When hiring hardware engineers, all look for qualities such as the ability to ensure hardware reliability, isolate problems quickly and improve the computer development process. If so, you might be interested in this dynamic field, which attracts technical professionals from electrical, systems and programming backgrounds. That's what hardware engineering is-seeing technology change day in and day out. To be able to walk onto the manufacturing floor and talk to somebody who's building what you're designing is invaluable. Not every engineer gets that opportunity.
Challenges range from software-related interface issues to process problems.
I encounter other constraints, too, that are not just design-related. They're marketing, documentation and parts-availability constraints, but I don't see those as a big problem. They're challenges and issues that have to be considered in your design. The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages, however. Engineering designers these days have to think more about where the product is being used, who the customer is and how the product is being manufactured.