7 answers
Michael
Student
Miami, Florida
4
Questions
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Electrical engineering is my career goal?
I decided on this ever since, now I want to go forward with it. Where should I begin? #electrical-engineering #engineering #engineer
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7 answers
Pablo Oria
Senior Manager, Engineering
6
Answers
Austin, Texas
Updated
Pablo’s Answer
Dell does indeed offer internship in the summer. Once you are in college, work with your department heads. Big companies regularly scout universities and colleges for interns and full time heads and typically already have relationships with them. We do also hire interns after they graduate when we get the chance.
Bill Russo
Program Manager, Professor
18
Answers
Dayton, Ohio
Updated
Bill’s Answer
Michael, you do not say where you are in your education - I shall assume somewhere in grades 6 - 12.
I can offer several parallel places to begin - do as many of these as you can.
1. Think about how much you enjoy science and math courses. You will need to take a lot of them to get an EE degree. And you will need the calculus, especially. And physics.
2. Think about your work ethic - is it easy for you to make finishing school assignments a higher priority most of the time over other things you do for fun or relaxation? Do you put off finishing tasks until the last minute or make excuses for being late? These habits makes EE very hard to do and not much fun as a career. If this is the case for you, some self discipline will have to be developed. If you want tips on self-discipline, ask about it in another question and I will look for it to give you some ideas.
3. Think about what things you may have already done to get some useful exposure to engineering principles or skills, such as taking something apart and putting it back together, building a simple working electronic device from parts you round up, or from a kit, asking yourself "how does this work?" and then researching the answer, or searching on line for "Electrical Engineering" and taking note of things that you find interesting? How about talking to people in the electrical industry (any aspect, really, not just EEs) to see what their career thoughts and paths were and what they like about what they are doing? Your school career center may have leads for contacts, or a local community college engineering department, or local small electrical contractors or computer techs, or the library.
4. Finally, it is always good to polish one's people skills. Practice in everyday life to: listen to others and try to hear their concerns and discern their feelings before replying; find ways to make yourself more useful and encouraging to other team members on something you are doing together (sports included); join a club that is related to engineering in some way, or Scouting, or study for and get an amateur radio license (there are many "ham" study guides that give you a broad intro to electrical engineering in a simple, straightforward way - check out www.arrl.org on line, for example.
Work on any one of the 4 suggestions until you get to the point where you have learned something new related to your interests.
Add another of the 4 and work on it, while continuing your work in the first area you selected.
And so forth for 3, and then 4.
These are not one-and-done suggestions - keep doing these things and discovering more and more. If along the way you find you are drawn to a specific topic or specialty within EE, lean more into that to see if it really might be a good career fit for you, and talk to EEs already doing that.
I can offer several parallel places to begin - do as many of these as you can.
1. Think about how much you enjoy science and math courses. You will need to take a lot of them to get an EE degree. And you will need the calculus, especially. And physics.
2. Think about your work ethic - is it easy for you to make finishing school assignments a higher priority most of the time over other things you do for fun or relaxation? Do you put off finishing tasks until the last minute or make excuses for being late? These habits makes EE very hard to do and not much fun as a career. If this is the case for you, some self discipline will have to be developed. If you want tips on self-discipline, ask about it in another question and I will look for it to give you some ideas.
3. Think about what things you may have already done to get some useful exposure to engineering principles or skills, such as taking something apart and putting it back together, building a simple working electronic device from parts you round up, or from a kit, asking yourself "how does this work?" and then researching the answer, or searching on line for "Electrical Engineering" and taking note of things that you find interesting? How about talking to people in the electrical industry (any aspect, really, not just EEs) to see what their career thoughts and paths were and what they like about what they are doing? Your school career center may have leads for contacts, or a local community college engineering department, or local small electrical contractors or computer techs, or the library.
4. Finally, it is always good to polish one's people skills. Practice in everyday life to: listen to others and try to hear their concerns and discern their feelings before replying; find ways to make yourself more useful and encouraging to other team members on something you are doing together (sports included); join a club that is related to engineering in some way, or Scouting, or study for and get an amateur radio license (there are many "ham" study guides that give you a broad intro to electrical engineering in a simple, straightforward way - check out www.arrl.org on line, for example.
Bill recommends the following next steps:
Mickael Rosenberg
Software Engineer
261
Answers
Bellevue, Washington
Updated
Mickael’s Answer
Hi Michael,
Well, i think the most obvious first step is to find a school that offers electrical engineering classes. As Bill said, this requires Maths and Physics in various degree depending on the final degree you are targeting.
