Hi Everyone. I never knew this site had a forum until yesterday when I was doing some research into electronics ET and EE. I read a fairly amusing thread on this forum, and even though the OP apparently had some issues, I learned a lot about the differences between electronics and electrical, as well as technology and engineering.
As the title says, I'm doing a transfer program from my college (Durham College, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) to a university out in the middle of Ontario, called Lakehead (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada). These are both fairly small schools. The program I just finished was 3 years long. This transfer program is fairly old, and is usually done in 2.5 semesters. It's not a usual bridge program, I'm not even too sure if it's called a bridge. After a summer semester of math courses, some chem, (bio?), mech, and thermodynamics, I'll go right into the 3rd year of the program. I've heard that those at this university can graduate after their 2nd year, with an advanced diploma like myself. Not sure if it's electrical or electronics, though I heard it was electronics.
Aaaaanyways, I got my conditional acceptance and I have high grades, so I'm sure I'll get in. Even if I do, and even if I don't, I'd still like to have a branch of engineering which I'd like to focus on and specialize in. That is the point of this thread. I know that a technologist is a position that specializes, but this may not necessarily be true for EE's. But it could be, right? Even though I'll be getting my bachelors in EE, it would still be a good idea for me to find my true passion within the field, right? The thing is, everything that I’ve learned in my 3 years interests me.
I enjoy the areas of computers, as well as telecommunications, but I really like the field of industrial controls and even robotics, although we haven’t had as much exposure to these 2 as I’d have liked (don’t get me wrong, I did get the chance to automate a workcell with a Fanuc robot and conveyer system, that was awesome!). We also did 2 courses in instrumentation and control. I liked it, but I find myself wondering why there are so many jobs in this field (at least in my area). What kind of real developments occur in the field of instrumentation and controls? I can’t imagine there being developments as great as for computers or telecom, fields where I can’t recall a single job posting (maybe they are elsewhere). Although I have indeed seen my share number of jobs looking for students who have a strong grasp of instrumentation and controls, so it seems that there is demand, and job reliability is definitely important. Alas, I’m not too sure about the signal processing class, due to the professor, as well at the students in my program holding the prof back in his teachings many time, as well as an extremely large course load. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed it under more ideal circumstances (not to say that I didn't enjoy it, it just turned out to be a subpar teaching/learning experience).
So I believe I have a strong foundation, but I’ve yet to decide on an exact area that I’d like to focus my attention on when I get to decide on my engineering electives. How did other people do it when they had to decide? Go for what interests you most? Go for what can make the most money? Most demand? Most useful skill for applications? Most difficult (less competition)? Highest future forecast? The deciding factors go on…I’ll show the electives below to give you guys/gals an idea of what electives I’m talking about:
I know this has been a long post. Hopefully I’ve explained my situation well enough for you to understand, and perhaps give me some useful advice. Electives are for the winter semesters so I still have time.
Thanks.
- Tomi
As the title says, I'm doing a transfer program from my college (Durham College, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) to a university out in the middle of Ontario, called Lakehead (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada). These are both fairly small schools. The program I just finished was 3 years long. This transfer program is fairly old, and is usually done in 2.5 semesters. It's not a usual bridge program, I'm not even too sure if it's called a bridge. After a summer semester of math courses, some chem, (bio?), mech, and thermodynamics, I'll go right into the 3rd year of the program. I've heard that those at this university can graduate after their 2nd year, with an advanced diploma like myself. Not sure if it's electrical or electronics, though I heard it was electronics.
Aaaaanyways, I got my conditional acceptance and I have high grades, so I'm sure I'll get in. Even if I do, and even if I don't, I'd still like to have a branch of engineering which I'd like to focus on and specialize in. That is the point of this thread. I know that a technologist is a position that specializes, but this may not necessarily be true for EE's. But it could be, right? Even though I'll be getting my bachelors in EE, it would still be a good idea for me to find my true passion within the field, right? The thing is, everything that I’ve learned in my 3 years interests me.
I enjoy the areas of computers, as well as telecommunications, but I really like the field of industrial controls and even robotics, although we haven’t had as much exposure to these 2 as I’d have liked (don’t get me wrong, I did get the chance to automate a workcell with a Fanuc robot and conveyer system, that was awesome!). We also did 2 courses in instrumentation and control. I liked it, but I find myself wondering why there are so many jobs in this field (at least in my area). What kind of real developments occur in the field of instrumentation and controls? I can’t imagine there being developments as great as for computers or telecom, fields where I can’t recall a single job posting (maybe they are elsewhere). Although I have indeed seen my share number of jobs looking for students who have a strong grasp of instrumentation and controls, so it seems that there is demand, and job reliability is definitely important. Alas, I’m not too sure about the signal processing class, due to the professor, as well at the students in my program holding the prof back in his teachings many time, as well as an extremely large course load. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed it under more ideal circumstances (not to say that I didn't enjoy it, it just turned out to be a subpar teaching/learning experience).
So I believe I have a strong foundation, but I’ve yet to decide on an exact area that I’d like to focus my attention on when I get to decide on my engineering electives. How did other people do it when they had to decide? Go for what interests you most? Go for what can make the most money? Most demand? Most useful skill for applications? Most difficult (less competition)? Highest future forecast? The deciding factors go on…I’ll show the electives below to give you guys/gals an idea of what electives I’m talking about:
- ENGI 0138 Control Systems III
- ENGI 0438 Electric Power Systems II
- ENGI 0531 Special Topics in Electrical Engineering
- ENGI 0550 Optical Communications
- ENGI 0554 Power Electronics II
- ENGI 0573 Fuzzy Logic Expert Systems
- ENGI 0578 Wireless Communications
- ENGI 0651 Computer Organization
- ENGI 0654 Advanced Electronic Devices
- ENGI 3312 Embedded Systems
I know this has been a long post. Hopefully I’ve explained my situation well enough for you to understand, and perhaps give me some useful advice. Electives are for the winter semesters so I still have time.
Thanks.
- Tomi