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What skills are necessary to become an engineer?
i want to go to college after high school. I want to study electrical engineering. i would like to know how the process is going to be like when I start college.
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Updated
Teklemuz Ayenew’s Answer
Hello, student,
Embarking on a journey in electrical engineering can be both rewarding and challenging, but with the right mindset and approach, you can thrive. To set yourself up for success, it’s important to begin by strengthening your mathematics and physics skills before entering college, as these subjects are the core foundation of electrical engineering. A solid understanding of these subjects will help you navigate your coursework with more ease.
Once in college, make use of online platforms like Electrical4U, MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, Coursera, and LearnElectronics (YouTube) to revisit difficult concepts or explore topics more deeply. These platforms provide valuable resources that can clarify challenging subjects and reinforce your learning. It’s also crucial to gain hands-on experience as early as possible. You can start by working on simple projects like building circuits with an Arduino. These projects will not only help you become more comfortable with practical applications but will also give you something impressive to showcase when applying for internships. Additionally, joining clubs such as IEEE or participating in robotics teams will help you connect with other students, expose you to exciting projects, and offer networking opportunities.
As you progress through your studies, developing programming skills in languages like C and MATLAB will become increasingly important. These languages are essential for simulations, automation, and problem-solving in engineering. It’s helpful to begin practicing early to build a strong foundation in these skills. Internships or co-op programs should be a priority in your college career, even from your first year. These opportunities provide invaluable hands-on learning experiences and help you build professional connections that can be beneficial for your future career.
Staying organized is key to managing the demands of coursework and extracurricular activities. Using tools like Google Calendar to track assignments, deadlines, and projects will help you stay on top of your responsibilities. Time management is a critical skill that will help you succeed throughout your college years and beyond. Building relationships with your professors and peers is also crucial. Professors can offer valuable guidance, research opportunities, and career advice, while connecting with fellow students will help you find study partners and collaborators for projects. Taking part in lab sessions, workshops, and research projects will give you hands-on experience and allow you to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world contexts. These experiences are invaluable in preparing you for the challenges you'll face in the industry.
Problem-solving is a central part of engineering, so it’s important to approach challenges with persistence and creativity. Don’t hesitate to confront obstacles head-on and work through solutions before seeking help. Developing strong problem-solving skills will be essential throughout your engineering career. To stay competitive, it’s important to stay up-to-date with industry trends. Reading publications like IEEE Spectrum or MIT Technology Review will help you stay informed about emerging technologies and new developments in the field, keeping you ahead of the curve.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is crucial. College can be demanding, but taking time to rest, exercise, and pursue personal interests is essential to avoid burnout. Finding balance will help you stay motivated and focused on your studies in the long run. Remember, electrical engineering is divided into five major areas: computer engineering, control engineering, power engineering, communications engineering, and microelectronics. As you explore these fields, it's important to focus on the one that excites you the most. Pursuing your passion will keep you engaged and motivated throughout your studies and will drive your success in the career ahead. By staying proactive, organized, and curious, you’ll lay the foundation for a rewarding and successful future in electrical engineering.
If you ever need more detailed information, don’t hesitate to reach out. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
Embarking on a journey in electrical engineering can be both rewarding and challenging, but with the right mindset and approach, you can thrive. To set yourself up for success, it’s important to begin by strengthening your mathematics and physics skills before entering college, as these subjects are the core foundation of electrical engineering. A solid understanding of these subjects will help you navigate your coursework with more ease.
Once in college, make use of online platforms like Electrical4U, MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, Coursera, and LearnElectronics (YouTube) to revisit difficult concepts or explore topics more deeply. These platforms provide valuable resources that can clarify challenging subjects and reinforce your learning. It’s also crucial to gain hands-on experience as early as possible. You can start by working on simple projects like building circuits with an Arduino. These projects will not only help you become more comfortable with practical applications but will also give you something impressive to showcase when applying for internships. Additionally, joining clubs such as IEEE or participating in robotics teams will help you connect with other students, expose you to exciting projects, and offer networking opportunities.
