r/ElectricalEngineering

Hi all. I'm two years out from graduation and I'm trying to figure out what EE subfield I'd like to go into for a career. I imagine the obvious answer is figure out what I enjoy the most then pick the most ethical job I can, ie if I love power do renewables, microelectronics do medical devices, etc., but I find myself wondering if there are any industries that I'm forgetting?

Thank you for your time.

I'm relatively new to power electronics so please excuse me. I'm testing out an SCR Power Controller and noticed that my voltage sags from ~115.5 VAC unloaded to ~107.5 VAC under load. If I'm understanding correctly, the voltage sag should be short duration and recover eventually. But at 100% always ON output my voltage still stays around ~107.5 VAC. I'm wondering if my circuit is setup incorrectly or if perhaps my load bank (Swift-e 10kW Portable) is causing this, anything I should be checkimg or considering?

Hello, I recently graduated with a Master's degree and I altough I am based in the EU, I would like to work remotely to american companies, since these pay so much better. I know the chances of getting a 100% remote job to USA companies, specially with no experience, are very, very slim, but it doesn't hurt trying. Any recomendations and ideas?

Hi,

I currently have a Bachelor's in Math and am looking to get my Master's in Electrical Engineering. I'm looking to finish undergraduate lower-division courses (physics, circuits) while waiting for Fall admissions. Does that sound like a good plan? Also, would it look better to also work part-time at a Best Buy or something along those lines?

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Have a basic circuit/conservation of energy question. Consider a simple DC circuit with a single resistive element, let’s say a lightbulb. Heat is dissipated by the resistive element via the electrons passing through. My question is, how do electrons physically lose energy in the circuit? Like, are they vibrating less after passing through the circuit? It’s the same current before and after the resistive element, so what property of the current is changing to show that work was done to the resistive element? Ami I thinking about this the right way?

Thanks

Hello, I hope you all are having a great day. There's a TL;DR at the bottom with a context paragraph above it. I also want to point out that my field-understanding is very casual & limited so far.

From my understanding, stray capacitance & inductance form between a system & a foreign object unintentionally (or intentionally? Would a touch screen & a human finger be an intentional example?) They impact the system such that:

I_c = C(dv_c/dt)
and
V_L = L(di/dt)

This is due to the nature of capacitance (geometric capacitance formula) and inductance (Wheeler's formula):

C = (eA)/d
and
L = (k(n^2)(d^2))/(18d + 40L)

That's to say any two objects of distance d (capacitance) or L (inductance) will exhibit capacitance and inductance between them as a function of their physical dimensions.

This is due to their local electromagnetic field divergences & curls affecting one another per the Maxwell/Heaviside equations (still learning about this relationship.)

Therefore, as the individual divergences & curls create a net divergence & curl across the field shared by the system & foreign object, there will be a voltage (applied voltage - inductively induced voltage, due to Faraday's Law of Induction) and a current in part to capacitance

So ultimately, any two objects insulated from each other will, given a fast changing voltage, carry current. This changing current in turn attenuates the fast-changing voltage by inducing a backwards-polarity voltage. This is so that the current remains as constant as possible.

As miniscule as these voltages & currents may be, every pair of objects exhibit stray capacitance & inductance that influences their localized field characteristics. I suppose that also explains leakage inductance in a transformer? The miniscule-detail may not be right because there does need to be a fast changing voltage or current to cause this & ionize the insulating material.

TL;DR: I'm trying to understand what stray capacitance & inductance is from the perspective of field interactions. My previous paragraph is how my current perspective is, but it doesn't sound quite right?

Hey everyone, I'm looking for advice on what schools to apply to. I am mainly interested chip design/verification, but am open to anything. I am already admitted to my home institutions MEng program, so that is my main backup. I am interested in both MS, MEng, and PhD programs.

I'm a rising senior at a mid tier state school with a >3.9 GPA, some non-ECE but still engineering related research experience, and a co-op internship at a large aerospace company. I'm a US Citizen, no visa requirements.

My current list is as follows:

• University of Washington
• UC Berkley
• UCLA
• UCSD
• Purdue
• Georgia Tech
• UIUC
• U Michigan
• UT Austin
• USC
• CMU
• MIT
• Stanford
• Caltech
• Duke
• Cornell

I am aware most of these schools are very competitive or may not offer MS only programs, my backup is my current school which I am already admitted to, hence the list being mainly reaches. I am looking for schools I may have missed in this list, or schools not worth applying to for whatever reason. Thanks!

Been driving long haul for years, and I've always kept a small kit in the cab for fixing radios, CB units, and the occasional dead battery management system on a reefer trailer. Mostly selftaught stuff layered on top of an old EE background that never really got used professionally.

Lately on layovers I've been getting more serious about it. Started tracing faults on older inverter units that other drivers just throw out. Most of the time it's a busted capacitor or a gate driver that gave up. Nothing fancy, but it keeps the skills from going completely cold.

What I'm curious about is how many people here are using their EE knowledge in ways that have nothing to do with their actual job title. Not the formal project lab stuff, but the real world tinkering that happens in a garage or a truck stop parking lot at two in the morning with a multimeter and bad lighting.

