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Engineering career
- Thread starter Lammchop93
- Start date
If you do get a job as an EE here is a tip:
DO NOT design in just one manufacturer on things like Tantalum capacitors, Memory and IC's.
We thought nothing of it until things started to pickup worldwide and now TI, On Semi, AVX and KEMET are going into allocation and we have to start an extensive cross design on like 30 boards!!
I want to slap our Engineering Manager for ONLY using the Digikey catalog, I hate Digikey. I will quote his ignorance: "If it's not in the digikey catalog, I don't consider it for design"
/Vent.
DO NOT design in just one manufacturer on things like Tantalum capacitors, Memory and IC's.
We thought nothing of it until things started to pickup worldwide and now TI, On Semi, AVX and KEMET are going into allocation and we have to start an extensive cross design on like 30 boards!!
I want to slap our Engineering Manager for ONLY using the Digikey catalog, I hate Digikey. I will quote his ignorance: "If it's not in the digikey catalog, I don't consider it for design"
/Vent.
Look at how much things have changed in 8-9 years..
When I was in school learning about the component side I don't remember there being so many IC's, there is literally one for every job you could imagine now.. It's amazing, in the future we won't even have to be engineers, it will be like working with LEGO blocks.
Okay, maybe not that easy, but you get the idea.
This discussion brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "flexing your e-dick."
BS CpE...two more semesters....two more semesters...
BS CpE...two more semesters....two more semesters...
Until they go on allocation.
Been there. I empathize -- once got screwed by Microchip. Now I keep safety stock on the most vital parts.
Couple of weeks back. How to construct a particular 2D image filter using a composition of bilinearly interpolated point samples. Didn't do the heavy lifting myself though, that's what Maple is for. However, I still need to know enough to drive the thing and spot BS.
To the OP:
Get a breadboard and "The Art of Electronics". Play. Are you having fun? If so, consider it as a career.
Look at FPGA and the mixed signal programmable IC's also.
Some really impressive stuff out there nowadays.
Until they go on allocation.
Been there. I empathize -- once got screwed by Microchip. Now I keep safety stock on the most vital parts.
TI/Burr Brown are the folks that got me last...
Reading this thread, I couldn't help but feel self-pity. You guys, especially in the USA seem to have so many options regarding what you want to do with your lives. Engineering as an option is just as valid as any degree in the arts/humanities. In India, for 99% of the top students, studying engineering is almost a duty as opposed to a choice. Had there been valid scope for a degree in arts/philosophy/psychology, etc. in my neck of the woods, I would never have gotten into engineering in the first place. 
What's more, I find it interesting that a debate related to the application of stuff you study in the degree course and its eventual application in your work field should arise here (regarding the application of Maths, in this thread). My uncle was a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the best tech varsity in India and got a job with Cognizant Tech Solutions, where his work consisted of nothing related even remotely to anything he'd done in the 4 year UG course.
What's more, I find it interesting that a debate related to the application of stuff you study in the degree course and its eventual application in your work field should arise here (regarding the application of Maths, in this thread). My uncle was a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the best tech varsity in India and got a job with Cognizant Tech Solutions, where his work consisted of nothing related even remotely to anything he'd done in the 4 year UG course.
Engineering is somehow challenging and yet sometimes stressfull, but I am loving it...I never regret my decission to be an engineer...NEVER.
I've been working as mechanical engineer for one of world's leading engineering company mainly my job is dealing with HVAC and Piping. Math, CAD, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer are very related to my daily job..
I've been working as mechanical engineer for one of world's leading engineering company mainly my job is dealing with HVAC and Piping. Math, CAD, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer are very related to my daily job..
Yes: that's how it should be, shouldn't it?
I was referring to the somewhat brainless job selection procedures, esp. in India where people unrelated to certain fields of work end up getting in.
I think I can add to this thread a little bit...
I'm at Penn State right now in my first year, and my major was Energy Engineering. I just recently discovered engineering isn't for me. I'm changing to Psych. The original post made me think of myself in 10th grade. I was so sure I wanted to be an engineer. Let me just tell you, it's a LOT of work. You need to have a great work ethic, and you need to be good with math and science, obviously. If you're getting into engineering, I assume you are. To me at least, engineering wasn't what I was expecting. I thought energy engineering would be all cool stuff, messing with solar panels and stuff, and I'm sure I would love it if I stuck with it, but it's more work than fun. You have to go through a lot of physics, chemistry, calculus, etc. before you get to any actually engineering classes. But if you're patient, unlike me, its worth it.
So I know we're different people, but just keep that in mind. Engineering is a great career, and I hope you do well in it, if you do stick with it.
Good Luck.
Evan McCann
I'm at Penn State right now in my first year, and my major was Energy Engineering. I just recently discovered engineering isn't for me. I'm changing to Psych. The original post made me think of myself in 10th grade. I was so sure I wanted to be an engineer. Let me just tell you, it's a LOT of work. You need to have a great work ethic, and you need to be good with math and science, obviously. If you're getting into engineering, I assume you are. To me at least, engineering wasn't what I was expecting. I thought energy engineering would be all cool stuff, messing with solar panels and stuff, and I'm sure I would love it if I stuck with it, but it's more work than fun. You have to go through a lot of physics, chemistry, calculus, etc. before you get to any actually engineering classes. But if you're patient, unlike me, its worth it.
