Why I Became and Electrical Engineer….

Have you ever wondered why the light came on when you flipped a switch?  Or puzzled over the wiring of two-way light switch when you were a child?  Did you disassemble the family radio or reprogram the computer?  Do you take apart and reassemble every electronic gadget you come across?  If any of these areas sound familiar then a career in electrical engineering just might be a good fit for you.  Electrical engineers do not just deal with the electronic circuitry that make the gadgets that we operate and use every day, they work a multiple levels within an electrical device from the atomic level building semiconductor devices that are the brains behind our automobiles all the way up to the wiring that controls the lighting on the perimeter of the vehicle.  Because of the wide diversity of requirements, this why I am happy to have chosen a career in electrical engineering.

Earning an electrical engineering degree                   

A degree in electrical engineering is one of the most fundamental engineering degrees that a prospective student can earn.  This wide spanning degree is now being split into multiple arenas based on the area that the student wishes to specialize in but each still falls under the electrical engineering umbrella and as technology continues to advance we will continue to see an increasing number of specialty degrees being offered for this degree.  When you apply for an electrical engineering degree, universities are going to look at the core curriculum that you studied in high school;   the very basic requirements will be math, science, physics and chemistry but they will also look to see that you were a well-rounded student and have a good foundation in all the core classes.  Additionally, they will want to see that you were involved in extra-curricular activities and potentially athletics that will demonstrate an engagement in the community and that you will be a well-rounded individual.

One additional consideration for prospective engineering students are the grades that you received in your studies.  The electrical engineering program is very intense and they will want to ensure that you have the knowledge base to be successful in the program so good grades are important.  If you are interested in pursuing an electrical engineering degree but have struggled with grades in school, consider taking a year of college math, physics and chemistry courses to come up to speed and then enter your core course work.  These intro classes will prepare you for the rigors of an intense college curriculum and help to allow you to catch up if you did not have the advanced courses available at your secondary school.

A day in the life of an electrical engineer

Electrical engineers tend to work in their own worlds when it comes to electrical circuit design.  When we begin a project we are given the functionality of the part and the basic requirements that we must work within and then we go off and design the circuitry that will make it work.  In electrical engineering terminology we describe this as a ‘black box’.  The virtual black box will have inputs and outputs but what goes on inside the black box is only understood by the electrical engineer.  Once the design is complete, the engineer will then take their design for integration into the overall automobile and participate in the final design validation testing and coordinate with the manufacturing engineers to ensure they can assemble and test their design.

But electrical engineers work on another level, also, that looks at semiconductor design and integration.  When you choose this path you are working at the fundamental level of semiconductor design and the minute electronic gates that compose the brains of all electronic devices.  When you choose to work at this level, your world will become invisible and theoretical as you manipulate electrical energy at the atomic level and design the next generation semiconductor devices.  Electrical engineers who focus on semiconductor design and theory must be comfortable not being able to physically see the parts that they are designing but instead must intuitively understand the multiple energy levels within an atom to better manipulate and design future parts.

Electrical engineering continues to grow and evolve as technology advances and as more and more semiconductors are included in our vehicle designs their job is becoming increasingly important.  If you choose electrical engineering as a career path you will see that there is multitude of opportunity available to you throughout your career both in the automotive industry and in other high tech fields as well.