Hello everyone!


I’m excited to join this forum as an electronics engineer eager to expand my knowledge and solve challenging problems. I’m particularly interested in circuit design and troubleshooting and would love to learn from the expertise of this community. As a general question, what key skills or tools do you recommend mastering to excel in modern electronics engineering? Looking forward to engaging with you all!

 

Hello everyone!


I’m excited to join this forum as an electronics engineer eager to expand my knowledge and solve challenging problems. I’m particularly interested in circuit design and troubleshooting and would love to learn from the expertise of this community. As a general question, what key skills or tools do you recommend mastering to excel in modern electronics engineering? Looking forward to engaging with you all!

A good starting point is to review your math skills. In particular you should focus on:

1. Elementary algebra of real numbers
2. Linear algebra and simultaneous equations
3. Basic trigonometry
4. Basic calculus e.g. differentiation and integration
5. Elementary differential equations
6. Laplace and Fourrier transfoms
7. Complex algebra

 

There are several aspects to electrical and electronic engineering: Solving problems, designing systems, and servicing. At least, that has been my experience, much of which consisted of designing systems to solve problems. Mostly the problems were of manufactured items than did not meet specifications. So the designs were test equipment to determine at some point in production, if the item met specifications. Sometimes math is indeed required, although more often an understanding of the relationships of variables is sufficient.
Mechanical, Avionics, and Architectural engineering certainly need more math skills, because of working with physical materials. And if you need to determine exactly how much power is involved with some component, calculus is handy.
I seldom had to use more math than I learned in school. Always the need is to understand how whatever it is works. That includes everything from bolts and fittings to Field effect transistors. And it is a much different world if you want to design integrated circuits, or optical systems. But always it comes back to understanding what is happening and why.
The math is needed when you need to figure out exactly how much.
But the fun part of my career, at least, was defining the requirements and then determining how to satisfy them.

 

A good starting point is to review your math skills. In particular you should focus on:

1. Elementary algebra of real numbers
2. Linear algebra and simultaneous equations
3. Basic trigonometry
4. Basic calculus e.g. differentiation and integration
5. Elementary differential equations
6. Laplace and Fourrier transfoms
7. Complex algebra

I'd second that, and although I learned Laplace transforms, I never recall actually using them.
I'll add:
Low noise analogue techniques
Stability and Bode plots
Sampling theory
Basic digital filters
Assembler and C programming for microcontrollers
PCB layout
and finally, and most importantly:
How to design stuff so that your customers can't blow it up

 

Learn a good simulation (SPICE) tool, and a good CAD tool for circuit design and layout. I'm personally familiar with Altium Designer, but learning any of the Altium products would likely help you in your professional career.

 

How to design stuff so that your customers can't blow it up

I have enough trouble designing circuits that I can’t blow up (without trying.)

 

I have enough trouble designing circuits that I can’t blow up (without trying.)

Shhh...Don't introduce her to the dark side just yet.

 

The area I got into was CNC control of manufacturing machinery, this also covered PLC as well as CNC programing, also knowledge of the mechanical side had to be included.
Publications such as the NFPA79 is helpful, as wiring knowledge of electrical enclosures is also required.

 

Learning enough electronic and electrical THEORY to see how things work, and understand how they work, will be a great benefit , PRIOR to learning all of that math. The math may be very useful in an engineering career, but understanding what is happening in a circuit will not need very much of it.
YES, I had to learn all of that stuff as well, and I did learn it and know how to use it.

As for simulators, if they do not show how they get the answers, they are sort of like cheating on all your exams. You can see what happens but not have a clue as to how to get the answers. And most simulators will not help if you don't ask the right question.

 

Thanks for the advice! Strengthening math skills like calculus, differential equations, and Fourier transforms is definitely something I’ll focus on.

For those who mentioned tools and hands-on experience, I’m curious—what projects would you recommend for someone starting in electronics engineering? Are there any beginner-friendly projects that also teach practical skills with tools like SPICE or microcontrollers?

 

Thanks for the advice! Strengthening math skills like calculus, differential equations, and Fourier transforms is definitely something I’ll focus on.

For those who mentioned tools and hands-on experience, I’m curious—what projects would you recommend for someone starting in electronics engineering? Are there any beginner-friendly projects that also teach practical skills with tools like SPICE or microcontrollers?

