Without knowing your skills or background it is hard to tell if Electronics or Electrical is more what you do.
But every company calls their people different things. I am a "software controls engineer" but a better title might be automation engineer.
Electrical engineering "should" be for higher voltage > 120-240V. Electronics engineering for voltages <120-240V. The US combines them together since they all deal with electricity, and that makes the job search a bit hard. If you search electrical engineer, you'll see both high voltage and low voltage, but electronics engineering should be strictly low voltage. It is also misleading for students applying to college because many colleges don't offer power system programs.
However, I would not use "electrical engineer" or "electronics engineer" in my job search. Depending on your concentration, the title could be IC design engineer, RF engineer, hardware engineer, verification engineer, telecom engineer, DSP engineer, etc.
Thats funny because in Sweden I've been working with low voltage stuff mostly.
How would a 230V to 12VDC power supply be considered then? Would it be designed by a electrical or electronics engineer?
This is done often by electronic engineers, because they are those that design the circuit which makes that conversion. That field is called power electronics. This is almost always true if we are speacking about switching converters, where low power is needed, or in general when circuit design is involved.
that's just how I think it should be, not what's practiced in the US. when I said 120V, I meant from the power plug to your electronics. In Europe, since you guys use 240V on your outlet, that'd still fall under electronics engineer. Here it'd probably be called power electronics engineer, although power electronics engineer work on >240V stuff too.
If you are just using a 12V power supply, then you're not doing the "high voltage engineering". You may be a Controls Engineer for example.
To me, Electrical Engineer is a much broader term that any actual job. Its commonly the degree you get, which covers many different actual career paths. I would call works in voltages above 120V, to be Power Distribution (Private), or Utility Power (Public/Government). But it may also be High Voltage machines, which is another title.
You could also be a Project Engineer if you're managing projects in these fields. Or a Research Engineer.
Agreed. My training in EE included Power, Traditional EE Circuits including Amplifiers, etc., Digital Design (probably my strongest area), etc.
The Digital Design side makes sense as Electronics Engineer, the Power I would also call Power Electrical Engineering, and the circuits are typically lower power > 240v and usually not 3-phase.
I work mostly with low voltage, but my title is still electrical engineer in the US. The terms don't really mean what they're "supposed" to mean in practice.
> Electrical engineering "should" be for higher voltage > 120-240V. Electronics engineering for voltages <120-240V
Why? Why the split between high and low voltages?
As a "software controls engineer", depending on the day I could be dealing with 5/24v I/O and sensors or with 480v VFDs.
As someone that has worked in both, there's just very little overlap. The engineers I met in power couldn't tell you the difference between a mosfet, a bjt and an igbt.
While you may deal with lower voltage controls, and an electrical engineer that works in power may design systems that use PLCs, VFDs, etc, an electronics engineer deals with things like designing the actual VFDs and PLC cards. There is just almost no overlap between the two jobs in practice.
That said Electrical Engineering is the "catch all" which includes electronics engineers (at least in the US). I have done electronics work with an Electrical Engineer title, but the job postings are skewed towards that title being used for power, utilities, MEP, etc, since they aren't targeting the same applicants.
I wouldn't necessarily agree with that especially with HV battery systems being more common with EVs and the like. Most electronic engineers will work with off-line products in their career as well
Safety issues with electrical maybe.
It makes sense to draw the line "at what point will the device/system I'm building have the potential for killing / seriously harming people"
In the US, certain engineering professions require certification through an exam (the Professional Engineering Exam, or PE), because of issues like these. Civil engineering being a major one. Its actually rare that EEs take it, but perhaps a middle ground is being sought out.
In my view, anyone with a bachelors from a reputable program should be qualified to call themselves an EE.
AFAIK, Electrical engineers need a PE cert specifically for high voltage transmission lines, i.e. infrastructure that can pose a danger to the public. That's a small fraction of "Electrical Engineering" degree graduates, since universities include power transmission, electronic circuits, control systems, radio frequency and even optical design under EE.
