<p>Yeah I plan to gain experience first and then maybe go into management. This is still a long way down but I'm just thinking about my future possibilities. I am going into electrical engineering because of interest not because of the money. I was just wondering about the money because I want to be able to make close to 100K later on to support a family and what not. Also, what other careers are good for people who are good in math and are interested in new technology such as cell phones, computers, etc.?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, what other careers are good for people who are good in math and are interested in new technology such as cell phones, computers, etc.?
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Computer Science and Computer Engineering. </p>
<p>If you want to be involved in these fields but not in the technical area, these companies also have all of the other entities required to run a company - finance, manufacturing, mechanical design, marketing, sales, product management, technical support, logistics, etc.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>"Management is the route to $100K for a BSEE; be a "rock star" (as an engineer) in a hot specialty area (e.g. RF design, others)"</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Haha, no...the 'hot specialty fields' tend to be areas which require M.S./PhD level work to even be considered for an interview (RF-design, mixed-signal/analog transmission, power electronics design and HVAC, etc.) BSEE need not apply...</p>
<p>"Management" positions really depend from company to company. The younger hightech companies which grew really fast tend to have a lot of middle-management recruited from within its own ranks (i.e. former technical staff engineers transitioned into formal management roles.) The longer established aerospace spinoffs tend to have imported managers (with MBAs or not), sometimes not directly familiar with the company's core work.</p>
<p>I won't say one is better than the other; they have different pluses and minuses. If you are starting out (entry-level), the best is to work at a place for a few years to get an idea of the career-path/options open to you, then make a decision accordingly. I'm sad to say, a lot of hightech/EE companies don't well definied upward career paths, so you pretty much have to change employers to sustain an upward trend in your career. That's what I recently had to do.</p>
<p>Early this century, a lot of entry-level EE positions evaporated and turned into offshore jobs (...trailed just a few years behind the software/IT-industry.) But offsetting that, semiconductor growth (as an industry) was very solid (up until this year...heh)</p>
<p>So is it easy to get a job as an electrical engineer (probably one who specializes in electronic devices)? Also, what are the chances that an electrical engineer will be laid off by a company? I heard that many engineers are being laid off in this economy because people from offshores (India, China) are willing to work for less money.</p>
<p>"specializes in electronic devices"</p>
<p>Do you mean transistor-level work? Like very-high speed FETs or very-low power FETs? In industry, device-level physics is generally an ivory-tower (PhD) affair...only a handful of companies have the infrastructure (i.e. semiconductor fabrication facility) to employ that level of specialization: Intel, IBM, TI, and many of the foundry-owning Asian conglomorates (Samsung, NEC, Fujitsu, Toshiba, NEC, TSMC, UMC, etc.) Of these, not many have research-presence in the USA.</p>
<p>If that's not what you mean, then I apologize for misreading your statement.</p>
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I heard that many engineers are being laid off in this economy because people from offshores (India, China) are willing to work for less money.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Some types of work is being shipped to be done offshore, due to cost. But most of that occured a few years back, and it tended to fall on semiconductor manufacturing (small trailing-edge fab facilities), and technician/associate-degree type of work (basic layout and ASIC backend services -- 'menial' labor in terms of knowledge required.)</p>
<p>The chances of being laid off are impossible to predict. You may happen to pick a field which performs wonderful for several years, then hits a low for several years. Or your employer may do better or worse than industry average. The current downturn is affecting the entire semiconductor sector (from the IC suppliers like Intel/AMD/Broadcom/Marvell/Micron/Toshiba/Samsung, to third-party foundry operators like TSMC/UMC, to raw material suppliers, to foundry equipment vendors, etc.) It's ugly across the board right now.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I heard that many engineers are being laid off in this economy because people from offshores (India, China) are willing to work for less money.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's true that offshoring has been making inroads on more advanced work -- i.e. work traditionally needing a BSEE or higher. Nearly all the large corporations operate R&D centers in India, China, and other traditionally less industrialized nations. Historically, that activity hasn't impacted job grwoth in the Western world all that much, as the truly pool of skilled engineers (in both first-world and offshore-world nations) hasn't kept up with demand.</p>
<p>There are engineering jobs out there to be had, certainly, but you have to be willing to move to where the jobs are. If you are looking in a geographic area that has recently seen tens of thousands of layoffs in your chosen industry, the prospects are not very good.</p>
<p>BassDad what about the Texas region? I plan to live in Texas my whole life (Maybe one of the big cities like Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio)</p>
<p>Sorry, I am not familiar with the job outlook there these days. Regardless of what it is right now, the situation could change quite a bit by the time you are seeking employment there. My point was that you cannot count on being able to live in Texas your whole life if you want to be an electrical engineer. The engineering job market is cyclical. There will be good times when jobs are plentiful and there will be bad times when they are scarce. You may luck out and graduate at a time when there are jobs available where you want them, but then again you may not. You will usually be able to find a job somewhere and it is usually a lot easier to make a move right out of college than it is later on in life. Once you have a spouse with their own career, some kids that have a bunch of friends at their current school and a house full of stuff that has to be carted along with you, moving to a different part of the country to follow a job gets much harder.</p>
<p>Austin is a higtech center for Texas -- many well-known semiconductor companies have offices in Texas (though I can only think of 2 right now: AMD, Texas Instruments)</p>