Do you find that handson troubleshooting outside of work actually made you a sharper engineer when you were working in the field, or does practical repair work feel disconnected from the theory side of things? Curious what this community thinks, especially folks who took a nontraditional path with the degree

Yo guys,

I recently started my summer internship less than a week ago.

I want to pursue a more field-oriented role like Commissioning or Field Engineering, but the summer internship I got is in electronics design. To be honest, I'm not getting paid anything,not even a food allowance or travel expenses. I'm from Portugal, and while not being paid during a summer internship is normal here, it’s usually customary to at least cover food or transportation costs.

I'm frustrated and sad at the same time. I don't want to leave because, at the end of the day, an internship is an internship and i migth not find another one for the summer.

On the other hand, I don't like what I'm doing. I'm stuck at a desk all day, and since I don't have prior experience and haven't finished my bachelor's yet, I feel like I'm not getting any guidance. I just feel alone...

I'm thinking I should leave and find a summer job instead. I think I'd be way happier doing field work, even if it's not an engineering role. I'd honestly prefer a technician job over this current internship. I might just leave and look for a technical, more field-oriented job like a maintenance technician, electrician, or something related to power systems, though I know it will be difficult.

I can't find summer internships for field or commissioning engineering anyway, so there's also that. I don't think a technician role would be bad at all.

I really need your opinion on this, guys.

I bought a 230V AC to 12V DC adapter from Amazon which is sold and labeled as a 3A adapter. Main problem is, its thermal fuse trips when I pull just 2.2A, and yes it does feel really hot when it trips. It also pulls 0.8W when idle, which feels a bit wasteful.

I do actually need about 2.5 A, so I'll need a replacement. Where do you guys get decent adapters, and how do you know if an adapter is any good when you see it in a webshop?

I’m entering my sr year of high school and trying to choose a major/career. I’ll be going to UW-Madison.

I’m pulled toward being an actuary because UW has an elite program where classes count as taking actuarial exams. It would lead to a simple, high paying job that would likely have great wlb.

I’m pulled towards engineering because it appears to have a greater positive societal impact, would likely be more interesting, and may even let me at some point work on cutting edge tech such as spacecrafts, planes, etc. it would also leave a path open to being an actuary later.

Any advice on how or which choice to make?

I'm in a tough spot. I'm based in Pakistan, and EE jobs here are pretty limited — most of what's out there is power/telco sector work, and it pays next to nothing. Neither field ever interested me. What I actually want is something that blends hardware and programming — robotics would be ideal.

Bit of backstory: I originally started in CS but dropped out because of pressure from my dad, and ended up doing EE instead, half-heartedly. I don't regret the degree exactly, I just never wanted to be someone who goes out to sites or does purely physical work — I wanted to stay close to code.

I graduated about 2 years ago and never actually worked in the field. Since then it's been a BPO job and now an admin job. Looking back, I regret how I spent that time — it feels like two years I could've used to actually build a career instead. Right now I feel like I'm starting from zero. I don't remember a ton from my degree, but I know I could pick it back up if I sat down and studied.

So — where do I go from here? I'm genuinely lost and could use some real direction.

TL;DR:

EE grad in Pakistan, 2 years out of school with no industry experience (BPO + admin work instead). Want to break into robotics/hardware-adjacent programming rather than power/telco or pure software. Feel behind and need a realistic path forward.

Hey everyone,
I’m meeting with my college counselor next week because I’m thinking about changing my major. I originally planned on pursuing Computer Science, but after realizing that job market is cooked I started looking into engineering and built my first Arduino robot arm, I realized I enjoy working on hardware, electronics, and programming physical machines much more than I enjoy the idea of sitting behind a screen writing software all day.
I’m now seriously considering switching to engineering, but I’m still trying to figure out which discipline makes the most sense.
A little about me:
I’m located in the Los Angeles County area (Burbank, San Fernando Valley, Palmdale/Lancaster area).
I’m planning on transferring to earn a bachelor’s degree.
I have a young daughter, so employability and job stability are extremely important to me.
I still want to enjoy what I do because I plan on doing this for the next 30-40 years.
I’m hoping engineers who actually work in the field can give me some honest advice.
Here are my questions:
If you were starting over today in Southern California, would you choose Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or another engineering discipline?
Which engineering fields have the strongest job market in the Los Angeles/Burbank/Palmdale area today, and which do you think will still be in demand 3 years from now when I graduate?
Which engineering fields are becoming saturated, and which ones are still relatively underserved?
I’m really interested in robotics, embedded systems, automation, controls, aerospace, and defense. Which engineering major gives me the best balance between interesting work and strong job opportunities?
How difficult is it to break into aerospace or defense as a new graduate? Do most of those jobs really require security clearances?
Do visible tattoos, specifically a neck tattoo, realistically affect hiring in engineering, aerospace, or defense? I’m looking for honest answers from people who have actually worked in those industries.
If you could go back to your freshman year, what skills, projects, certifications, or internships would you focus on to become more employable by graduation?
I’m not looking for the “highest paying” major. I’m looking for a career that I can genuinely enjoy while also providing stability for my daughter. I’d really appreciate hearing from engineers who have been in the industry and can share what they’ve experienced.
Thanks in advance for any advice