hello all,

i woke up today and found myself worrying on so many things.............the one that tops the list i keep asking myself a thousand times;

what do other electrical engineers do behind the scene that i am not aware of or has been taught so far?...i am in third year of Electrical Engineering courses but i still do not know how circuits are drafted from scratch,where the basic electricity theories are applied?,how circuit diagrams are invented and components arranged in such a way that it gives the required function it is designed for......

what do these people do behind the scene that an electrical engineering student do not know?

i need help!

kind regards

 

Hi,

My advice is always to analyze as many circuits as you can possibly get your hands on. After you've analyzed hundreds or thousands of circuits especially in one area you'll start to get a feel for what you need to do.

Design is basically the inverse function of analysis, where instead of finding voltages and currents you're finding part values. Sometimes you can just use an inverse function from what you found for the voltage or current or just solve for a different variable that happens to be the part value you need to find. This can vary a bit though, because the approach may be a little different depending on what information you have been given at the start.

Maybe you could start with a very simple circuit like an LM317 regulator. You'll find that design notes are often on the data sheet or in an app note from the manufacturer. They also often provide reference designs which are absolutely invaluable.

 

Have you built anything?
My advice is to build stuff. When it smokes or blows up, figure out why and build it again but better.
There is nothing quite like actual practical experience. As MrAl mentioned above, start with a LM317 regulator. One of the most basic things you need is a power supply.
Then build, build build!
Nowadays there is so much opportunity to build almost anything electronic if you are so inclined.

 

Think of circuit design as similar to creating a book or novel. One does not become a successful writer overnight. One has to read hundreds of books written by other great writers. Moreover, one has to learn the structure of language, grammar, sentence construction and prose.

A good or great novel begins with an idea, a framework, a story and a goal, long before you start putting words on paper. The same is true of circuit design. This is called Top-Down design. You begin with an idea, a concept, a need and an objective. The components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes and transistors are elements which together form building blocks, just like how individual words put together form phrases and sentences.

To become a master at circuit design, one has to apply the Bottom-Up approach simultaneously with the Top-Down approach.

You master completely the properties, behaviour and application of a lowly resistor. You learn how multiple resistors interact together in a circuit. You learn how a resistor and capacitor behave and act on a signal. You learn that mathematics is the language that describes how all circuits function.

Finally, a proper circuit diagram is a language, a masterful form of communication. A complete circuit diagram is a masterpiece that communicates to another viewer well versed in the topic how a particular instrument works. It tells a complete story in itself.

These are the tools and building blocks of circuit design, just as how words, sentences, paragraphs and chapters come together to create an amazing storybook.

 

The most important thing is to do the experiments and find out the problems, study the theories, another thing that you can do is to solve the problem for our members, just start from some easier questions, when you trying to solve the problem then you will find out how many stuffs that you don't know, how many theories that you don't understand and during solve the problem, you may refer to the datasheets and other circuits, when you do it more and more then your Kung Fu skills of ee will be increasing.

 

Hello,

You will definitely learn a lot of the things your concerned about in your last two years of school. The biggest thing I found I was lacking when beginning my first electronics design position was how to actually design and manufacture boards for high volume.
Most of the circuits you build in school will be on breadboard and it is possible that you could graduate without a whole lot of knowledge about SMD components, reflow techniques, fiducials, ect. A little research on these topics and the manufacturing of FR4 PC boards could go a long way in an interview and your first job, depending on what your position is.

 

It always amazes me when people in school to "become" what ever, ask a question like this. While not a degreed engineer I've tried to learn all I can about not just electronics but other 'engineering' things. Because I have the want, need or what ever it's called to build things. No offense to the TS but what called you to become an EE? If it was money that could be made in the future, I don't see you becoming a "guru". That takes a passion for what you do. Just my opinion.

 

what do other electrical engineers do behind the scene that i am not aware of or has been taught so far?..
kind regards

Like Einstein was reported to have uttered, 'Imagination is worth far more than knowledge' IOW the ability to 'conceptualize' is usually followed by knowledge, but not necessarily the reverse.
Some of the best engineers I knew were the ones that got their hands dirty, also had the said ability to conceptualize a solution to a problem.
The ability to gain knowledge and to build electronic devices and circuits now is far cheaper than when I started out, when it took half a weeks wages to by one of the 'new' IC's.!
Max.

 

i am in third year of Electrical Engineering courses but i still do not know how circuits are drafted from scratch,where the basic electricity theories are applied?,how circuit diagrams are invented and components arranged in such a way that it gives the required function it is designed for......

This doesn't surprise me: EE courses will teach you a decent amount of what you need to know about circuit analysis (that is, calculating voltages, currents, impedances, and so forth, in a given circuit), but they don't do a very good job of teaching circuit synthesis (the "how" and "what" of putting stuff together to achieve a desired result). And they do an even poorer job of cultivating the thought processes that go into creating brand new designs.

Those are things you are going to have to do on your own, and they will take a LOT of time and effort to master.

what do these people do behind the scene that an electrical engineering student do not know?

This post describes some of what they do, as do the other posts in that thread.

 

... they don't do a very good job of teaching circuit synthesis (the "how" and "what" of putting stuff together to achieve a desired result). And they do an even poorer job of cultivating the thought processes that go into creating brand new designs.

