Can I transition from embedded systems field to the RF/microwave domain

Thread Starter

ac47

Joined Nov 21, 2022
1
Hello everyone,

At the moment I'm doing a master's degree in EE and I'm in my second semester (I live in Europe so doing a master's degree is very typical) out of total four semesters. So far my focus has been on embedded systems (hardware & software design (Verilog, VHDL, SystemC, C/C++ etc.)). But I've lost interest in this field and realized that I'm not a computer engineering guy. During my undergraduate studies, the lectures I enjoyed the most were the RF, Microwave, Antenna and Analog Circuit Design lectures, mainly because of the high-level math that is included in them. So would it be a silly move to transition into RF after I've progressed so far in embedded systems?
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
At the moment I'm doing a master's degree in EE and I'm in my second semester (I live in Europe so doing a master's degree is very typical) out of total four semesters. So far my focus has been on embedded systems (hardware & software design (Verilog, VHDL, SystemC, C/C++ etc.)). But I've lost interest in this field and realized that I'm not a computer engineering guy. During my undergraduate studies, the lectures I enjoyed the most were the RF, Microwave, Antenna and Analog Circuit Design lectures, mainly because of the high-level math that is included in them. So would it be a silly move to transition into RF after I've progressed so far in embedded systems?
Why not? Pursuing what interests you the most will likely let you go much further and be much happier and successful in the long run.

You'll probably have to step back and take some deeper courses in the new area, but you should find that your background in embedded systems will be very useful since most RF systems today are pretty tightly coupled to embedded hardware to one degree or another.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
Hello everyone,

At the moment I'm doing a master's degree in EE and I'm in my second semester (I live in Europe so doing a master's degree is very typical) out of total four semesters. So far my focus has been on embedded systems (hardware & software design (Verilog, VHDL, SystemC, C/C++ etc.)). But I've lost interest in this field and realized that I'm not a computer engineering guy. During my undergraduate studies, the lectures I enjoyed the most were the RF, Microwave, Antenna and Analog Circuit Design lectures, mainly because of the high-level math that is included in them. So would it be a silly move to transition into RF after I've progressed so far in embedded systems?
What kind of job are you looking for? Have you interned anywhere? Have you met people working in .RF engineering roles? It would be nice to stop by an office and/or lab to see what people actually do day-to-day. Will you be using your high level math or just specifying and bolting together modules? Do some digging. More people are using products than building new devices. More people are in technical sales and support than there are in product development snd research.
 

Ian0

Joined Aug 7, 2020
9,667
Absolutely. You can transition to anything you're interested in. The world needs RF engineers, because everyone wants to send more and more data at higher and higher frequencies over longer and longer distances.
I do embedded programming but I wouldn't stand a chance of transitioning to RF and microwave because I don't find it remotely interesting!
 
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