What is Electrical Engineering???????????

what are you interested in? I didn't have a comics class when I was taking EE so I don't know if you will get what you want. at my school (USC) the top of the heap (in 1982) was a tie between Aerospace/Electrical/Biomedical. Next came Mechanical. There was a cyclical nature to Chemical and Petroleum. The lower echelon was composed of Civil and Industrial.

We used to say that Electrical/Aerospace Engineers made weapons systems; Civil Engineers made targets.

Most of engineering in the US is under the thumb of a nasty corporate scene, political, back stabbing...human resources driving rates down, out sourcing...and people forced almost to defend their own errors or loose their jobs..

nasty. I dont recommend it as a carreer...I spend decades in the business all across the US and some foreign situation.. thats the predominant situation, virtually no exceptions.. unless your soul is already dead... then you might not notice.

If you are good at the sciences I would recommend the research levels.

Phil Scott

okay what do i mean by comics. I dont know if u guys are familiar with iron man. Im not that very font of the character rather than his suit itself. And when i read about this imaginery construct with all the technological superiority to be a rival even to the hulk i said hey its not that bizzare and out of this world and that was the start. A little childish i know but everything starts from somewhere.

That's why i'm thinking either Electrical or Mechanical or even both to do some robotics

So do you have any rudimentary mechanical and/or electrical skills? Did you join the robotics club in high school? Take apart (and perhaps reassemble) any of your father's favorite machinary? Work on hot rods? How are your math skills. The math in ME and EE is a lot tougher than CE. Not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to grok your motivation, young Anthony Stark.

I'm currently studying electrical engineering, I would definitely say that it's interesting. But that depends on the person... Some people will like electrical, others not.

It's very challenging, and it's generally regarded as one of the "hardest" engineering areas. You have to be good at math and you have to be able to visualize abstract concepts. If you like to suffer and pull out your hair, then you'll like electrical... Everyone I know in my program has a secret hate for civil and industrial engineers because we have to study so much harder :-P

Topics in electrical engineering include: Electronics, telecommunications, computer hardware, electromagnetics, power, etc. We even cover a good deal of computer software topics. I know a lot of electrical engineers who ended up as programmers. Go figure.

Electrical Engineers are on the higher end of the pay spectrum, at least in my neck of the woods. Next are mechanical. There is a pretty big gap between Electrical and Civil.

What's a comic?

Hope that helps.

Patrick

Ray wrote:

Look into electromechanics, it might just be your thing.

Patrick

Ray wrote:

Thanks man. My math is pretty good and if im interested in what they get even better. As for robotics club my school desny have stuff like that. You see i come from Greece where stuff like that doesnt exist. Now im taking courses in Canada and i have all these options and i want to make the right one. Becauce as you propably know there is nothing worse than waking up and going to a job that you hate.It kills you.

Also thanks Pat. You see i dont really care about difficulty becauce if you are fascinated of what you do then hell it means something and that is what keeps you going no matter what.

By the way im just a kid doesnt mean that im apsolutely right.

what are comics????????? ok here check it for yourself:

Haha! That's what I thought... But I didn't know if comic was some shorthand for some technology I never heard of... :-P

Comics are usually exaggerations of what is possible. But it's always good to dream.

If you want to learn about some of the "cooler" things in electrical engineering, do a quick google search for Nicola Tesla. He is often regarded as the father of modern electrical engineering. If you want to really have some fun, see if you can get someone to help you build a Tesla Coil.

Those things are wild!

Another good place to learn about the cool stuff in electrical engineering is IEEE Spectrum magazine. Your school's library should have a couple issues kicking around, if not a huge pile of them.

Take care, Patrick

Ray wrote:

thanks for the pointers i could really use the information

I think I am a rare person because I knew at a very early age what I was going to *be when I grew up*. When I was 10 years old, I had a soldering iron in my hand and was building electronic projects from magazines and books. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also had an affinity for math, so it was just a matter-of-fact that I would become a degreed electrical engineer.

After 25 years of practice, I am starting to get *burned out*, but that will probably happen to most people no matter what career they choose.

Keep in mind there are many areas of study within the banner called,

Other areas of specialty include: power, electronic design, instrumentation & telemetry, signal processing, integrated circuit design, and others.

Good luck, Tom

Be careful. We used to think Dick Tracy's wrist radio/video "watch" was an "exaggerations of what is possible." But now we have those things!!

Thanks Tom but what do you mean burned out?

tired of the same ole same ole....we get that way when we get old.

Not so rare. Added to all that, my father was an EE professor, though he specialized in power/motors/transformers (gack ;).

Many specialties. Pick one you're good at and are interested in (often the same). Change is good too.

Many others.

hey i thank all of you becauce its a really big step for me. My father is in civil engineering and as u can assume he's i am where i am. Ad i do wanna do something of my one and im kinda scared becauce once i choose this i am leaving my father's wing and walkig my own path. But hey! It's time to grow up right? And i plan to do that real soon.

That's a youngish, but mature, philosophy; hang onto it and let it evolve! I know where-of you speak.

Best!

Pop

Research??? If you want to move to India or China maybe.

Hell, by the end of the decade, most of our research will be done in Asia--and the korporate mind set insists on continuing on this path. I guess they must feel quite secure and justified in their reasoning. Once, we retire it will be quite interesting to see what kind of rabbit korporate amerika will pull out of its hat. Even more so the case with the DoD.

civil combined with architecture is a winning combo (although architecture can be a grind in itself!).