<p>But BassDad is correct -- the companies who derive large revenue from consumer electronics industry (pretty much most of them except for the rare few who mostly take government/defense contracts) will suffer up/down cycles with the general economy.</p>
<p>The Silicon Valley area in Northern California has the highest concentration of hardware and software companies. I don't know what comes after that, but Orange-County/Los Angeles County has a number of government/defense industry companies. These are by no means your only choices, but the regions with the most opportunity for someone who's not sure what they like yet.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I have no idea if electrical engineering is even right for me lol I just chose it because I like working with computers and other electronic stuff and I like/am good in math. Is it possible to get a bachelors degree in 4 years assuming I take some summer classes, if I take electrical engineering classes my first year and then switch to another major (accounting, actuarial science if they offer it)? I would hate to do this as it would be wasting my time and money but I really don't know if I will like electrical engineering or not. I had a horrible AP Physics teacher so it was extremely easy but I got a 1 on the AP test lol.</p>
<p>The answers to your questions may be very different at two different schools. To find them, you have to dig deeply into the school websites and catalog pages on a case-by-case basis.</p>
<p>Depending on the school you attend, you may not get much in the way of actual electrical engineering courses in your first year. Many schools will have you taking prerequisite classes in calculus, physics, perhaps chemistry, maybe a writing class and so forth in your first year. The science classes in particular and sometimes the calculus classes are weeder courses designed to encourage a quarter or so of the students in them to switch out of engineering. It could easily take a third or fourth semester before you have had enough electrical engineering classes to know whether or nor that is what you want. By then, it is far too late to be able to switch majors and still graduate in four years because engineering courses only rarely can be applied to satisfy requirements for a non-engineering major. Perhaps that is why they try to get rid of so many in the first year, through classes that may count for something toward a non-engineering major.</p>
<p>Concerning premed_dropout's post, I would just add that government/defense jobs are also cyclical, albeit usually on a longer cycle than jobs in the private sector. They can have some very bad bottoms that last several years.</p>
<p>At UT Austin, in the first year for EE you take Intro To Electrical and Computer Engr, Introduction to Computing, and Introduction to Programming. All 3 of these courses are designed specifically for EE. Also, I was wondering if I could do EE for 2 years and take some extra prerequisite courses for pharmacy and apply for pharmacy school at the end of my 2nd year. If I don't get in, then I continue with my EE degree. Would this be too hard to do considering the PCAT is difficult but let's say all I do is study and I rarely go out. Would this even be possible/advisable?</p>
<p>Power has already been a specialty that is hard to fill for years not just recently. Not to many people have specific knowledge in that area. Same with analog engineer.</p>
<p>MBA people are not immune either. I've just had a reunion with people from SV and they said even directors are being cut or demoted to just being plain old engineers.</p>
<p>I know nothing about pharmacy curricula, but I do know that engineering curricula tend to be rather demanding and have very few electives, particularly in the first couple of years. Many engineering students are hard pressed to keep up with what they have to take, let alone try to squeeze in extra classes. I think you should start off with the standard course load for engineering in your first semester, then see how things go. If you are doing rather well, then you can speak with your academic adviser about adding an extra class in your second semester and later.</p>
<p>It is going to be hard to hold your options open for two years and still expect to graduate in four if you do switch, because engineering courses rarely fit into a non-engineering curriculum. You may want to contact someone at the pharmacy school to ask if they admit many second year engineering students. Perhaps they can put you in touch with someone who has actually done it.</p>
<p>Engineers don't really have many electives until their senior year and then they usually have quite a few (you can usually specialize in something then).</p>
<p>How does the outlook look for MatSci and Engineering?! Figured it'd be a waste to make a new thread when I could ask here.</p>
<p>engineers always needed, ur fine</p>
<p>I have been lurking around for a while and I noticed how EE is the "buzz" word. I'm majoring in ee and thats good news.</p>
<p>Here is my advice, if you really think the outsourcing will kill you; apply for jobs that require US citizenship. Many R&D positions in the government sectors require a US passport. This is my aim so far. The chances of being fired are low ( as long as your doing what your supposed to).</p>
<p>I am interested in Power Systems, but my school does not have that concentration apart from a less than handful of courses in that field. Some students call it "stupid easy" but then again its an important field considering how Power is a necessity. Some more info on course selection will be appreciated.</p>
<p>While many top schools no longer have power programs, I think there is going to be a shift back to power/energy programs. I'm an EE at Michigan, and the department is actually in the process of starting a "Power and Energy Systems" program within the EECS department. I would guess that many other schools will do the same - there is going to be a ton of research into things like alternative energy, smartgrid, huge number of retirements coming in the power industry, etc. Not at all a bad place to be.</p>
<p>And I guess what I would say...if you want to work in power, I don't think it is a huge deal if you school doesn't have a power concentration. I interned at a utility company last summer, it didn't seem like the lack of a power program at Michigan would have held me back if I wanted to hire in after graduation.</p>
<p>At my school, there's actually a lot of emphasis that is put on the Power specialization in Electrical Engineering. Aside from the basic Power Engineering course that is in the EE core, I will be specializing in Power next year (my senior year) by taking these classes:
- Power Electronic Systems
- Power Systems Analysis
- Electromechanical Energy Conversion
- Control of Industrial Processes
- Advanced Power Systems Analysis
- Industrial Power Systems
- Electrical Power Equipment and Material</p>