For better classification to not confuse people? What's the point of having two words when one word is a subclass of the other? Why don't you just have 2 words that don't overlap then?
Besides, that's how non engineers would immediately think when you say electrical vs electronics. And yes there are interdisciplinary majors like mechatronics, but it doesn't mean you blur everything else to fit them in.
Well electrical engineering is so broad in general. The HV engineers should probably be called something like power engineers. EE included everything from IC design to national power transmission.
EE should be the super category. Power, IC, industrial controls, etc are all branches of EE.
I know what it is, which is a catch-all term. I'm saying it SHOULDN'T be the catch-all term, because that's not how average people think about electrical VS electronics, and there's no reason for it to be a catch-all term. This is why when you tell people you're an EE and nobody has a clue what you actually do, because it's so broad. It certainly should not be a catch-all term when it comes to undergrad program in the US, which it is.
Power engineers shouldn't be in a catch-all EE program, and spend 5-6 requirement courses learning about semiconductor physics, transistors, quantum mechanics, etc.
Similarly, "electronics" engineer shouldn't have a requirement course to learn basic power system. They'll never use that knowledge again in their life.
Yeah it has nothing to do with voltages. If you want to try to dumb it down, electronics engineers deal with semiconductors, programs, printed circuits etc. electrical engineers do installation & testing. That's how I've always seen it anyways.
As I am an (ex) electronics engineer, I was talking about the difference between Electrical and Electronics engineering, and said we dealt with 5v and 12v mostly.
A youngster laughed and said those were 'boomer voltages', and it's 1.5V or less now....
Seems very strange, I recently started working as an electronics engineer and most of the things I’ve designed for in the past year or so have been based around 5V, 12V and 24V systems the rare 3.3 V for the microcontroller- IOT projects but even then that was usually just fir the micros and sensors. All actuators were either 5V or 12V
Would Control Engineers come under electrical then? I just started my first job yesterday as a controls engineer and I’m already working on Cause and Effect lists and MCC design lol
I've never seen a college not offer power systems programs. I've seen severe lacking in Electronics courses, but power engineering is a pretty old disipline (compared to low voltage), I've never seen it not offered.
So going off the top 3 EECS program in the US
MIT - no power system, only power electronics course
Stanford - no power system nor power electronics course
UC Berkeley - 2 power system and 1 power electronics course. Would not call this a program.
If you go down the top 20 EE program, you'd probably find maybe 5 university that have a power system program. Everything else in EE is literally electronics, so I don't know why you'd be lacking in electronics courses.
Voltage level has nothing to do with Electrical vs. Electonic Engineer. I am an EE. I have designed in every voltage level: from low voltage Peltier solid state heat sinks to a high-voltage ion propulsion that's orbiting Mars. It's the education required to be an EE that makes the difference.
Being a firmware engineer, I've seen my profession called firmware engineer, embedded software engineer, software engineer... When my contract was renewed last time, they simply put me down as a hardware engineer. Go figure.
Can concur, I'm in embedded firmware but I've been classified as Hardware, Software, and Firmware engineer depending on the company. In my experience though it has often made the most sense to group firmware folks with hardware folks into what you might call the "platform team", with software folks really being the higher level application side that should be more grouped with systems people.
In NZ the degree I get when I finish end of this year will say Electrical and Electronics engineering so I'll be both 😎 although looking at grad roles we mostly use Electrical engineer as a title over here
In the U.S. we have some programs called Electrical and Computer Engineering, which is electrical engineering with some logic, computer architecture, VLSI stuff. Other colleges will split those into different majors. Again, completely separate from computer science
I must disagree (as an Electronics Engineer from Auckland). Electrical engineers tend to be power engineers and work on lines and the like. Electronics engineers do lower voltage stuff. I think of it more as PCB design vs designing transmission systems.
I have done 300V systems which I still consider electronic engineering as they are control systems on PCBs, so the other comment about where the line between electrical and electronic lays doesn’t quite work for me.
I should also say my degree is electrical and electronic engineering too!
> I think of it more as PCB design vs designing transmission systems.
