Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with electricalengineering

what to do with an ee degree

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:28:48 -0800

What can I do with an EE degree (either as an engineer or in another field) in and around New York City? I'm a woman who's hoping to return to the workforce after several (too many) years outside of it. At the time I left, I had two years of experience in Systems Engineering (writing technical requirements - not the IT kind of SE which, from my understanding, is something completely different). This was in software. It was practically the perfect job for me. As part of the development team, I needed to have a strong technical understanding of the product, but I also worked closely with sales and marketing, which I also enjoyed. If it required calculus (like much of my coursework in college), I think it really would have been the perfect job for me

So, now, years later, I've searched for "Systems Engineer" job postings online, and the few matches I get require 5+ years of experience. I know I have an EE degree, but I'm not sure I remember enough of my coursework to go for a hardware job, even though I would be more than happy to work in hardware.

What other options are there for me, both within and outside of engineering? I'm looking for something that requires a good mix of analytical skills and people skills. Long working hours and/or lots of travel are fine. So is a steep learning curve as long as an employer is willing to hire me with the understanding that I'll work hard to catch up. I'm sure (OK, I hope) there's a job out there for me. I just don't know what to look for.

More debt please!

Team of Scientists — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:50:38 -0800

I don't want to pursue a career in the field for which I received my degree. Help guide my search for a grad school field. I just finished an undergrad electrical engineering degree. Recently I came to the realization that I'm just not that interested in EE (well, at the very least I'm not interested in DSP). I'd like to choose a new career path and start prepping for grad school.

Here are the paths that I have considered so far:

Urban Planning

Pros: AskMeFi actually sparked my interest in planning in a question I read a while ago. Someone said something about being interested in data/statistics and maps, which are things that interest me. As does the notion that I can work toward effecting change in an area socially, economically or environmentally. I understand that this is probably the mindset of many bright-eyed planning students for whom reality gradually sets in. Regardless, I think this is a career choice that could leave me very fulfilled.

Cons: It seems that the pay is modest. I currently owe about $40k in student loans, and I'm concerned that a planner's salary wouldn't afford me the ability to live comfortably while I'm paying off my loans. The job market is also apparently rather bleak for planning right now, although it's difficult to see what the economy will be like after two years of grad school.

Patent Law

Pros: I have the requisite engineering degree already. I can attend a less competitive school that is well known for Intellectual Property/Patent Law. I have confidence in my intellectual ability, and I think I could be a very successful law student if I was willing to put in the hours. Also, this profession has potential for better pay.

Cons: Law school is notoriously difficult, and I don't think I'd want to put in the hours necessary for success. Ambition is not a character trait of mine, and I think that the profession is loaded with ambitious people.

Engineering related to Green Energy -

Pros: This is another profession that could be very fulfilling for me in the sense that I could be bettering the world around me (pardon my naivete again). I already have an EE degree. I haven't done enough research to say, but I imagine that a Masters in a technical field would attract a somewhat generous salary. Please enlighten me if I am wrong about this.

Cons: Just a lack of information. I don't really know what kind of options are out there in Green Energy. Would I go get a masters in EE? Mechanical? Chemical? Are there any engineering programs that are specifically tailored to green energy production? Also, as mentioned above, I just didn't have that much interest in DSP engineering during school (I realized this rather late when my peers were all excited about their senior projects and I was filled with dread). However, the main turnoff for me in my EE program was...well, the digitalness of digital signal processing. I don't particularly enjoy programming or working with discrete time signals. As power engineering is focused primarily (entirely?) on analog signals, I believe this won't be a problem. Again, enlighten me if I'm wrong.

I've all but ruled out law school, but I decided to leave it in here in case any IP/Patent zealots could make a compelling case for the profession. The main purpose of this post is fact-finding. Specifically, what type of person would be a strong candidate for each of these careers? Are there any related fields that you think might spark my interest?

How do I convert impedance to this weird phasor-form?

DMan — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:16:30 -0800

ElectricalEngineeringFilter: How do I add electrical impedances together, and convert the result to what looks to be a phasor? So I'm in an electric circuits class, we have a test in three days and one simple concept is really confusing me.

I understand that electrical impedance (Z) can be in a complex format, like, for example, 90+j120. But then the book somehow converts that into what looks like a phasor. So 90+j120 turns into 150 /_ 53.13.

