Electrical Engineering

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Posted by Nick .

Student on team #240, Mach V, from Jefferson Monroe High School and Visteon.

Posted on 10/10/2000 8:21 PM MST



I am seriously considering electrical engineering as a career. I know that counselors at my
school could give me a good general direction in classes but I wanted input from people in this
field. What classes should I take beyond basic elestronics? What are good schools? What
do elestrical engineers do on a daily basis?

All coments are appreciated

[archiver]

Posted by Jason Rukes.

Engineer on team #109, Arial Systems & Libertyville HS, from Libertyville High School and Arial Systems Corp & SEC Design.

Posted on 10/11/2000 7:30 AM MST


In Reply to: Electrical Engineering posted by Nick on 10/10/2000 8:21 PM MST:



: I am seriously considering electrical engineering as a career. I know that counselors at my
: school could give me a good general direction in classes but I wanted input from people in this
: field. What classes should I take beyond basic elestronics? What are good schools? What
: do elestrical engineers do on a daily basis?

: All coments are appreciated


Nick,

I went to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign so I can only comment on their electrical engineering program. To answer your questions in order:

>1. What classes should I take beyond basic elestronics?
Follow the link below to get an idea of the classes that electrical engineering students take. The fun part comes when you get to choose your electives. That's when you can take classes on robotics.

>2. What are good schools?
My bias points to UIUC, but other great schools are MIT, UC-Berkley, Purdue, and Michigan. I know there are many other good EE schools, but I have some first hand experience with these schools so that is why I mention them. However, I've also met some good engineers that went to DeVry, so don't think that a major university is the only way to get a good education.

>3. What do elestrical engineers do on a daily basis?
Good question. On an ideal day, I start working on a circuit simulation. A useful program you might see in school is called PSpice. If the simulation meets the circuit requirements then I build a prototype, either with a bread board if it is simple, or I layout a printed circuit board (PCB) if it is more complex. Good soldering skills are a must. Then, I test the circuit to see if it matches the simulation. This requires the use of test equipment like voltmeters, oscilloscopes, signal generators, power meters, and spectrum analyzers.
On a regular day, there are also meetings with part vendors, meetings with the specifications department, update meetings with my boss, and trips to the factory to find out why the product is failing a quality test.
No matter what kind of engineer you are, your job description is problem solving. Whether it's electrons, steel, or bits, you are trying to control something.

4. You didn't ask directly so consider this more free advice. Here are some things you can do right now to get a headstart in your career.

*Join a FIRST robotics team and shadow an electrical engineer. Judging by Sam's message, your team is looking for engineers. I wish you luck. Our team is looking for more engineers as well. The hardest part about finding quality engineering volunteers is that the good ones are usually working late nights at the office.

*Go to Radio Shack and get some of the Engineer's Mini-Notebooks. They have some simple circuits that are great for beginners. Get a soldering iron or a bread board and try them out. The best way to learn is hands-on experience, just like FIRST. You can also get some good kits from Electronic Rainbow(http://www.rainbowkits.com/). It's a shame to see Juniors in college, trying to get their EE degree, and they have never used a soldering iron or bread board. The difference is like talking about sky diving, and actually experiencing sky diving.