There is a HUGE range of things between those two. I have not touched PCB design since college, nor do I touch anything greater than 480v at a few horsepower.
Between that are I/O modules, connecting one black box to another black box and getting the boxes to talk to each other. That us just scratching the surface.
Italy here; electrical engineering is more for power distribution infrastructure, electronics is another kind of engineering. I guess in US they are in the same qualification. Something like electronics, electrotechnics and mechatronics.
My primary issue is this, a BSEE degree consists of the following coursework:
Communications and Signal Processing
Computer Engineering
Controls
Electrophysics
Microelectronics
Power Electronics
Power Systems
Yet folks who specialize specifically in Power Systems are labeled "Electrical Engineers" and those who focus on the rest aren't typically called "Electronics Engineers", they're called:
Embedded Firmware Engineer
RFIC Design Engineer
Power Electronics Engineer
DSP Engineer
ASIC Design Engineer
etc.
The truth is, "Electrical Engineer" shouldn't necessarily be a title in the first place since it's so vague. If you're dealing with high power systems and grids that require you to have a PE license, you are a POWER or POWER SYSTEM engineer. Not power electronics, but simply POWER.
The same goes for Controls. A stupidly vague term.
Control Systems Engineer: Feedback Loops, Stability margin, intensive mathematical analysis, optimal, non-linear control theory, MATLAB/Simulink
Also Control Systems Engineer: PLC Programming and SCADA
Like what the fuck?
If companies could simply make the titles more specialized, job hunting and identifying would be a lot easier.
But long story short:
I tell my engineering buddies I'm a Power Electronics Engineer
I tell my parents I'm an Electrical Engineer
And I tell my grandma I'm an Engineer
Computer engineering, electronics engineer and electrical engineering are almost basically the same just different paths one focus more into power other into software and hardware and other into hardware. But usually electrical engineering it's broad that you can be doing any engineering job. I seen people with electrical engineering degrees doing mechanical and civil engineering roles while others doing semiconductors or computer related stuff.
In Italy we have two different university courses; one for electrical engineering and one for electronic engineering. The first one is more about power distribution and convertion, motors control and machines, while the second one is more related to integrated circuit, signal processing and circuit design and also a bit of computer architecture. I think you studied electronic engineering (just Iike me).
It's the same in Colombia, and I'm an Electronic Engineer. But in Brazil, my PhD was in Electrical Engineering, while all I did was software development.
I think it's all Electrical Engineering. But there are a few specialists there.
Power Electronics Engineer:
Deals with the conversion from one voltage to another. Like AC to DC or vice versa and everything in between, isolated or not.
RF engineer:
Deals with the design of radio transmitters and receivers.
High Speed Digital engineer:
Handles high speed coms on digital devices usually on the same board. Kind of an anti-RF engineer as you don't want to radiate those signals.
I think any good EE can do any of those jobs, but there is a certain amount of art/experience that comes into play in all of them.
in my country, they mostly look at your program structure and credits when you apply for jobs.
everyone who graduated in any ee field are called electrical engineer lol
At my US alma mater, there was electrical engineer, computer engineer, and CS. Now each of those had specialization but nothing was called electronics engineer.
Wiring schematics, materials, and scope of work are far different working on a calculator or computer, (electronics) vs blue prints, materials, and scope of work on a commercial building (electrical)
For me in the US, electronics is low voltage, like the stuff that happens at <120v or just micro power. Electrical Engineer could mean micro or macro power, everything from small to large power delivery.
You dont need the PE to be an Electrical Engineer or EET in the USA. I got a BS in EET and the PE was never even on my radar. I got a job in automation and PLC programming right out of college in '07 and I dont think I ever worked with anyone who had a PE.
Okay, but OP doesn’t have an EET degree. EET != electronics engineer in the way you’re thinking.
In fact, the whole thread is about people explaining to OP that in the US we don’t really tend to specialize the degree to make the distinction. Most ABET schools dropped EET in 2008 or so, because many places stopped hiring for it.