Then, the next step is, while at school, to find internships in this area to get experience. Use your school to help you find companies that offer such internships. I believe Dell Technologies does but I do not know how much.
I hope it helps.
Well, i think the most obvious first step is to find a school that offers electrical engineering classes. As Bill said, this requires Maths and Physics in various degree depending on the final degree you are targeting.
Then, the next step is, while at school, to find internships in this area to get experience. Use your school to help you find companies that offer such internships. I believe Dell Technologies does but I do not know how much.
I hope it helps.
Luciano Gehrke
Engineer
23
Answers
São Paulo, Brazil
Updated
Luciano’s Answer
Search technology and electronics companies on LinkedIn and Instagram. Follow them!
Search online tech events for students, fintechs, startups and big companies alike!
See which area attracts you the most and get involved, read a lot and try to keep up to date on the area, companies and equipment you like the most.
Even if it takes a while to act in it, I'm sure you'll get there!
You will be very successful!
Search online tech events for students, fintechs, startups and big companies alike!
See which area attracts you the most and get involved, read a lot and try to keep up to date on the area, companies and equipment you like the most.
Even if it takes a while to act in it, I'm sure you'll get there!
You will be very successful!
Jerome Levy
81
Answers
Updated
Jerome’s Answer
As noted above, you haven't quite told us where you are now. However, one thing I'd suggest (in addition to the recommendations above, which make a lot of sense) is to learn whatever you can in terms of basic electronic theory. Many programs today are oriented towards sophisticated circuity but unless you have a solid understanding of Ohm's law and its applications, Kirchoff's law, capacitance, reactance, resistance, current flow, bipolar and FET transistors, and so forth, you will be lost in both college and out in the field. The amateur radio ("ham") license testing approach is an excellent idea, but so is doing lots of build / design / repair work on your own. There's no substitute for experience.
Good luck!!!
Good luck!!!
Brayden Reiland
119
Answers
Corvallis, Oregon
Updated
Brayden’s Answer
Hello!
Electrical Engineering is a super fascinating field because everything you will at you cant actually see. Whether thats sending information from one device to another or a electrical current to power a system you won't actually be able to physically see that action occur so in EE your problem solving capabilities will have to be strong in trying to trouble shoot issues. As a ME I give a ton of props to electrical engineers as I really struggle with electronics, developing code and creating circuit that dont destroy the systems. Its something that is really a art to understand why something isn't working the way you thought it would and then changing a code input or connection to try and trouble shoot the problem. In order to work in this field you'll need to obtain your EE degree from a university but because its a common degree there are a ton of school thats offer degree in EE. I wish you all the good luck because while challenging its a field thats super cool and I wish I knew more about it!
Hope this helps!
Electrical Engineering is a super fascinating field because everything you will at you cant actually see. Whether thats sending information from one device to another or a electrical current to power a system you won't actually be able to physically see that action occur so in EE your problem solving capabilities will have to be strong in trying to trouble shoot issues. As a ME I give a ton of props to electrical engineers as I really struggle with electronics, developing code and creating circuit that dont destroy the systems. Its something that is really a art to understand why something isn't working the way you thought it would and then changing a code input or connection to try and trouble shoot the problem. In order to work in this field you'll need to obtain your EE degree from a university but because its a common degree there are a ton of school thats offer degree in EE. I wish you all the good luck because while challenging its a field thats super cool and I wish I knew more about it!
Hope this helps!
Monica Medina
3
Answers
Updated
Monica’s Answer
Engineering is a diverse field that can lead you to many careers. I myself graduated with an electrical engineer degree, and began my career as a system's engineer and over 25 years have found myself working in various careers, most recently as a people leader in technical program management. So where you start may not be where you stay because engineering is a great foundation that can open doors for alot of opportunity. First, I would say think about what you are passion about, ask your self what do you enjoy doing and what gets you excited. Then focus your learnings in school and out-of-school on those areas of interest, most helpful to EE are going to be math and science. Look for summer programs that you can join that focus on these areas, plus now there are online options to get involved and many are for free. If you attend high school, see if you have Advance Placement (AP) classes that will give you head start on university courses. You can place out of freshman level classes while you are still in high school, plus it will give you insight on what your college education will be like. Most important is to try different subjects and see which you like best and find your passion...allow yourself to learning everything you can in STEM and what you are passionate about during your student years