According to the BLS, Job Outlook employment for computer hardware engineers, the expected ten-year growth from 2014 to 2024 for computer hardware engineering was an estimated 3% and there was a total of 77,700 jobs that same year. ("Slower than average" in their own words when compared to other occupations)" and is down from 7% for the 2012 to 2022 BLS estimate and is further down from 9% in the BLS 2010 to 2020 estimate." Today, computer hardware is somehow equal to electronic and computer engineering (ECE) and has been divided into many subcategories; the most significant is embedded system design.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), "computer applications software engineers and computer systems software engineers are projected to be among the faster than average growing occupations" The expected ten-year growth as of 2014 for computer software engineering was an estimated seventeen percent and there was a total of 1,114,000 jobs that same year. This is down from the 2012 to 2022 BLS estimate of 22% for software developers. And, further down from the 30% 2010 to 2020 BLS estimate. In addition, growing concerns over cybersecurity add up to put computer software engineering high above the average rate of increase for all fields. However, some of the work will be outsourced in foreign countries. Due to this, job growth will not be as fast as during the last decade, as jobs that would have gone to computer software engineers in the United States would instead go to computer software engineers in countries such as India. In addition, the BLS Job Outlook for Computer Programmers, 2014–24 has an −8% (a decline, in their words) for those who program computers (i.e. embedded systems) who are not computer application developer.
Computer Engineering is generally practiced within larger product development firms, and such practice may not be subject to licensing. However, independent consultants who advertise Computer Engineering, just like any form of Engineering, may be subject to state laws which restrict professional engineer practice to only those who have received the appropriate License. National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) first offered a Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination for Computer Engineering in 2003.