As you progress through your studies, developing programming skills in languages like C and MATLAB will become increasingly important. These languages are essential for simulations, automation, and problem-solving in engineering. It’s helpful to begin practicing early to build a strong foundation in these skills. Internships or co-op programs should be a priority in your college career, even from your first year. These opportunities provide invaluable hands-on learning experiences and help you build professional connections that can be beneficial for your future career.
Staying organized is key to managing the demands of coursework and extracurricular activities. Using tools like Google Calendar to track assignments, deadlines, and projects will help you stay on top of your responsibilities. Time management is a critical skill that will help you succeed throughout your college years and beyond. Building relationships with your professors and peers is also crucial. Professors can offer valuable guidance, research opportunities, and career advice, while connecting with fellow students will help you find study partners and collaborators for projects. Taking part in lab sessions, workshops, and research projects will give you hands-on experience and allow you to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world contexts. These experiences are invaluable in preparing you for the challenges you'll face in the industry.
Problem-solving is a central part of engineering, so it’s important to approach challenges with persistence and creativity. Don’t hesitate to confront obstacles head-on and work through solutions before seeking help. Developing strong problem-solving skills will be essential throughout your engineering career. To stay competitive, it’s important to stay up-to-date with industry trends. Reading publications like IEEE Spectrum or MIT Technology Review will help you stay informed about emerging technologies and new developments in the field, keeping you ahead of the curve.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is crucial. College can be demanding, but taking time to rest, exercise, and pursue personal interests is essential to avoid burnout. Finding balance will help you stay motivated and focused on your studies in the long run. Remember, electrical engineering is divided into five major areas: computer engineering, control engineering, power engineering, communications engineering, and microelectronics. As you explore these fields, it's important to focus on the one that excites you the most. Pursuing your passion will keep you engaged and motivated throughout your studies and will drive your success in the career ahead. By staying proactive, organized, and curious, you’ll lay the foundation for a rewarding and successful future in electrical engineering.
If you ever need more detailed information, don’t hesitate to reach out. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
Updated
William’s Answer
Hi Christhian,
I very much appreciate your interest in becoming an electrical engineer.
The foundational subjects that should be of interest to you in high school in order to study electrical engineering are maths, physics, chemistry, computer applications.
Proficiency in them is critical.
In the US, some colleges offer 2 - year associate degree courses in electrical engineering. Such courses can be a stepping stone for a four-year degree course in electrical engineering. It's an excellent opportunity for students to test the waters to see if they are truly enrolling in to a career of their interest. The four-year course allows students to take prerequisite courses such as maths & physics in the first two years of study. In British Commonwealth, the prerequisite courses are offered in the last two years of high school.
Skills that electrical engineers need & develop are analytical, technical & problem-solving skills. Teamwork and communication skills are key to long-term success at the workplace.
The course covers both theory & practical applications in real life. The course content includes, amongst others, thermodynamics, electromagnetism & electrical system modeling.
When combined with software engineering, MBA, electrical engineering opens doors to other opportunities.
I very much appreciate your interest in becoming an electrical engineer.
The foundational subjects that should be of interest to you in high school in order to study electrical engineering are maths, physics, chemistry, computer applications.
Proficiency in them is critical.
In the US, some colleges offer 2 - year associate degree courses in electrical engineering. Such courses can be a stepping stone for a four-year degree course in electrical engineering. It's an excellent opportunity for students to test the waters to see if they are truly enrolling in to a career of their interest. The four-year course allows students to take prerequisite courses such as maths & physics in the first two years of study. In British Commonwealth, the prerequisite courses are offered in the last two years of high school.
Skills that electrical engineers need & develop are analytical, technical & problem-solving skills. Teamwork and communication skills are key to long-term success at the workplace.
The course covers both theory & practical applications in real life. The course content includes, amongst others, thermodynamics, electromagnetism & electrical system modeling.
When combined with software engineering, MBA, electrical engineering opens doors to other opportunities.