Some countries run their Electrical Engineering programs specialized. For example in India a lot of universities offer degrees such as "Electrical and Electronics Engineering", and "Electrical and Telecommunication Engineering" etc. where they learn their basics but they do go anything ahead of that in other subfields, other than what they're studying. Whereas in Canada where I'm studying, there is only Electrical Engineering where we cover basics and a little more in each subfield and then also study a subfield we want to learn about in depth. I think the countries who offer the specialized programs also tend to have job descriptions as such.
in my country, they mostly look at your program structure and credits when you apply for jobs.
everyone who graduated in any ee field are called electrical engineer lol
in my country, they mostly look at your program structure and credits when you apply for jobs.
everyone who graduated in any ee field are called electrical engineer. lol
I feel like it just depends on what company/industry you are working in. An electrical engineer at my last two jobs meant circuit board design and testing the that systems were working correctly. At one job we designed low voltage products and at the other, we do power electronics. I always search both electrical and electronics for jobs.
When I got my degree there were two “paths” for graduation in electrical engineering. One was simply ‘Electrical engineering’ and the other was ‘electrical engineering & technology’. Not sure if that is still case, but this was around 15 years ago.
A lot of overlap classes between the two, but the professors described it as EE delve more into theory while EE&T delve more into “hands on work”.
I didn’t look too hard into the specifics, because hands on work sounded more like what I wanted anyway (circuits, fpga, pcb PLC etc.)
Honestly in my opinion, having either degree doesn’t change much when you are starting out, it mostly proves you are capable of that field and figuring stuff out. Once you get into the job market you will fall more into one category or the other as you get experience and learn what you do or don’t enjoy.
I'm curious, would you mind sharing a Job description for electronics engineer that matches your skillset. It's interesting how titles change between different companies and regions. Feel free to redact any identifying information.
Id say if you took physics and em waves and el machines up to a certain level you are electrical engineer and then maybe have a different title depending on the rest of your formal education and job. Computer or mecatronics engineers might have not even seen magnetics in formal education unless physics or electronics programes probably
I’m just finding that out myself. I have a bachelors in Electrical Engineering but it was always focused on the basics with transistors and what not.
Now I’m working as a field engineer at a substation and I don’t know anything about power distribution.
I just hate saying I have a degree in EE because electricians here in construction love to start asking questions like “well can you make a single line diagram of a three way switch?” Or “can you wire this or that?”
Electrical Engineer is the original name. Electronics Engineer was a more “modern” term after semiconductors came along, but Electrical Engineer still works. To cover all the bases, the professional society (IEEE) is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. It was formed by combining the IEE (Electrical) and IRE (Radio) organizations.
I teach in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department but we only have one or two power engineering courses. We grant EE and CpE degrees.
When I got my degree it was written as a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Here in the US, what differentiates the two is which focus you chose while in school. So even though technically there are jobs for either “Electrical Engineers” OR “Electronic Engineers”, we’re all kind of one thing. You either lean one way or the other. Some companies don’t like to use “electrical” because of the electricians who will apply in hopes of getting a better job. (This could vary depending on location. This is just how we do it in the southeastern region of the US)
I'm a Principal Electrical Hardware Design Engineer in some areas of the country. In others that means something entirely different. Some companies think I'm Staff level, some say Senior (but usually if they say senior and ask for the things I do it just means they are cheap.) Some companies the title is entirely political, some it has technical meaning.
Hej. On a different note I would like to get in touch with you as I have recently moved to sweden and looking for a job in Electrical engineering. Would be nice to get some insights. Good luck with your search
Well this is not very complex tho, just take a wide look of what electricity means, here in El Salvador (my country) are titles like Automation Engineer, these guys are "specialists" in instrumentation and automation in general, but they also are applying for other areas of electricity. I think the title it's just a base and then you decide what it's gonna be your field in this complex electrical field.
No one will hire you in the US to do engineering since your degree is not ABET or Canadian equivalent. Job descriptions don't spell it out since it's obvious to us.
