Any Engineers out there???

[Satt]

I am in school for Electrical Engineering right now and I have never actually seen the job in action. I was wondering if anyone that is an Engineer could enlighten me about what a day in the life is like. Also, if you don't mind, let me know what kind of Engineer you are and what branch of this work is the easiest one to get a job in. Many thanks in advance.

Jason :fart:

 

[Rich Parsons]

I am in school for Electrical Engineering right now and I have never actually seen the job in action. I was wondering if anyone that is an Engineer could enlighten me about what a day in the life is like. Also, if you don't mind, let me know what kind of Engineer you are and what branch of this work is the easiest one to get a job in. Many thanks in advance.

Jason :fart:

I work in the field where most people have a BSEE or ME or even a few CS, with lots of masters out there as well.

LAter this weekend I can give you a day in the life, and also the day in the life from a previous year

 

[Satt]

I work in the field where most people have a BSEE or ME or even a few CS, with lots of masters out there as well.

LAter this weekend I can give you a day in the life, and also the day in the life from a previous year

Thanks Rich. Looking forward to it. :fanboy:

Jason

 

[arnisador]

I have a BSEE, but apart from a summer internship I haven't worked as an engineer. (I also have a BS in math. and went on in that.) I teach at an engineering school and this issue comes up often. Until your junior year (or later), you can't really understand what an EE does on a day-to-day basis. One majors in EE on faith! Students ask this all the time their first few years in college, and it's so hard to answer until they've had the Systems and Signals class (Fourier theory, Laplace transforms and z-transforms, controls, etc.).

It varies greatly. Some design, some analyze, most do a little of each; some are in sales or marketing or management, some on the floor (basically doing Industrial Engineering work), some in R&D, some are programming computers, and so on. Most work in teams, with rotating leads for various projects. (Most of these projects involve a subsystem--one rarely gets oversight of an entire device.) Plus, about half of all engineers eventually end up in a job that doesn't require an engineering degree, believe it or not.

In my limited experience, though, most engineering activities involve one of two main activities: Modifying an existing design for a a slightly different capability, or talking about fishing.

 

[Rich Parsons]

I am in school for Electrical Engineering right now and I have never actually seen the job in action. I was wondering if anyone that is an Engineer could enlighten me about what a day in the life is like. Also, if you don't mind, let me know what kind of Engineer you are and what branch of this work is the easiest one to get a job in. Many thanks in advance.

Jason :fart:

I work in the Embedded Software area:

Right after college I went to work for General Dynamics, and I did Unit testing ob benches, where you step through code and plug in high and low numbers and out of range values and such. I also did reviews of designs and code, and test results in a group review. This gets people to review and look for errors and gets one used to it is the process not an attack on the person to review their work. I also wrote code for various programs.

I left GD and went to contracting at Chrysler where I wrote the Operating system for their new daignostic tool called the DRBIII (* Diagnostic Recorder Box 3rd edition *). I also wrote other software there as well. What surprised me was that when I asked others to review my design, they were surprised, and did so, which helped, but was still a surprise. The group operated under the premise that you do your best and then go try it out and the change it if it did not work. I was able to work the vehicles and the diagnostic equipment in garages and on benches. It was fun and educational.

I left there for GM and a direct position. I took a large amount of bundled code and integrated it with another large amount of bundled code. (* I took the common Transmission software, and then modified the interfaces for the changes and integrated it with the Passenger V6 Engine Code *). Here with me and a few others, we instituted design reviews and code reviews, that were documented and saved for future reviews when problems were found later. This was done to see if they could have been found and why they were were missed. I also would take the software and run it on a bench and from there to a vehicle.

I know am a System Engineer responsible for a whole ECM - Engine Control Module - and others now code and test and do the detail design work, while I sit in on reviews and mange the timing and content for the deliverables of the program.

As to what Arni said about taking what others have done and building this is true for the most part, but you can get a patent in this field as well. The only thing I would suggest is to go into communications and not the auto industry unless you really are a car guy, as the auto industry is not as stable as it used to be, and people doing more and more with less resources, but I still enjoy the field myself.

 

[Mark L]

In my limited experience, though, most engineering activities involve one of two main activities: Modifying an existing design for a a slightly different capability, or talking about fishing.

Hey, wait a minute! Some of us actually start with a clean sheet of paper, uh, I mean an empty schematic window. And us New Englanders talk about the Red Sox and Patriots.

I'm an analog circuit designer, and the lead engineer of a subsystem design team. I work for a non-profit R & D company that is almost exclusively funded by the DoD. The work is mainly guidance, navigation, & control systems, my area is instrumentation electronics for inertial sensors. I'll post later with 'a day in the life', right now I have to help some test engineers integrate my stuff with the test equipment.

There are dozens of fields that you can choose with an EE degree, and you may change course numerous times in your career. If you have an idea where you'd like to start, that's great. If not, I would seek opportunities with organizations that offer a variety of disciplines with experienced mentors that can expose you to the breadth and depth of the EE landscape.

 

[masherdong]

Dont know about EE. I am in school for Civil Engineering and I work for a civil engineering firm as a Sr. CAD Technician. If you are interested, I can tell you more about it.

 

[dsp921]

The only thing I would suggest is to go into communications and not the auto industry unless you really are a car guy

If you mean telecom and networking, I disagree. That industry is not the place to be. Smaller companies are folding or getting bought out. There will only be a few large ones left in the end. I did 7 years designing routers and switches, I didn't like it, but that's me. I would recommend bio-med, that industry is growing. Whatever area you go into I suggest that you have more than a passing interest in it, otherwise it makes for long days. ASIC design is also a good area to focus on.
I also disagree about EEs just modifying exisiting designs. That might happen when you first start out, but after a while you should be doing new stuff. I wouldn't hang around long if I was just making changes.

 

[arnisador]

My EE industrial experience is very limited so please factor that in to my comments about modifying existing designs. I am a mathematician and have industrial experience in R&D, but little in design.

Biomed. is a growing area, but beware of getting the biomed. BS degrees that re coming into vogue--most employers prefer a BSEE or BSME with a MS in biomed. eng.

 

[Mark L]

Biomed. is a growing area, but beware of getting the biomed. BS degrees that re coming into vogue--most employers prefer a BSEE or BSME with a MS in biomed. eng.

Very true, I was in a biomedical engineering curriculum from 77 - 79, then switched to straight EE. Some of my friends that didn't lacked the core skills to move into an EE job or enter into EE graduate studies, requiring a year of remedial study. However, you might be OK if you plan to go straight to grad school and study biomed (we have a few dozen of those types here, exclusively Masters and (mostly) PhD's).

 

[arnisador]

Yes, that's different. The MS in biomed. eng. where I teach is very popular, and they do some great work. After you get a MS, the area it's in is what you'll usually be considered to be!

But the 'core skills' issue is important. A BS in biomed. eng. can be 1/3 biologist, 1/3 EE, and 1/3 ME--which doesn't clearly add up to enough knowledge to do something useful.

In addition, an EE degree is much more flexible in that many jobs will be available for an EE, including those in biomed. areas, but a biomed. eng. might have trouble getting a power eng. job. Taking the BS in EE or ME protects one's options!