(If MeFi formatting messes up the above example, that's 90 + j120 turns into 150, angle sign, 53.13)

I have no idea where the 150 and 53.13 came from, nor do I understand how to calculate those values. I can't find a clear explanation of it in the book anywhere. Can anyone help me?

Help me get started with basic electrical engineering!

gchucky — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:48:54 -0800

Help me get started with basic electrical engineering! For at least a year now, I've wanted to build a computer-controllable LED lattice of sorts. There are a handful of people out on the Internet that have done it, and there are relatively cheap parts available. The problem is that I haven't done any sort of electrical engineering before, so I really don't have any idea how resistors and transistors work, how to read electrical diagrams, how to mount and connect parts on a board, or things like that. No idea how the processors mount to the boards and what pins connect with what, and so on.

I'm a programmer by trade, and I think that I can pick this stuff up relatively quickly. So basically, I'm looking for a way to get started. Can anyone recommend some books, some websites, maybe a bunch of YouTube videos or something? Anything would be helpful, I think.

Electric Engineering and Me

Octoparrot — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:00:34 -0800

Is this college faking an Electric Engineering program? I am currently looking to pursue an undergraduate in electrical engineering while also working full time. There are very few schools that offer schedules that will conform to working full time and MSCD is one of the few schools that offers a program that I can complete with my schedule.

When I first attended the school eight years ago they offered a full EE program including emphasis in areas such as radio frequency (which is specifically what I'm looking to learn). Unfortunately they discontinued the full program and now offer an electrical engineering technology degree. It looks as though the majority of the coursework is comparable to a true EE program however I have a nagging feeling that it's a bunk degree that really won't give me what I need.

My question is geared towards electric engineers and hiring managers for electrical engineers. Would you pass off this degree as trade school quality, would it be considered trade school quality, or is it somewhere in-between?

I am fortunate enough that I am actually employed by a very large telecommunications firm and am actually learning hands on radio frequency engineering that would be marketable even without the degree but am curious as to the total quality of the degree offerred.

Alternate suggestions for EE degrees would also be appreciated provided I can complete the coursework and requirements as a non-traditional adult student in the Denver metro area. My current plans are to attend the vast majority of coursework through MSCD then transfer to CU-Denver if I can manage the time commitment.

Graduate EE programs in NE Massachusetts & Southern NH

dumbledore69 — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:22:48 -0800

Does anyone have recommendations for graduate electrical engineering programs in northeast Massachusetts or southern NH? They would need to be night/weekend based and if there are online classes available that would be even better (but at a brick & mortar, legitimate universities). This is on behalf of my spouse. We work in Tewksbury, MA & live in Nashua, NH. Looking for the least stressful (if possible) way of obtaining a masters in EE before we start a family.

Erm, I don't know what voltage actually is.

pravit — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:28:17 -0800

I'm a straight-A electrical engineering student but I have almost no understanding of basic theory and principles. Will I get a job or into grad school? (long post inside) I never pay attention in lectures, read my textbook, or study at all - at the most an hour or so before an exam. I know the definitions of most things, but have no real understanding of them or what the definitions actually mean. I treat everything as some kind of special puzzle or game without understanding the basic theory behind it.

For example, I don't really know what Laplace transforms are. I can do them(because that's just matching things up in a chart), and they pop up in my work all the time, but I have no clue what it really means.

Come to think of it, I don't have a very good understanding of what voltage actually is, although I understand perfectly how it relates to current and impedance. I got an A in the required statistics class, but I still have no idea what a standard derivation means (although I could calculate it if you gave me the formula).

I'm just going through the motions in all my classes: I know how to calculate all sorts of different values and make a bunch of nice plots, but don't ask me what they mean, let alone to actually use it to make something. I only learn the bare minimum to complete assignments and get A's on exams. I usually forget everything once I finish a course and relearn things when necessary.

This approach has been enough to get me straight A's in almost every course I've ever taken since high school, but as I near graduation, I begin to worry. I don't have anything more than a slight familiarity with the content of the courses I've already taken. About the same as if I had never taken them and instead just read a Wikipedia article on the topic. In other words, I feel like I haven't learned anything and have been spending the last three years doing meaningless calculations(which I have since forgotten).

I guess it doesn't help that I went into EE solely for job prospects (I'd be doing comparative linguistics if I lived in a perfect world).

So here are my questions:

1. Is this typical?

2. I understand most companies will retrain new recruits anyway and send them to work in something specific. If so, what's the point of getting an EE degree other than for the resume? Do you use the stuff you learned in school on a regular basis?

