Is anyone an electrical engineer?

[jmcoreymv]

I am wondering what your day is like?
What kinds of things do you do?
What percentage of time are you designing something as opposed to debugging or other stuff?
How is the pay? (if you want to give a range)
What kind of schooling do you have?
Is it hard to break into the field?

I already have experience working with a group of EEs from a certain company but I have to give a speech about the career and I want to make sure that the stuff I learned from working there is pretty universal. Thank you.

 

[jmcoreymv]

^

 

[jessicak]

Anyone know? Im interested too.

 

[CanOWorms]

What do you mean by an EE consultant? An engineer that picks up various technical contracts? Or a more business-oriented thing?

 

[SuperTool]

If you want money, become a mask designer. Easy job, simple training, good pay.

 

[jmcoreymv]

Well at first I was looking for a contractor type deal but really just any EE now.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
Well at first I was looking for a contractor type deal but really just any EE now.

Well, my father is an engineering consultant... a real technical one. He's into vibrations, so it's not EE related. Pay-wise, it pays very well, but I was always under the assumption that you need tons of experience, be an expert, and respected to be able to do this. You bid and pick up on contracts from various companies or go through other companies that have lists of contracts of companies that need help in something. It definitely isn't fun when you're in between contracts not making money. Projects he's worked on recently have been wind energy, the space station (physically working on it), national missile defense (the interceptor thing), and Halliburton oil stuff.

 

[tigerbait]

I'm an Electrical Engineer. I work for a consulting/design firm that has engineers of all disciplines. We work with industry and utilities, and EE's jobs include power and instrumentation. Mostly design work, with trips to field often necessary to get information.

Work in an office, sit in front of a computer most of the day (on AT )
interface with other engineers and the CAD operators

Got a B.S. in EE, and started a little below $50k out of school.

 

[SuperTool]

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
I am wondering what your day is like?
What kinds of things do you do?
What percentage of time are you designing something as opposed to debugging or other stuff?
How is the pay? (if you want to give a range)
What kind of schooling do you have?
Is it hard to break into the field?

I already have experience working with a group of EEs from a certain company but I have to give a speech about the career and I want to make sure that the stuff I learned from working there is pretty universal. Thank you.

My day is in front of computer about 5-6 hrs a day, and meetings about 2-3 hrs
I design verify and simulate microchip circuits.
Most of the time is spent designing and verifying to make sure you don't have much to debug. In our field, debugging silicon means you made an expensive mistake, because revs of a chip can cost millions, and debugging takes time which results in schedule hit.
Starting pay in Silicon Valley is mid 60's with a bachelors, though might be lower now.
I have BS in EE.
It's harder now to break in because a lot of companies are looking for experienced people, while in 2000, they would hire almost anyone with descent GPA out of college. There is still demand for good engineers, so if you have relevant experience while in college, it will be doable. But demands are more specific.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: SuperTool

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
I am wondering what your day is like?
What kinds of things do you do?
What percentage of time are you designing something as opposed to debugging or other stuff?
How is the pay? (if you want to give a range)
What kind of schooling do you have?
Is it hard to break into the field?

I already have experience working with a group of EEs from a certain company but I have to give a speech about the career and I want to make sure that the stuff I learned from working there is pretty universal. Thank you.

My day is in front of computer about 5-6 hrs a day, and meetings about 2-3 hrs
I design verify and simulate microchip circuits.
Most of the time is spent designing and verifying to make sure you don't have much to debug. In our field, debugging silicon means you made an expensive mistake, because revs of a chip can cost millions, and debugging takes time which results in schedule hit.
Starting pay in Silicon Valley is mid 60's with a bachelors, though might be lower now.
I have BS in EE.
It's harder now to break in because a lot of companies are looking for experienced people, while in 2000, they would hire almost anyone with descent GPA out of college. There is still demand for good engineers, so if you have relevant experience while in college, it will be doable. But demands are more specific.

Hey, I'm getting my MSEE and thinking about doing my project/thesis in that area Do you like it? How's that area of the industry overall?

 

[jteef]

i am an ee in the air force. right now they have me doing MIS work, but at least i'm the project lead, so thats nice experience to get as an entry level engineer.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: jteef
i am an ee in the air force. right now they have me doing MIS work, but at least i'm the project lead, so thats nice experience to get as an entry level engineer.

you are a project lead and a entry level engineer? wtf?

 

[jteef]

thats one of the main reasons i joined

 

[LanEvoVI]

I have B.E. in Electrical Engineering and went into the utility industry straight out of college last year. Power engineering is interesting stuff and I get a nice mix of field/office work. I'm in Transmission Planning and its pretty nice to see some of the stuff you work on actually get constructed and put in service. Pay is pretty good where I live ( ~ 55k out of college) but that's probably b/c of the high cost of living in NYC.

 

[jmcoreymv]

Thanks for the info guys. I had some misconceptions about pay I suppose. Some of the guys I was working with were getting over 150/hour.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
Thanks for the info guys. I had some misconceptions about pay I suppose. Some of the guys I was working with were getting over 150/hour.

Well they're consultants, right? Many consultants make over $100/hour if they're good. They certainly would make more than a 'regular' EE person.