Updated
Dennis’s Answer
Hello Christhian,
Good for you for having a goal to strive for. Engineering is a challenging, but rewarding endeavor for a lifetime.
Other responses to your inquiry may address courses and activities that should help you along. I want to pose a few questions for you to consider.
1) Are you curious about how things work? A key thing that engineers do is to study a system or an object. Then they strive to do one or more things: make it cheaper/lighter/stronger/faster...etc. Or, make it easier to use or apply in various situations.
2) Do you like analogies? Most of engineering analysis is done by making a mathematical or theoretical model of the system under consideration. Then, use this model to analyze the system of interest. Thus, if you want to study electrical engineering, you will learn - not only Ohm's Law( a mathematical construct of a physical system) but how to apply it and other useful rules and analogies. As your engineering education progresses, you will learn to deal with increasingly more complicated systems. You will build on your earlier learning and thus become more prepared to do those things listed in #1 above.
3)Do you like to work with others? Most engineering work occurs with teams or groups of people focused on solving a bunch of related problems. Any engineered product you can think of requires a variety of engineering disciplines. Look at your cell phone. Lots of electronics in it, yes. But also, a case with a display, a place for a battery, an antenna, hard or soft keys, and so on. Engineers figured out how to put all of those things together, along with designing and building the equipment that produces all of the elements in it and does most of the assembly. Lots of engineering opportunities.
4)Are you good at communicating you ideas? Your contribution won't mean much if you can't explain it to others on your team. You need to be able to speak, write, draw, explain, LISTEN, in equal amounts in order to be a strong contributor to the effort.
5) Can you deal with Adversity? During you education and in practice, you will encounter difficulties. It may be a certain course or concept. It could be a new problem or product that hasn't been invented yet. Nobody - even your boss or his/her boss - will have all the answers. You will have to become the expert who looks at that problem, breaks it into smaller problems, and then solve them one at a time.
If you feel good about how you answered these questions, then pursuing an engineering degree and consequent employment will be, not necessarily easy, but rewarding to you. Good luck, Christhian!
Good for you for having a goal to strive for. Engineering is a challenging, but rewarding endeavor for a lifetime.
Other responses to your inquiry may address courses and activities that should help you along. I want to pose a few questions for you to consider.
1) Are you curious about how things work? A key thing that engineers do is to study a system or an object. Then they strive to do one or more things: make it cheaper/lighter/stronger/faster...etc. Or, make it easier to use or apply in various situations.
2) Do you like analogies? Most of engineering analysis is done by making a mathematical or theoretical model of the system under consideration. Then, use this model to analyze the system of interest. Thus, if you want to study electrical engineering, you will learn - not only Ohm's Law( a mathematical construct of a physical system) but how to apply it and other useful rules and analogies. As your engineering education progresses, you will learn to deal with increasingly more complicated systems. You will build on your earlier learning and thus become more prepared to do those things listed in #1 above.
3)Do you like to work with others? Most engineering work occurs with teams or groups of people focused on solving a bunch of related problems. Any engineered product you can think of requires a variety of engineering disciplines. Look at your cell phone. Lots of electronics in it, yes. But also, a case with a display, a place for a battery, an antenna, hard or soft keys, and so on. Engineers figured out how to put all of those things together, along with designing and building the equipment that produces all of the elements in it and does most of the assembly. Lots of engineering opportunities.
4)Are you good at communicating you ideas? Your contribution won't mean much if you can't explain it to others on your team. You need to be able to speak, write, draw, explain, LISTEN, in equal amounts in order to be a strong contributor to the effort.
5) Can you deal with Adversity? During you education and in practice, you will encounter difficulties. It may be a certain course or concept. It could be a new problem or product that hasn't been invented yet. Nobody - even your boss or his/her boss - will have all the answers. You will have to become the expert who looks at that problem, breaks it into smaller problems, and then solve them one at a time.
If you feel good about how you answered these questions, then pursuing an engineering degree and consequent employment will be, not necessarily easy, but rewarding to you. Good luck, Christhian!