3. Related to number 2, sometimes I get the feeling that needing an EE(or any) degree for a job has less to do with learning things, and more to do with filtering out people who are unable to work through an EE degree, or selecting people who have the type of thinking/abilities to perform well in this type of job. Are my suspicions correct?

4. Does this stuff "all make sense" after a while, or are there any working EEs/grad students who still don't really understand what this stuff actually means?

5. Do you need to have this kind of understanding of theory to get into grad school or get a job in EE?

6. Do you really need a "passion" for EE to get through a grad degree? I find some fields in EE more interesting than others, but am pretty indifferent to it on the whole; as I mentioned earlier, I'm just in for the money.

Thanks for reading through this post!

Human-Powered Live-Blogging On A Bike In France

piedrasyluz — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 21:00:19 -0800

Calling all electrical engineers, cyclists and gadget freaks: How can I modify my SON dynamo bicycle wheel hub so that I can use it to power a variety of peripheral devices (cell phone, iPod, GPS, etc.)? I am a randonneur. I ride my bicycle very long distances (this year I plan to complete the Paris-Brest-Paris, a 1200km event held once every four years in France in August). And I get very bored sometimes. I carry a cell phone with me for emergencies, a tiny digital camera, as well as an iPod full of audio books and music that help me get through the long miles. I also would like to add a GPS-enabled Mobile PC device/Blackberry. Ideally, I would like to live-blog the ride, with text, audio, and photos from along the route, without having to carry a ton of spare batteries. Most of the devices are rechargeable, but recharging them would require stopping long enough to plug them in to an outlet, somewhat counter to the notion of staying motion. We are talking 90 hours on a bike here, so the ten or so hours you'd normally get from these devices won't cut it. Carrying extra batteries is not an option either since most devices have their own internal rechargeable batteries.

The front hub on my bicycle is a SON dynamo hub. These hubs are traditionally used to power a headlight so that randonneurs can ride at night without having to rely on battery powered lights. The hubs generate approximately 6V of current when spinning, and have two outputs: one for the main headlight and one for an optional second light.

My question is this: is it possible to somehow use the second output to serve as a power source for peripheral devices of varying voltages? How would this be achieved? Are there off-the-shelf parts available for use in putting such a system together? Is a 6V dynamo sufficient to power most devices (ie, my Powerbook input is 24.5V, so powering something as big as a laptop is out, right?) I am assuming it would require an intermediate energy storage device (ie, a specialized battery) to go between the device and the dynamo (since the current is not present when the bike is at rest), but what about the varying voltages of all the separate devices (anywhere from 1.5 V to 5.5V, not to mention all of the different connector types).

I did find a system called the GeoBici that makes reference to a specialized alternator used to power an iPaq Pocket PC with GPS, but no specifics were given, nor can one purchase said system.

Other issues: a lot of extra weight and overall bulkiness would make this not fun. I also don't want to jeopardize the function of the headlight, which is actually the most important part of this whole system.

Finally, I can tell you that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of users of SON hubs who would like to see products developed along this line, so all you entrepreneurs out there might want to get a'crackin'.

3000 Farad 2.7 volt ultracapicator = how much "work"?

loquacious — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:34:14 -0800

How many watt hours, amp hours or "work" does this 3000 Farad 2.7 volt operating voltage ultracapacitor represent? I think that I understand just enough to grasp that in measuring work-potential in electronics/electrics that most useful energy measurements in the realm are dependent on time/work or work/time.

Can anyone put the specs of that ultracapacitor into a measurement easily grasped by a layman?

(Tag refinement suggestions welcomed.)

Conversion of LCD to VGA

Netzapper — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:46:49 -0800

ElectricalEngineerFilter: I have an Intel XScale processor (on a gumstix, with integrated LCD controller. I think I've rigged up a way for it to output a VGA signal. Will you reality check my work? In active mode, I note that the LCD controller puts out both a line clock signal, a frame clock signal, and a pixel clock signal. It produces 16-bit digital color information via a parallel interface.

The line clock seems to correspond to the HSync of VGA, while the frame clock seems to correspond to VSync. I can also get analog RGB values by DACing the color signals, using the pixel clock to pump the DAC.

With analog RGB values, an HSync, and a VSync, I have VGA.

QED?

(Note: I can, through software, vary the timings, add delays, etc.)