electrical/electronic engineering?

00MARTZ00

Hi folks
at the moment im studying electrical services engineering in DIT went directly into year 2 because i was a qualified electrician, however i dont have a leaving cert (therefore i never did leaving cert mathematics).
about a week before the exams started we were told that next year (year 3 of the course) we could drop our maths and our option and take up different (harder) maths and another subject called signals and systems i think. this allows us to eneter the third year of electrical/electronic engineering.
i was just wondering if anyone has gone down this route or if they have already completed the electrical/electronic engineering, how difficult were the maths? i cant decide wether to go down this route or jus apply for the level 8 in electrical services and energy management.
any replies or input would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

delonglad

I did electronics and went on to specialize in I.C Design. The maths my friend is not easy. You will find that you will be covering things that a maths course wouldn't cover. If you like mathematics (I actually do) you will have no problem but if you hate it I wouldn't advise it.

Maths in general is an easy subject if you enjoy it (which most don't)

Look at what career path you would like to go down. If you like the electronics side go for it and just put the effort in and you'll be fine.

Best of luck

Dardania

i did electrical/electronics in DIT (http://www.dit.ie/study/undergraduate/programmes/electricalelectronicengineeringdt021/), and like delonglad says, the math is not easy. I found that rote learning mostly got me through, but really it's just a hard topic taught by old-school lecturers mumbling to the board... I seem to remember these animals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(mathematics) Most students got through alright in the end (don't forget you can try again in August...)

Third year was the most difficult year, in terms of workload & content, but it is survivable. Electronics in particular is a bitch. Signals & Systems is an enjoyable course, and the lecturers I had there 4 years ago were very good...

I now work as a building services engineer, and frankly the only formula I brought from college to work was P=V*I ! (I jest - I brought alot of principles, and try apply them in the real world, rather than ready made solutions) If you want to try something that won't be familiar to you but gives a great background as to how things work, you'd enjoy it.

WHat are your employment plans after? Energy management may be narrow...

00MARTZ00

thanks for the replies folks
@ dardania to be honest i would like to stay in the electrical building services field i find it very interesting and can branch out in lots of areas with it but it doesnt seem likely to gain employment when i finish the course. i was told that with the electrical/electronic engineering degree you can pretty much walk into any electrical engineering job (not literally of course)
i think my grades where decent enough this year but i think im just worried that i might not be able for it at the same time i dont know if im selling myself short if you know what i mean?

rob w

00MARTZ00 wrote: »

about a week before the exams started we were told that next year (year 3 of the course) we could drop our maths and our option and take up different (harder) maths and another subject called signals and systems i think. this allows us to eneter the third year of electrical/electronic engineering.

Hi,
I am going to be starting electrical services engineering year 2 this september...just wondering what you mean when you say it will allow you to enter electrical/electronic engineering?? Do you mean completely changing from dt 010 to dt 009.........or is it jus doing different modules while in year 3 of dt 010??

pieface_ie

Hi,
I am going to be starting electrical services engineering year 2 this september...just wondering what you mean when you say it will allow you to enter electrical/electronic engineering?? Do you mean completely changing from dt 010 to dt 009.........or is it jus doing different modules while in year 3 of dt 010??

When you complete year 2 and are going into year 3 in September of Electrical Services Eng. You have the option to go on into Electronic/Electrical Eng DT021 Level 8 Honuors Degree.

If doing this, you will drop mathematics and one of your options you chose e.g industrial automation,data networking, building automation. You will then take on a different mathematics class and a choice of either signals and systems or cisco certified computer networking.

You will still attend your normal DT010 classes but instead of your normal maths and option class you will go to a different class instead.

So when you complete DT010 year 3 you then start off in year 3 of DT021. All in all it will take you four years total. Two years in DT010 and two years in DT021 (provided you skip first year in DT010 like many)

Dardania

pieface_ie wrote: »

When you complete year 2 and are going into year 3 in September of Electrical Services Eng. You have the option to go on into Electronic/Electrical Eng DT021 Level 8 Honuors Degree.