So I know we're different people, but just keep that in mind. Engineering is a great career, and I hope you do well in it, if you do stick with it.
Good Luck.
Evan McCann
I am a test engineer for a company that builds batteries for all sorts of neat things that go boom, satalittes and other cool **** in space.
My job is a mix of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and chemistry.
I fracking love my job. Every day is a new challenge and everytime I see a GPS, a vid of a bomb dropping on a house in Iraq, or some tasty Hubble pics, I feel extremely proud to be a part of that.
How did I get here? Well, I was a good student in high school and went into college as a CIS(computer information systems) major. I ended up dropping out my senior year and went to work construction. Believe it or not, working a real blue collar job helped prepare me for a white collar workforce more than college did. I have a sense of lets get this **** done now which is lacking from a lot of my contemporaries.
I of course went back to school and studied industrial engineering. That program will teach you electronics, materials, etc and most importantly in today's manufacturing environment, it teaches you how to operate in a quality system.
American manufacturing is on the decline and has been for years. I recommend that you go Industrial engineering for the coming boom in manufacturing. You will be well positioned to fill a role in many industries instead of being pigeon holed into one narrow field.
On a side note. Industrial engineers at my company make more than the chemical, mechanical and electrical engineers. They are more flexible and do more for the bottom line of the company. I hope this helps.
My job is a mix of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and chemistry.
I fracking love my job. Every day is a new challenge and everytime I see a GPS, a vid of a bomb dropping on a house in Iraq, or some tasty Hubble pics, I feel extremely proud to be a part of that.
How did I get here? Well, I was a good student in high school and went into college as a CIS(computer information systems) major. I ended up dropping out my senior year and went to work construction. Believe it or not, working a real blue collar job helped prepare me for a white collar workforce more than college did. I have a sense of lets get this **** done now which is lacking from a lot of my contemporaries.
I of course went back to school and studied industrial engineering. That program will teach you electronics, materials, etc and most importantly in today's manufacturing environment, it teaches you how to operate in a quality system.
American manufacturing is on the decline and has been for years. I recommend that you go Industrial engineering for the coming boom in manufacturing. You will be well positioned to fill a role in many industries instead of being pigeon holed into one narrow field.
On a side note. Industrial engineers at my company make more than the chemical, mechanical and electrical engineers. They are more flexible and do more for the bottom line of the company. I hope this helps.
Hilarious!
That was the exact book that peeked my interest, may brother gave me his copy and it turned out that he was going for an EE major, but decided to go for a major in computer science.
You have forced me to take that book out and thumb through it again.
I think it's one of the best textbooks ever written in any subject. I have the first edition, and it's practically falling apart from heavy use.
In addition to the above advice, I recommend downloading the free LTSpice program from Link Removed and playing around with it. It's great for playing with bass gear circuits. I've got a LTSpice model of the classic SVT tube preamp at my website.
Big +1 to spice.
Everything has a spice model now. It is a great way to test theoretical circuit integrity.
The difference between a mechanical engineer and a civil engineer is, mechanical engineers build bombs and civil engineers build targets.
I have one question about this. I cannot actualyl join the military becuase I am a diabetic and have other physical problems, so I can't do much there, but I want to work somehwere that contributes to the Military. Would talkign to a recruiter still help with this?
Check out www.Raytheon.com/IDS.
Been there for 20 years worked other places for 20 years before that. An awesome place to work. We start young engineers out of school around 85K.
We build electronics for the military....the ones out there protecting us. Don't see that as politics...see it as gratitude.
If you ever want to take electrical engineering to its insane max limits, get involved in the development of a phased array radar.
It's linear systems, RF engineering, Mechanical engineering, computer engineering/software development, civil engineering (for the big ones), signal processing, control systems, material science, industrial engineering.
There is n o t h i n g like it. Been doing it in an engineering or management capacity for about 30 years.
Guess how I got into it? I played bass in a high school garage band.....yeah, I was the guy who took care of the electronics.
Now I play bass for an employee band (called X-Band for obvious reasons to a radar engineer) that does gigs for new employees, summer time picnic events, charitable events etc.
Not too far away from retirement is why I took up the bass again after so many years. Plan to have that be a permanent part of my future.
Being an engineer means you think like an engineer. You think in mathematical terms whether you bend integrals or not. Most concepts are firmly grounded in physics and math.
This is such a big and complex technolgy business that it is like one long rocket ride. No two days are alike. We have a work environment that encourages job rotation so if u r bored, it's 'cause you choose to be.
There will be no more solid or stable tech job other than perhaps biotech or medical fields.
Go for it. You'll be glad you did.
PM me if u have questions.
For my degree, I studied a fairly esoteric topic in atomic physics. Today I am an optical engineer and engineering manager. The tools that I am using today, and many of the technologies, did not exist in any usable form when I was in school.
But part of a good education is "learning how to learn," so I would bet that your uncle has gotten good use out of his degree, even if he is working in an unrelated field now.
