Electronic And Computer Eng.

ZorbaTehZ

Well I'm pretty sure that this is what I'm going to do at third level. I've always had an interest in electronics and physics and maths(especially), and pretty much since about 2nd/3rd year of school I assumed that this was what I was going to do.

Any electronic/computer engineers (or - of course - anyone else who feels they know a thing or two about this) who can give me some info on what its like as a profession? Are there many career opportunities? What kinds of work could I expect to be involved in? Is it enjoyable?

The course itself is GY406 in NUIG: Electronic and Computer Engineering. I assume nearly no-one is doing this course as the points are so very low (last year 290/300)
Lately I've become unsure whether of not this is what I actually want to do - and I've been considering (amongst other things) a pure Math and a theoretical Physics degree.
Hopefully any info. you guys have can help me make a better decision.:D

Boston

Theres a simpliar Computer and Electronics course offered in TCD through general engineering, have you considered it?

decdoc

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

Well I'm pretty sure that this is what I'm going to do at third level. I've always had an interest in electronics and physics and maths(especially), and pretty much since about 2nd/3rd year of school I assumed that this was what I was going to do.

Any electronic/computer engineers (or - of course - anyone else who feels they know a thing or two about this) who can give me some info on what its like as a profession? Are there many career opportunities? What kinds of work could I expect to be involved in? Is it enjoyable?

The course itself is GY406 in NUIG: Electronic and Computer Engineering. I assume nearly no-one is doing this course as the points are so very low (last year 290/300)
Lately I've become unsure whether of not this is what I actually want to do - and I've been considering (amongst other things) a pure Math and a theoretical Physics degree.
Hopefully any info. you guys have can help me make a better decision.:D

At the moment there are plenty of jobs about, but they're mainly for experienced engineers, I've been out of college over 2 years now, I did Electronic Engineering in NUI Maynooth, and I've been struggling to find a good engineering job , I got a first class honour by the way.

If you really enjoy maths and physics and have an interest in electronics I would recommend you do it in college, but I would have a look around for a degree which has at least a 6 month internship, or there are a few colleges which now place you 2 days a week in a job and you spend the other 3 days in college for 3rd and 4th year. The experience you get in a placement is critical in getting a good job when you finish, and from my experience employers are far more interested in your work placement experience and your final year project than your final results.

themole

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

The course itself is GY406 in NUIG: Electronic and Computer Engineering. I assume nearly no-one is doing this course as the points are so very low (last year 290/300)

Thats the course which i myself did, from 1999-2003.

In 1999 the points were around 430, and they went up to 450 i think the year after. The recent low points is due to a general lack of interest rather than an indication of the quality of the course.

Part of the course includes a work placement between 3rd and 4th year.

cerebus

Not a bad course to consider doing.

Career opportunities are pretty varied - the EE/CS combination should allow you work anywhere all the way from software engineering through to hardware design.

I'd imagine the possibility will also be there to specialize more on the heavy "electrical" side of EE, so you could even get into odd stuff like motors, turbines and EM theory.

Wikipedia gives a reasonable overview of EE - some sections give an outline of different areas that you could specialize in. Good comments on that webpage on the importance of project management skills. I have an EE degree from NUIG (well, UCG back in the day), followed by some graduate work - after 7 years in industry, I spend most of my time managing projects rather than doing hardcore technical work.

ZorbaTehZ

^^
Do you guys enjoy the work?
TBH that 'hardcore technical work' you talk of is what interests me most about the work.
Did you find it difficult to get a job?

cerebus

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

Did you find it difficult to get a job?

No, not difficult - though last time I looked was 7+ years ago.

Many industries where you might go looking for a job after completing a degree like this are going to be cyclical (very cyclical in some cases), so ease/difficulty of finding work will probably reflect that.

CathalMc

There has been a few threads here over the last two years with a number of people commenting that they couldn't find jobs - you could search for them, but it's a bit depressing

Everyone in my class from '05 got job offers, some with multiple offers. Some classes were not so lucky, but then again we had alot of smart cookies.

The points for EE programmes have been on the decline the last few years, and as such I would argue that people with less aptitude for the level of study and application requried were getting in and finding the going rough then graduating with a poor intuitive comprehension of the basics.
I know of at least one multi-national electronics company that was shipping in (degree-toting) EU workers during the slump because there were not enough Irish college graduates meeting the grade. I seem to recall the same company were so desperate for people they ran another round of "second-chance" interviews but still a number of people weren't up to the grade.

Another factor in your job success is the subfield you choose to aim for.
In my own case (and that of a number of my classmates) this was analogue and RF comms, the job opportunities are excellent and it is a growing area too. On the other hand, it tends to be a more difficult subject at undergraduate level and people tend to be turned off it.
In contrast, areas such as Control and Power engineering don't have such a dynamic market in Ireland although there is always a steady demand. Alot of people seem to enjoy power courses too, playing with big and dangerous equipment just seems to excite some people

BioHazRd

you say you have an interest in physics, and this could be good to get you into the medical sector. Radiology departments in hospitals all have physicists to run / validate them. A primary engineering degree with a physics masters degree would be the aim here. The nice thing is you can start as a trainee physicist with just the primary degree and get your masters while you are working. I know st james hospital in dublin has an active role in this with TCD. When you eventually get to the top of the ladder, the money is pretty staggering, and the work can be very interesting too. There just isnt enough space here to explain how varied the role is, so you can start looking at http://www.stjames.ie/PatientsVisitors/Departments/MedicalPhysicsBioengineering/Education/
and also the Biomedical Engineering Association of Ireland at http://www.beai.org/index.html

CerebralCortex

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos267.htm