Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering vs Electronics & Electrical Engineering

[altairauditore]

Will be doing it from a local college. I like Electrical stuff: power supplies, power phases, motors etc, but many people recommend the ET. Btw, will telecommunications make any difference versus communications?

I love computer hardware (not so much the software side, but am okay with it); what would be the better line to go for if I want to get into R&D for computer hardware: designing motherboards etc?

Future prospects? Job opportunities? Value of the degree (EC vs ET)? Salaries?

 

[sdifox]

EE

 

[altairauditore]

EE

Is it difficult/impossible to get into the Computer Hardware line after doing Electronics+Telecommunications? Why so?

 

[CraKaJaX]

I'm not sure what school you're speaking of, but I'll throw in my two cents..

I graduated in 2010 with my degree in EE. There were three 'core' engineering degrees for the electrical/computer geeks - electrical engineering, computer engineering and software engineering. There was no such thing as 'telecommunication signal processing engineering' or whatever else sort of name they want to create. The base EE degree, after general classes like calc, physics, chem, etc. are taken, allow you to choose a path so you can pick classes that are more specific to said path. The difference between the core degrees mentioned above were the required classes you had to take; ie, software engineers had more programming classes that were required than electrical engineers.

As an EE I was able to choose a path between power, signals & systems or micro/electronics. I personally chose power. That means all my elective courses had to be selected from all the 'PWR' classes available that semester, therefore fulfilling my requirements for my degree. If I had chosen signals and systems, I would have been required other classes to fulfill my degree. Even though I went the power path, I still took a few classes having nothing to do with power - DSP (digital signal processing), AM/FM modulation, microelectronics, etc.

I can personally say I had two summer internships (same company) and was then hired directly out of school to work for said company. I've since left that company for a better opportunity. As for salaries, that is obviously going to range depending on location.

 

[altairauditore]

I'm not sure what school you're speaking of, but I'll throw in my two cents..

I graduated in 2010 with my degree in EE. There were three 'core' engineering degrees for the electrical/computer geeks - electrical engineering, computer engineering and software engineering. There was no such thing as 'telecommunication signal processing engineering' or whatever else sort of name they want to create. The base EE degree, after general classes like calc, physics, chem, etc. are taken, allow you to choose a path so you can pick classes that are more specific to said path. The difference between the core degrees mentioned above were the required classes you had to take; ie, software engineers had more programming classes that were required than electrical engineers.

As an EE I was able to choose a path between power, signals & systems or micro/electronics. I personally chose power. That means all my elective courses had to be selected from all the 'PWR' classes available that semester, therefore fulfilling my requirements for my degree. If I had chosen signals and systems, I would have been required other classes to fulfill my degree. Even though I went the power path, I still took a few classes having nothing to do with power - DSP (digital signal processing), AM/FM modulation, microelectronics, etc.

I can personally say I had two summer internships (same company) and was then hired directly out of school to work for said company. I've since left that company for a better opportunity. As for salaries, that is obviously going to range depending on location.

Nice to hear. But would Computer engineering be better to go for if I want to get into Computer hardware design etc? Because that involves a lot of electrical stuff.

 

[core2slow]

Nice to hear. But would Computer engineering be better to go for if I want to get into Computer hardware design etc? Because that involves a lot of electrical stuff.

They're pretty much synonymous in the work field. A lot of the core teachings overlap between the three major disciplines...so sometimes you see an EE doing computer hardware or an SE doing electrical stuff. If you're aiming toward the building and designing aspect, then go with CE.

 

[96Firebird]

Who do you want to work for? Go to their website, look at the careers section, and see what degree they are looking for for the job you want.

 

[Iron Woode]

I have a certificate for Electrical Technology.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Nice to hear. But would Computer engineering be better to go for if I want to get into Computer hardware design etc? Because that involves a lot of electrical stuff.

Not exactly. I see it like this:

EE - hardware
CE - hardware/software
SE - software

Each degree you'll do a little bit of everything, but 90% of your classes will fall into the category above depending on the path you take

If you want to be designing hardware with logic diagrams and all that, I'd personally go for EE and concentrate on electronics. I have a few friends who went this path and are working at Texas Instruments designing boards and logic for them.

 

[CraKaJaX]

I also forgot to add - make sure the school you have in mind is ABET accredited.

http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Will be doing it from a local college. I like Electrical stuff: power supplies, power phases, motors etc, but many people recommend the ET. Btw, will telecommunications make any difference versus communications?

I love computer hardware (not so much the software side, but am okay with it); what would be the better line to go for if I want to get into R&D for computer hardware: designing motherboards etc?

Future prospects? Job opportunities? Value of the degree (EC vs ET)? Salaries?

I graduated with a EE degree in 1993. I'll give you a few pointers about the degree program -- I'm sure it has changed significantly since then, but I'm sure the core principles are the same:

1. Your first couple of years will be mostly math and science and will generally suck. Make sure you REALLY like math because you're going to use it throughout your program. I didn't mind the math but I thought having to take like 10 hours of Chemistry was a waste of my time. Physics was more enjoyable for me.
2. For your humanities/liberal arts electives, take the easiest ones they offer that meet the requirements. Seriously - they'll pad your GPA and give you some breathing room and less stress. I took a bunch of Econ and Spanish courses. For the Spanish ones, the 100 level courses qualified and I aced Spanish in high school, so my three Spanish courses in college were easy As and little work at all (in one of the classes, the instructor gave a speech about how "certain people" in the class had obviously had quite a bit of Spanish before and needed to drop the class and take more advanced Spanish classes. Screw that!) I think I ended up taking 3 Econ courses (one was required) and 2 or 3 Spanish courses. My rule of thumb regarding the humanities electives was that if I went into a class the first day and I saw the words "research paper" on the syllabus, I'd leave and drop the class immediately. I didn't want to waste time like that on a non-major class.
3. As soon as you can, get an internship. It will open a ton of doors for you.
4. Regardless of what discipline you major in, take a high-level programming language course (or multiple courses) and learn it very well. That will likely make you eligible for a TON of different positions either in EE, software development, consulting, IT, etc. It just increases your chances of finding a good job.

I also forgot to add - make sure the school you have in mind is ABET accredited.

http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx

This.