I had an enlightening conversation recently with an experienced engineer about the types of specializations available to EEs. I believe he said there were 5: RF (radio frequency), power, computer(hardware?), and two that I do not recall. I would love to hear from engineers, recruiters, and college professors about: 1) what course gives an introduction to each specialty, 2) what 1-3 courses provide enough of a base for an entry level job in each specialty, and 3) of those courses, which are you looking for/recommendation a student take to make themselves most qualified for an internship in each specialization?
Moderator- should this be moved elsewhere so it is seen by those that I was hoping to reach?
Moved to Engineering Majors
Thank you!
Different schools have different specializations (some may not even have a “specialization”). Usually the larger the program, the more specializations options will be available. You’ll also have to decide how much “Breadth” do you want verses “depth”, which is usually done by picking a specialization or group of electives.
For example, the University of Florida has 9 different options for EE’s.
https://www.ece.ufl.edu/sites/default/files/pictures/EE%20Curriculum%20breadth-depth%20chart.pdf
In the above example, UF at one stage wants you to pick 3 classes (out of 9 options) for “breadth”, but then pick one set of electives for “depth”.
Take a look at the curriculum of schools that you may attend as each school’s options are different. Also keep in mind that taking the intro classes is great for building “Breadth”, but you also want to build “depth”, and you will have a limited number of credit hours to do both in a BS program. Your undergraduate advisor will help guide you through the process.
Good Luck!
So sorry to have been unclear @Gator88NE. I may have misunderstood him, but the engineer Iwas speaking more from an employment perspective than a choice of major perspective. I completely understand why you thought I meant majors given that this was moved to there, but we were discussing internships and career paths at the time. I do appreciate your response and can see what you mean, but what type of position would each major specialization point the student towards?
EE is a pretty wide field that covers a lot of ground. I would recommend doing a job search for EE positions on LinkedIn and browse the different openings and requirements. You can also search for EE intern positions. I just search EE intern positions and found over 1,100 positions.
You can also find several video’s on YouTube that describe the type of jobs (and concentrations) done by EE’s.
You can also the Bureau of Labor Statistics outlook on EE jobs. They project positive job growth over the next 10 years (2016 to 2026).
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/electrical-and-electronics-engineers.htm
Thank you @Gator88NE !