My son attends louisiana tech university and has changed his major to engineering technology. Specifically “instrumentation and control systems” engineering technology. This is a bachelors degree at louisiana tech.
Instrumentation and control systems technology recently replaced the electrical engineering technology program at tech but this is not yet reflected on their website. The website still says electrical engineering technology.
I have some questions but before i begin let me first politely say i have read through many of the threads discussing the differences between technology and engineering. I know they are not the same so we can skip that piece of it.
So here we go.
Can anyone tell me what this major is exactly? I have googled and googled some more and i can’t get a clear handle on it. I know there is a branch of engineering that specializes in “instrumentation and control systems” but i can’t find anything that really addresses the “technology” degree.
I see instrumentation and control engineers, instrumentation and control technicians but NOT instrumentation and control technologists and i am aware there are differences between all three.
Also, what field of engineering is this most related to? Electrical, mechanical or something else?
Is it possible the technology degree is interchangable with the engineering degree? I’ve seen a few job postings that sort of indicate this.
Finally, is this particular technology degree lucrative as compared to other technology degrees such as mechanical or electrical?
Thanks much for any help any of you can provide. I’m trying to help my son make a good choice.
Whether or not it is going to be interchangeable with an engineering degree depends on the company doing the hiring. Some companies may hire them for the same roles and some won’t. Job titles are hard to use as a guide because each company is going to similarly treat them slightly differently. They very well may be classified as either engineers or technicians depending on the job role.
Some systems have internal controls to keep them operating within a desired range. A classic example is cruise control. The output in horsepower is not steady state, but rather, within a certain defined window, the speed is steady state. That means the system has to “know” when to work more or less to keep the speed within a given range. The mechanism to accomplish this is called a control circuit. Instrumentation can be used to monitor those control circuits. You find controls all over the place, from chemical plants to regenerative braking to wind turbines to pacemakers to thermostats.
The tech degree is not interchangeable with an engineering degree per se. Otherwise the degrees would be redundant. As you can see from the La Tech curriculum maps, the EEs take much more math and physics. That will open up access to conceptual things closed to those without that foundation. That said, not all engineering jobs utilize all of that training. A way to think about it is that ELETs will be able to do many of the jobs an EE can do, but those jobs will only be a subset of all of the jobs an EE could do.
I suppose “interchangable” is the wrong word. How about “substitution”? The impression i get looking at job ads is that some employers may take one or the other. An instrumentation and control systems engineer or a bachelor prepared instrumentation and control systems technologist.
Thanks for the links but but like i said, i know the degrees are different and i’m aware of those differences.
If you have any information or insight regarding the marketability of the technology degree, that would be helpful.
There really is no definitive answer to your question. “Engineering” jobs cover the full breath ( mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc) and full depth, from highly theoretical to hands on. The technology degree is more hands on in my way of thinking. So it will limit the number of jobs that he will qualify for. The real question becomes what kind of career is he looking to do.
I was in the more theoretical side designing space hardware for NASA. When I was looking to hire someone, I’d get a copy of their transcript and go thru it class by class. The title at the top meant very little to me. Most of the people I hired liked the work but a fair number didn’t. They wanted something more hands on. Some of those left the company and others transfered within to a job more to their liking. Just a matter of finding your nitch.
What field of engineering is “instrumentation and control systems” most related to? Mechanical, electrical or something else? In other words, is it some sort of sub-specialty of a larger field?
I’m really just trying to get a reasonable handle on the marketability of the degree. I know there are no definitive answers.
Instrumentation and Control Systems have multiple pieces, thus, can have involvement of three (maybe more) fields, ME for the moving parts, EE for the circuits, and CS for the programming. It’s not uncommon for a ME or an EE to design and program the whole thing depending on the complexity of the system. So, an ELET could be part of a bigger team doing their respective piece of the system, or they might do the whole thing. Again, as mentioned before, it’s highly dependent on the job and what they need done.
He certainly must have some concept of what the field involves and what the marketability is if he chose it. Why did he pick it and what are your concerns?
He doesn’t know a great deal about it. It’s a relatively new technology degree. He was pursuing engineering but struggled with the math piece of it. He enjoys engineering/technology however and wants to stay in the field. La tech only offers this particular technology degree and construction. Construction doesn’t speak to him.
The “sense” i’m getting through my research and this is only a sense, is that even among “engineers” in this field it’s more hands on than other disciplines which leads me to believe some employers may take either one, engineer or technologist but i really don’t know.
I’m a medical professional so what matters to me is practicality, marketability and potential for growth. I can get a good job whenever i want, whenever i want. I would like him to have a similar luxury if possible and i’m not sure this fits.
Any guidance you or others could offer is greatly appreciated. In fact your answers thus far have been very useful.
And what actual options does he have? I see his real issue in high school was a 3.0 GPA, his test scores are fine. Is he attending class? Does he make use of tutoring? Is he late to mature? Will he lose his scholarships, if he had any (that adds a lot of pressure)? Does he, and you , know lots of eng kids wobble, many drop altogether. Plenty though, fail a freshman class and redo it. What was his GPA first semester?
Not as marketable as healthcare, 164,000 thousand hits on Indeed for nurse, 8000 for electrical engineering tech, 9500 for instrumentation and control.
He won’t have the same number of opportunities as a full fledged EE, because EEs, by virtue of the fact that they did complete the math, and thus the courses that having the math opens for them, develop a broader set of skills. He’ll develop a set of skills that will serve him well though. He should be very employable if he keeps his grades up and develops a fundamental understanding of what he’s being taught.
A good health care analogy would be NP or PA to Physician. There’s a lot of overlap, but the physician has a broader scope. In a setting like an urgent care, they might see the same mix of patients day in and day out. In an orthopedic practice, they would still see a lot of the same stuff, but the interventional capacity of an orthopedic surgeon would be broader. Hope that helps.
We’re a bit off track from your original question, but, as a matter of fact it isn’t. Both RNs and LPNs are nurses, and it’s easy to move from one to the next by simply doing more work. Bridge programs are even available online. Even though lots of engineers do tech work, techs are not engineers. They are, as their title suggests, technicians. There is not an easy path from tech to engineer now that technician programs are 4 years. The curriculum was converted from a potential stepping stone to a divergent path.
Check job postings. The vast majority will require degrees in engineering. Engineering tech jobs are more in drafting etc. it is hard to understand communication systems without taking a signals and systems course as a a basis and that requires diff eq which engineering tech doesn’t take. Hope that provides a little insight.
This program makes me think of job titles like “applications engineer” in the robotics and similar industries where having an understanding of sensors, motors and controls is useful.