

Hardware Definition Languages (HDL) for FPGA and chip design

Power supply management

Thermal management

Design for test

Low frequency analog

RF and antennas

Signal integrity analysis

DSP

ARM / X86 system design

Manufacturing pilot runs

Failure analysis

FCC/CE/UL certification

Remember that just because Valve is looking to ramp up hardware engineering, like the control pad patent shows, it doesn't necessarily mean we'll be seeing a Steam games system/custom PC. It might "just" be some strange new interfaces and peripherals!

Electronics Engineer [Valve, via Engadget]