Well said... I've always thought that a successful engineer is (additionally to the academic stuff) part artist, and part problem solver. I don't think that creativity can be taught though, but it can be fostered.

My advice is similar to what other people have already said. You should start by designing and building things for the real world, even if they're extremely simple at first. In my case, I experienced a cascading effect after taking those first steps, which made my interest develop later into a passion. Now I can't get enough of it!

 

A lot of good answers here. I agree that passion is the one thing that makes a difference. Taking the writer comparison a bit farther, there are people that want to be seen as writers and there are people that have inside them a passion to write. Not surprisingly the latter category tends not to care how they are seen by others. They have a deep seated need to put words on paper (er, wherever).

When I was running development teams, I hired people more based on their passion for what they do than their resume. I looked for smart, creative, energetic. I'd have the candidate tell me about a project they had done. The great ones would not only tell me what they did but the design tradeoffs and how they would improve on what they'd done. Just having the skill-set/know-how wasn't sufficient for me to hire them. They had to want to do something great. Some of my best employees were wet-behind-the-ear recent graduates that others wouldn't touch.

So, in your class assignments, do you go the extra mile or do you stop when you get the answer? Do you think of different ways to solve the problem or do you stop at the first one you find? Do you read datasheets? All the way through? Are you curious about how others solve the problems or answer the questions? Do you critique your own work? Do you follow the latest developments? Read all the trade publications. Visit manufacturer web sites regularly. Learn something new every day? Live, sleep, eat, breathe your area.

 

My test for future engineers. When you were a kid, did you take everything apart to find out how it works? All the best engineers I have known did this, often in spite of getting in trouble with their parents. It is this kind of curiosity and self motivation that makes an engineer.

Bob

 

My test for future engineers. When you were a kid, did you take everything apart to find out how it works? Bob

I remember having more interest in what made it tick than playing with it!
Max.

 

I remember having more interest in what made it tick than playing with it!
Max.

Exactly!

I got in trouble when also dismantled my sister's toys.

Bob

 

My test for future engineers. When you were a kid, did you take everything apart to find out how it works? All the best engineers I have known did this, often in spite of getting in trouble with their parents. It is this kind of curiosity and self motivation that makes an engineer.

Bob

Ohhhh... how many times did my parents ground me because of that?... let me count the ways...

 

My test for future engineers. When you were a kid, did you take everything apart to find out how it works? All the best engineers I have known did this, often in spite of getting in trouble with their parents. It is this kind of curiosity and self motivation that makes an engineer.

Bob

Indeed!
I can remember destroying my Dad's radio. Breaking all the valves to see what was inside and even unwrapping the paper capacitors, unwinding the transformers and generally reducing it to the smallest pieces I could disassemble it into.

My whole life I've been fiddling with technology (mostly electronics) and trying to make things my own way.
My Ham radio license is almost 50 years old.
Do you have a passion for electronics, getting excited over some new development?

 

Hi,

My advice is always to analyze as many circuits as you can possibly get your hands on. After you've analyzed hundreds or thousands of circuits especially in one area you'll start to get a feel for what you need to do.

Design is basically the inverse function of analysis, where instead of finding voltages and currents you're finding part values. Sometimes you can just use an inverse function from what you found for the voltage or current or just solve for a different variable that happens to be the part value you need to find. This can vary a bit though, because the approach may be a little different depending on what information you have been given at the start.

Maybe you could start with a very simple circuit like an LM317 regulator. You'll find that design notes are often on the data sheet or in an app note from the manufacturer. They also often provide reference designs which are absolutely invaluable.

hello,
i have built some simple circuits but I googled the circuits diagrams to achieve that.then,i asked myself,do people who posted these circuit diagrams two heads?....i want to be like them,i get stucked understanding these things,that`s why i had to bring it up here.

regards

 

Have you built anything?
My advice is to build stuff. When it smokes or blows up, figure out why and build it again but better.
There is nothing quite like actual practical experience. As MrAl mentioned above, start with a LM317 regulator. One of the most basic things you need is a power supply.
Then build, build build!
Nowadays there is so much opportunity to build almost anything electronic if you are so inclined.

hello,
presently i can build virtually any circuits so long programming isn`t involved but my problem is understanding the concept behind it.

 

While we are on a reminiscing kick, I recall just after the end of the war (WW11), I had a cap pistol, as did every boy back then, it eventually 'bit the bullet' and I took it apart and to everyone's chagrin, the metal it was constructed from, tin, (no plastics then) and was pressed out from a reclaimed GERMAN baked bean can!
One of my main favorites was Meccano, I see it is still around today, first conceived by Hornby in 1898 and he developed and patented in 1901, now that's success!
Max.

 

It always amazes me when people in school to "become" what ever, ask a question like this. While not a degreed engineer I've tried to learn all I can about not just electronics but other 'engineering' things. Because I have the want, need or what ever it's called to build things. No offense to the TS but what called you to become an EE? If it was money that could be made in the future, I don't see you becoming a "guru". That takes a passion for what you do. Just my opinion.

it is not the money,i have the passion,i want to be remember one day through my profession......i want to build things myself without always coming online to do so.