If doing this, you will drop mathematics and one of your options you chose e.g industrial automation,data networking, building automation. You will then take on a different mathematics class and a choice of either signals and systems or cisco certified computer networking.

You will still attend your normal DT010 classes but instead of your normal maths and option class you will go to a different class instead.

So when you complete DT010 year 3 you then start off in year 3 of DT021. All in all it will take you four years total. Two years in DT010 and two years in DT021 (provided you skip first year in DT010 like many)

I would have loved to have been given the option to do the CCNA - excellent idea for them to offer it - I had to do it solo post graduation, and it is not cheap...

To answer your PM, overall I quite enjoyed the course. As I said, third year is the toughest (and I'd be lying if I said I had second thoughts at some stage in third year as to whether I wanted to be an engineer), but if you're doing bridging modules etc. to get yourself up to speed it should be a seamless transition. With the maths, and difficulty of same, I found that they weren't no such difficult or convoluted as just involved - if you put the work in, and get comfortable with the presentation & greek letters, anyone can pass. Don't forget you only need 40% in each topic as a bare minimum (well 35% and compensate, but best keep that in reserve!)

My reflected upon advice to yourself & 00MARTZ00 would be to get a few of the previous years exam papers to get a sense of what will be asked, and don't be shocked by what you see - you'll be given full worked examples, and there are books in the library to guide you on how to answer the questions... Passing the year has everything to do with your strategy for exam week, and the months leading up to it, and getting the types of questions you're likely to be asked sussed in your mind in advance

To say that DT021 is extremely well run would be an overstatement, to be fair, however again in the sense of fairness it's not badly run. There is some double up in terms of course content, for example in controls versus maths, but this isn't a bad thing, as you sometimes get taught the same topic two different ways, which can help alot with understanding. Something which always impressed me was that of all the lecturers I had, at least half of them went through the course themselves or previous iterations of the same course (i.e. FT221 etc.) got industry experience, and came back to teach it. It's a top notch course and well recognised -I always felt that the likes of the level 7 courses etc. were just to meet a gap in the educational market whereas DT021 is the proper elec/electronic engineering course...

Programming would be a good side to get into, which I didn't do myself. There is plenty of scope for programming however in the course between computer programming, programming of PLCs & HMIs with David Berber (very sound guy) & messing about with MatLab with Gerry Caffrey (another good guy). I did an optional course with Frank Duignan on Open Source Software in the Enterprise which was excellent, however talking to him a few years ago I don't think he's run it again which is a shame - lack of interest. There are labs for running motors etc. but I suspect they may be more in 1st & second year - we validated all of the formulae for motor speed & armature current experimentally.

I never did a third year placement - I actually think that occurs in fourth year of DT021. I didn't do it in 4th year - I instead did Erasmus, where you do your final project in a foreign university - absolutely excellent, and typically those that do their project abroad get a few percent more on their project for whatever reason (a bit like transition year in secondary school resulting in a better leaving cert...)

For swotting up, have a look over the past exam papers, or even better talk to the lecturers in maths, electronics & controls / signals & systems in particular - they'll be the tough ones...

Jobs wise at the end it is quite broad what you can go for - I work in building services, ex classmates are working in: ESB Networks (actually a few are), a controls company for pharmaceutical industry, one guy works for Ericsson commissioning cell networks internationally (70% travel), another is in Britian working for a PV panel manufacturer/supplier. Interesting jobs all round.

Phew!

rob w

Great bit of info there lads, thanks!!

Im starting off in year 2 of d010 through advanced entry, would definitely be interested in the dt009 too, so will probably give it a shot when i have the opportunity!

Thanks

pieface_ie

Ok thanks for that mate.

00MARTZ00

thanks for the info folks
i made up my mind yesterday i got nothing to lose so im gonna go for it!