Useful Skills for an EE intern

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Well it's about time to start applying for Co-ops/internships and I'm trying to find some things to make my resume stick out. I have some free time during winter break and I'd like to learn some things (even if at a basic level) that would make me look better and be useful in the workforce. </p>

<p>For those of you working in EE or who have intern'd in EE, what skills or knowledge are useful (outside of basic coursework, of course)? Any specific pieces of equipment, software, programming language, or analysis techniques that you use often in your work? If you were looking for interns, what skills would you like to see them already have?</p>

2

<p>Sorry to break your heart mate, but nows the time to get replies ( atleast for most of them ). Most defense companies are setting up or finishing preliminary interviews in December/jan.</p>

<p>But learn some autoCAD. Its the easiest thing to get your hands on and it looks good on your resume. I was expected to learn it during my internship. </p>

<p>I am learning Java right now. But I have 2 years experience in c++ so its not a problem. You can learn shell script if you want to.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, no worries about the time to apply. What I should have said was on-campus recruiting.</p>

<p>Anyway, what is AutoCAD used for in EE? Do you use general AutoCAD, or AutoCAD electrical?</p>

4

<p>I used general autoCAD, although this is not what a typical ee does. As long as you understand how to read the drawings and verify that the components exist ( in case you are inspecting ) you should be fine.</p>

5

<p>matlab is widely used in EE settings.
python is also a useful scripting language - i have used it for automated testing.</p>

6

<p>As far as software skills go, if you have MATLAB and object oriented C++ and/or knowledge of data structures under your belt, you’re in very good shape to tackle much software-related work. Personally, I think that knowing those 3 (or being able to pick them up), at the minimum, is essential for anything involving software and electrical engineering (i.e., network/socket programming, implementation of communications/signal processing algorithms). </p>

<p>If you’re going to work with embedded software and/or FPGAs, experience with VHDL and/or assembly language is essential. If you’re going to be working with ASICs, then you will most likely use CAD and PSPICE for design and simulation. </p>

<p>Generally, linear algebra is very good to know as well.</p>