NPR big time: electrical engineers

[omgtree]

This is our last child and I'm looking at finally going back to school to finish my degree. After googling, soul searching and looking at potential jobs post degree, I'm thinking I want to do electrical engineering provided I can handle the math classes. Anyone or their SO done this? Just trying to get peoples' real life experiences/advice.

[leenziepops]

I completed a Bachelor in Electrical & Computer Systems engineering.
Cons:
- Freaking hard and high fail rate at my university. Be prepared to put in the hours
- Very dry subjects
- Mostly male, you will find yourself being the only girl in many classes. The guys either fawn over you or pretend you're not there because they're scared to talk to you

Pros:
- Stable career with decent pay
- Challenging to the core
- Mostly male and you get special attention being female.


You mentioned maths class. I didn't find it too bad at all but I was A+ for maths all the way through high school.

[kemdupuis]

My DH double majored in electrical and mechanical engineering. He says there were a lot of required math courses(up to Calc 3). I'm not really sure what it all entails, because i never even took calculus, but if you have more specific questions, I could certainly ask him

[bendherova]

All of what leenziepops said.

My undergrad degree is in Civil eng, but the math requirements were the same for all e-school majors at the time. It was hard. (calc 1-3 and differential equations, and then probability and you may have a linear algebra class thrown in for funsies)

I'd do it all again, though.

[omgtree]

Traditionally I haven't done well with math. I'm hoping with age and my ADD meds that I'll do better. I plan to start at the community college to take the math classes leading up to the calculus classes. Hoping that will help.

[sugarkissed]

DH is an electrical engineer. Loves his job, enjoys the challenge, but university was intense and there were many days that he nearly called it quits. He made it through and now has a stable job with decent pay. It's a huge commitment but worth it in the long run.

[tahitiandreamin]

I have a degree in Systems Design Engineering (similar to electrical and computer with a dash of mechanical thrown in). The work load (at least at my university) was intense!

A lot depends on where you go to school. Like leenziepops there was a high failure rate at my school (combined with high grades to get in). I've have heard from people who went to other schools that things weren't as intense for them.

Our workload was crazy (again this seems to be dependent on the school). Late evenings, pretty much all weekend, nearly every spare moment was spent in labs, on homework, studying. While every other faculty in my university got a reading week, we got a reading weekend... we had an extra long weekend (4 days) and then were back in class while everyone else at the university was off enjoying reading week in some nice hot place.

It will be incredibly tough and very intense, especially with kids. But I found it well worth it. The job perspective for EE has changed a lot since I graduated. Make sure that you are really looking at the job market for someone straight out of university in your area before you commit. Also, I would highly recommend finding a university with a co-op program for engineering. I did co-op and everyone in my class had a fairly easy time finding a job (again very different job market from the current one) because we all had practical work experience. Talking to people who did not do co-op, the job hunt afterwards was a bit tougher because they didn't have the practical skills that we had been able to develop through work placements.