What does a firmware engineer do?

I am looking to build out a team to create a wearable device that will run on Android Wear ... I was told that I should plan on a team with the following people; A - User Interface B - Mechanical Engineer C - Electrical Engineer D - Software/Firmware Engineer. Am I missing anyone?

• Answer:

  You don't mention what other roles will be filled by the company team.  You don't say what is your area of expertise. I will guess that you are the visionary original founder, if so your time may be spent fully on  bringing in money to meet payroll, providing leadership, filling in the  gaps, locating new team members, etc. Your technical team is comprised of specialists.  I don't see a technical team leader/CTO on this list.  You need a generalist to insure that the hard work of the specialists comes together properly. Preferably the mechanical engineer will have access to inexpensive resources who can fabricate prototypes. UX is important, as evidenced by current critical reviews of wearable apps.  Finding someone who is a demonstrated master of UX in such a small screen footprint may be difficult. By "C" I guess you mean an embedded systems expert who knows how to design and prototype the electronics hardware, as well as develop the app software.  It is unlikely you will find one person who has excellent skills in both of these areas. And as others have indicated, you will need someone to develop and test market strategy from the beginning.  Gut feeling regarding the market can kill a company and a good idea.