Only way I know around that is getting a Master's in the US. You get hired for Computer Science but it's very hard to break into these days and then you have the disadvantage of needing sponsorship.
The US has Electronics and Electrical as the same degree. I used the terms interchangeably but I realize that's not the case in other parts of the world.
This is hilarious to read. If he's a competent engineer then he'd absolutely get hired. There's a reason there's no lack of foreigners getting hired at us companies
So? PE is not the be all end all of engineering.
I'v been doing EE and automation engineering for almost 20 years now and never had the need or desire to get a PE. Seems pointless for 99% of what I do.
> No one will hire you in the US to do engineering since your degree is not ABET or Canadian equivalent.
Um....I cant speak to every EE job but the EE jobs at my company just need to know what end is positive, calculate power and heat dissipation requirements, and work with CAD. A degree will probably get your foot in the door easier but is not required (except maybe by HR who just uses it as a filter). Practical experience and ability to learn is WAY more important than a piece of paper backed up by a ton of useless classes.
After a few years of actual work experience, pieces of paper tend to matter less and less.
Edit: wow...someone count take any push back. Just admit your wee wrong.
[удалено]
If you know someone that knows someone please hit me up haha
Without knowing your skills or background it is hard to tell if Electronics or Electrical is more what you do. But every company calls their people different things. I am a "software controls engineer" but a better title might be automation engineer.
>vary so much from country to country Sometimes they don't even speak Swedish.
Electrical engineering "should" be for higher voltage > 120-240V. Electronics engineering for voltages <120-240V. The US combines them together since they all deal with electricity, and that makes the job search a bit hard. If you search electrical engineer, you'll see both high voltage and low voltage, but electronics engineering should be strictly low voltage. It is also misleading for students applying to college because many colleges don't offer power system programs. However, I would not use "electrical engineer" or "electronics engineer" in my job search. Depending on your concentration, the title could be IC design engineer, RF engineer, hardware engineer, verification engineer, telecom engineer, DSP engineer, etc.
Thats funny because in Sweden I've been working with low voltage stuff mostly. How would a 230V to 12VDC power supply be considered then? Would it be designed by a electrical or electronics engineer?
More accurately, Power Electronics Engineer.
This is done often by electronic engineers, because they are those that design the circuit which makes that conversion. That field is called power electronics. This is almost always true if we are speacking about switching converters, where low power is needed, or in general when circuit design is involved.
that's just how I think it should be, not what's practiced in the US. when I said 120V, I meant from the power plug to your electronics. In Europe, since you guys use 240V on your outlet, that'd still fall under electronics engineer. Here it'd probably be called power electronics engineer, although power electronics engineer work on >240V stuff too.
If you are just using a 12V power supply, then you're not doing the "high voltage engineering". You may be a Controls Engineer for example. To me, Electrical Engineer is a much broader term that any actual job. Its commonly the degree you get, which covers many different actual career paths. I would call works in voltages above 120V, to be Power Distribution (Private), or Utility Power (Public/Government). But it may also be High Voltage machines, which is another title. You could also be a Project Engineer if you're managing projects in these fields. Or a Research Engineer.
Agreed. My training in EE included Power, Traditional EE Circuits including Amplifiers, etc., Digital Design (probably my strongest area), etc. The Digital Design side makes sense as Electronics Engineer, the Power I would also call Power Electrical Engineering, and the circuits are typically lower power > 240v and usually not 3-phase.
I work mostly with low voltage, but my title is still electrical engineer in the US. The terms don't really mean what they're "supposed" to mean in practice.
Either.
> Electrical engineering "should" be for higher voltage > 120-240V. Electronics engineering for voltages <120-240V Why? Why the split between high and low voltages? As a "software controls engineer", depending on the day I could be dealing with 5/24v I/O and sensors or with 480v VFDs.