Updated
Dennis’s Answer
Hello Christhian,
Good for you for having a goal to strive for. Engineering is a challenging, but rewarding endeavor for a lifetime.
Other responses to your inquiry may address courses and activities that should help you along. I want to pose a few questions for you to consider.
1) Are you curious about how things work? A key thing that engineers do is to study a system or an object. Then they strive to do one or more things: make it cheaper/lighter/stronger/faster...etc. Or, make it easier to use or apply in various situations.
2) Do you like analogies? Most of engineering analysis is done by making a mathematical or theoretical model of the system under consideration. Then, use this model to analyze the system of interest. Thus, if you want to study electrical engineering, you will learn - not only Ohm's Law( a mathematical construct of a physical system) but how to apply it and other useful rules and analogies. As your engineering education progresses, you will learn to deal with increasingly more complicated systems. You will build on your earlier learning and thus become more prepared to do those things listed in #1 above.
3) Do you like to work with others? Most engineering work occurs with teams or groups of people focused on solving a bunch of related problems. Any engineered product you can think of requires a variety of engineering disciplines. Look at your cell phone. Lots of electronics in it, yes. But also, a case with a display, a place for a battery, an antenna, hard or soft keys, and so on. Engineers figured out how to put all of those things together, along with designing and building the equipment that produces all of the elements in it and does most of the assembly. Lots of engineering opportunities.
4) Are you good at communicating you ideas? Your contribution won't mean much if you can't explain it to others on your team. You need to be able to speak, write, draw, explain, LISTEN, in equal amounts in order to be a strong contributor to the effort.
5) Can you deal with Adversity? During you education and in practice, you will encounter difficulties. It may be a certain course or concept. It could be a new problem or product that hasn't been invented yet. Nobody - even your boss or his/her boss - will have all the answers. You will have to become the expert who looks at that problem, breaks it into smaller problems, and then solve them one at a time.
If you feel good about how you answered these questions, then pursuing an engineering degree and consequent employment will be, not necessarily easy, but rewarding to you. Good luck, Christhian!
Good for you for having a goal to strive for. Engineering is a challenging, but rewarding endeavor for a lifetime.
Other responses to your inquiry may address courses and activities that should help you along. I want to pose a few questions for you to consider.
1) Are you curious about how things work? A key thing that engineers do is to study a system or an object. Then they strive to do one or more things: make it cheaper/lighter/stronger/faster...etc. Or, make it easier to use or apply in various situations.
2) Do you like analogies? Most of engineering analysis is done by making a mathematical or theoretical model of the system under consideration. Then, use this model to analyze the system of interest. Thus, if you want to study electrical engineering, you will learn - not only Ohm's Law( a mathematical construct of a physical system) but how to apply it and other useful rules and analogies. As your engineering education progresses, you will learn to deal with increasingly more complicated systems. You will build on your earlier learning and thus become more prepared to do those things listed in #1 above.
3) Do you like to work with others? Most engineering work occurs with teams or groups of people focused on solving a bunch of related problems. Any engineered product you can think of requires a variety of engineering disciplines. Look at your cell phone. Lots of electronics in it, yes. But also, a case with a display, a place for a battery, an antenna, hard or soft keys, and so on. Engineers figured out how to put all of those things together, along with designing and building the equipment that produces all of the elements in it and does most of the assembly. Lots of engineering opportunities.
4) Are you good at communicating you ideas? Your contribution won't mean much if you can't explain it to others on your team. You need to be able to speak, write, draw, explain, LISTEN, in equal amounts in order to be a strong contributor to the effort.
5) Can you deal with Adversity? During you education and in practice, you will encounter difficulties. It may be a certain course or concept. It could be a new problem or product that hasn't been invented yet. Nobody - even your boss or his/her boss - will have all the answers. You will have to become the expert who looks at that problem, breaks it into smaller problems, and then solve them one at a time.
If you feel good about how you answered these questions, then pursuing an engineering degree and consequent employment will be, not necessarily easy, but rewarding to you. Good luck, Christhian!