A lot depends on what area of electronics interest you the most. Tools such as Boolean logic methods used in control schematics and PLC programs is one asset you may want to cover.

 

I was into electricity and stuff at a quite early age.I had an easy head start because my father had a lot of quite used industrial relays that I could build circuits with. They were retired from updated machinery that was reworked at his job. All mains powered, so no power supplies of battery packs to deal with. And I did not get shocks or pop fuses, I was careful and understood what I was connecting together. All of this before age ten. So I had a quite early start. Then in seventh grade I met a friend who had built a tube amplifier, so I built a copy of it from scratch, using salvaged electronic parts. From then on there was no stopping .

 

My first project that I remember that got me started was wiring up the lighting in a young relatives doll house, IIRC I was around 8yrs old.

 

Hi,
I hope all those suggestions haven't put you off.
You may find brain surgery or rocket science simpler.
Most of the suggestions I'm sure are very good.
Unfortunately there are some I've never heard of.
But that's just me..
My input is enthusiasm and patience.
Good luck................

 

My first exposure to Computer programming was working with some of the first CNC's, one system was designed around the PDP8 - 12bit data processor, I believe it was designed by a professor at a university in Minnesota for a RR wheel turning m/c?
The 8080 & 8085 processor followed and was another first processor I learned to program on.

 

I've noticed a lot of EE types end up in programming, where a lot of common skill sets cross. I spent 40+ years as a E tech fixing engineering type problems. I would advise you to learn troubleshooting skills. But then I'm biased.

 

I've noticed a lot of EE types end up in programming, where a lot of common skill sets cross. I spent 40+ years as a E tech fixing engineering type problems. I would advise you to learn troubleshooting skills. But then I'm biased.

This is very true. My degree is in computer engineering and I have worked mostly in software, but several of the people I work with in software are EE majors now writing software. There is a lot of crossover, especially at the lower levels. The software people have to understand hardware enough to write the software to control it and debug it, and the hardware people have to understand software enough to troubleshoot the hardware. So you end up with a lot of people working on both sides. Which can be more fun! School wise, I think compute science majors stay predominantly in software. Both computer engineering and electrical engineering majors will get both hardware and software in school. Either degree with give you the skills to go whichever way you want to go, and once in the real world your skillset will depend more on what you've chosen to focus on in your job.

 

Learn to read and master circuit schematics. Learn to recognized all kinds of component configurations. Study 1001 and more circuit diagrams and understand each device function and overall circuit function.

Next step is to master trouble-shooting procedures. Work through in your head "what if" scenarios. Learn to trouble-shoot by using logical thinking.

"What are the symptoms?"
"What could be the possible reasons for those symptoms?"

 

I don't know what is included in modern university engineering training, but in my day, very many years ago, in 1956, it was 100% theory and math. They did not explain how it related to the real world. Like some of the others here, I became interested in electronics at a very early age. I read everything on the subject that I could get my hands on, and I tried things myself by building all kinds of electrical and electronic circuits including a tube radio, record player, analog multimeter, Oscilloscope, winding my own power transformers etc. I learned a lot about devices by experimenting with them, quite often exceeding their limits and damaging them.
Having that very basic understanding the physics of how active and inactive components work together in the real world, along with my university training, I was able to pursue a very successful career in electronics, eventually becoming an expert in test and measurement. I would recommend that you get your hands on some components ad try designing and building a few electronic gadgets. You will learn a lot, very quickly and fill in the gaps between theory and practice.

 

Presently the great shortage in the technical area is for those who can service the equipment and keep it running. For that, the understanding of how things work is what matters. My fast system has been " know how it is supposed to function, ask and measure how it is functioning, and that will point at the problem. Of course, understanding how things work is already a big part of engineering. And the happy part is that it does not take much math. But in a lot of cases it does require understanding how circuits work.
But still, to get the degree you do need some of the math. And even the EE needs to understand statics and dynamics well enough to see kinematics in effect. (oops, that was related to the mechanical design stuff I did.) Start-ups and service were the more interesting part for the past 20 years, although it also included writing and designing.
AND certainly communication with others matters a whole lot. The greatest design ever has little value if nobody can understand how to make it.