 

[jmcoreymv]

So the disadvantages to consulting are that you dont get benefits and that you arent really guaranteed a paycheck? Anything else? It seems like it might be more interesting to me because you arent working at the same company doing the same thing forever.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
So the disadvantages to consulting are that you dont get benefits and that you arent really guaranteed a paycheck? Anything else? It seems like it might be more interesting to me because you arent working at the same company doing the same thing forever.

Well I only know of one consultant (not an EE, but also in engineering) that is basically starting up his own consulting service/company. I suppose that you could be a consultant at a company, too...but the person that I know gets around $100/hour, can often work at home, is one of the experts in the US in his field, doesn't get benefits from a company, etc. I'm not sure if you can just graduate and say 'Hey, I want to be a consultant!' and start off on your own...you better be damn good at what you do...there's a reason why people bring you in to fix their problems when they have their own engineers.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

coool...i'm an EE under training.....i'm dying to look for internship..

my gpa's kind of low (sub 3.0)

sigh..i'm stuck w/ a stupid IT job on campus...

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: jteef
i am an ee in the air force. right now they have me doing MIS work, but at least i'm the project lead, so thats nice experience to get as an entry level engineer.

That sucks you're doing MIS work, but wow that experience as the project lead must be awesome!

 

[SuperTool]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: SuperTool

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
I am wondering what your day is like?
What kinds of things do you do?
What percentage of time are you designing something as opposed to debugging or other stuff?
How is the pay? (if you want to give a range)
What kind of schooling do you have?
Is it hard to break into the field?

I already have experience working with a group of EEs from a certain company but I have to give a speech about the career and I want to make sure that the stuff I learned from working there is pretty universal. Thank you.

My day is in front of computer about 5-6 hrs a day, and meetings about 2-3 hrs
I design verify and simulate microchip circuits.
Most of the time is spent designing and verifying to make sure you don't have much to debug. In our field, debugging silicon means you made an expensive mistake, because revs of a chip can cost millions, and debugging takes time which results in schedule hit.
Starting pay in Silicon Valley is mid 60's with a bachelors, though might be lower now.
I have BS in EE.
It's harder now to break in because a lot of companies are looking for experienced people, while in 2000, they would hire almost anyone with descent GPA out of college. There is still demand for good engineers, so if you have relevant experience while in college, it will be doable. But demands are more specific.

Hey, I'm getting my MSEE and thinking about doing my project/thesis in that area Do you like it? How's that area of the industry overall?

I love it. I just love digital circuit design. It's perfect for me. It's not too abstract like programming, and at the same time, not too intensive in terms of theory, because anything beyond back of envelope calculations has been offloaded to computers. It's pure engineering. I guess some people preffer abstract thinking, and some people like scientific challenge, but I like things I can completely understand and almost feel.
Overall area of industry is relatively strong IMO. Good circuit designers are hard to find. I think also things like wires, leakage, noise, etc are becomining bigger factors even for companies who just synthesised their blocks from RTL.
I think once you break in, you'll be OK.

 

[Ime]

My bro-in-law is an EE, and he works for the federal gov't.

That's all I'm allowed to say.

 

[jayXTP]

Originally posted by: SuperTool

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: SuperTool

Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
I am wondering what your day is like?
What kinds of things do you do?
What percentage of time are you designing something as opposed to debugging or other stuff?
How is the pay? (if you want to give a range)
What kind of schooling do you have?
Is it hard to break into the field?

I already have experience working with a group of EEs from a certain company but I have to give a speech about the career and I want to make sure that the stuff I learned from working there is pretty universal. Thank you.

My day is in front of computer about 5-6 hrs a day, and meetings about 2-3 hrs
I design verify and simulate microchip circuits.
Most of the time is spent designing and verifying to make sure you don't have much to debug. In our field, debugging silicon means you made an expensive mistake, because revs of a chip can cost millions, and debugging takes time which results in schedule hit.
Starting pay in Silicon Valley is mid 60's with a bachelors, though might be lower now.
I have BS in EE.
It's harder now to break in because a lot of companies are looking for experienced people, while in 2000, they would hire almost anyone with descent GPA out of college. There is still demand for good engineers, so if you have relevant experience while in college, it will be doable. But demands are more specific.

Hey, I'm getting my MSEE and thinking about doing my project/thesis in that area Do you like it? How's that area of the industry overall?

I love it. I just love digital circuit design. It's perfect for me. It's not too abstract like programming, and at the same time, not too intensive in terms of theory, because anything beyond back of envelope calculations has been offloaded to computers. It's pure engineering. I guess some people preffer abstract thinking, and some people like scientific challenge, but I like things I can completely understand and almost feel.
Overall area of industry is relatively strong IMO. Good circuit designers are hard to find. I think also things like wires, leakage, noise, etc are becomining bigger factors even for companies who just synthesised their blocks from RTL.
I think once you break in, you'll be OK.

Hi SuperTool, what area of the country are you working in?

I'm assuming you're doing VLSI, using CAD, simulations, VHDL, Verilog, etc. Do you know how Package Signal Integrity fits into overall picture and if that's a good area to get into?

Also, what software packages do you use on a daily basis?

 

[CrazyDe1]

I spend 20% of my time doing tech support, 2% doing web stuff, 5% doing board layouts 20% doing firmware, and the rest debugging problems...

Course this is at a startup where we all kind of do everything

 

[MaxFusion16]

what school did u guys attend? I'm currently a EE in training, first year student at RIT. What kind of pay should i expect after undergrad?