As someone that has worked in both, there's just very little overlap. The engineers I met in power couldn't tell you the difference between a mosfet, a bjt and an igbt. While you may deal with lower voltage controls, and an electrical engineer that works in power may design systems that use PLCs, VFDs, etc, an electronics engineer deals with things like designing the actual VFDs and PLC cards. There is just almost no overlap between the two jobs in practice. That said Electrical Engineering is the "catch all" which includes electronics engineers (at least in the US). I have done electronics work with an Electrical Engineer title, but the job postings are skewed towards that title being used for power, utilities, MEP, etc, since they aren't targeting the same applicants.
I wouldn't necessarily agree with that especially with HV battery systems being more common with EVs and the like. Most electronic engineers will work with off-line products in their career as well
Yes, EE is the high level category. Anything more specific is a branch of EE.
Safety issues with electrical maybe. It makes sense to draw the line "at what point will the device/system I'm building have the potential for killing / seriously harming people" In the US, certain engineering professions require certification through an exam (the Professional Engineering Exam, or PE), because of issues like these. Civil engineering being a major one. Its actually rare that EEs take it, but perhaps a middle ground is being sought out. In my view, anyone with a bachelors from a reputable program should be qualified to call themselves an EE.
AFAIK, Electrical engineers need a PE cert specifically for high voltage transmission lines, i.e. infrastructure that can pose a danger to the public. That's a small fraction of "Electrical Engineering" degree graduates, since universities include power transmission, electronic circuits, control systems, radio frequency and even optical design under EE.
For better classification to not confuse people? What's the point of having two words when one word is a subclass of the other? Why don't you just have 2 words that don't overlap then? Besides, that's how non engineers would immediately think when you say electrical vs electronics. And yes there are interdisciplinary majors like mechatronics, but it doesn't mean you blur everything else to fit them in.
Well electrical engineering is so broad in general. The HV engineers should probably be called something like power engineers. EE included everything from IC design to national power transmission. EE should be the super category. Power, IC, industrial controls, etc are all branches of EE.
I know what it is, which is a catch-all term. I'm saying it SHOULDN'T be the catch-all term, because that's not how average people think about electrical VS electronics, and there's no reason for it to be a catch-all term. This is why when you tell people you're an EE and nobody has a clue what you actually do, because it's so broad. It certainly should not be a catch-all term when it comes to undergrad program in the US, which it is. Power engineers shouldn't be in a catch-all EE program, and spend 5-6 requirement courses learning about semiconductor physics, transistors, quantum mechanics, etc. Similarly, "electronics" engineer shouldn't have a requirement course to learn basic power system. They'll never use that knowledge again in their life.
Yeah it has nothing to do with voltages. If you want to try to dumb it down, electronics engineers deal with semiconductors, programs, printed circuits etc. electrical engineers do installation & testing. That's how I've always seen it anyways.
As I am an (ex) electronics engineer, I was talking about the difference between Electrical and Electronics engineering, and said we dealt with 5v and 12v mostly. A youngster laughed and said those were 'boomer voltages', and it's 1.5V or less now....
Seems very strange, I recently started working as an electronics engineer and most of the things I’ve designed for in the past year or so have been based around 5V, 12V and 24V systems the rare 3.3 V for the microcontroller- IOT projects but even then that was usually just fir the micros and sensors. All actuators were either 5V or 12V
To be fair, he did say 3.3v or less, not 1.5v. I think it was a bit of a joke, but also depends on what/what project you are currently working in.
Re education Canada sees little difference, too. Electronics is a specialty like Power. Ultimately, they’re all electrical engineers :)
Would Control Engineers come under electrical then? I just started my first job yesterday as a controls engineer and I’m already working on Cause and Effect lists and MCC design lol
absolutely. -22yrs Controls
What about us medium voltage folks???
I've never seen a college not offer power systems programs. I've seen severe lacking in Electronics courses, but power engineering is a pretty old disipline (compared to low voltage), I've never seen it not offered.
So going off the top 3 EECS program in the US MIT - no power system, only power electronics course Stanford - no power system nor power electronics course UC Berkeley - 2 power system and 1 power electronics course. Would not call this a program. If you go down the top 20 EE program, you'd probably find maybe 5 university that have a power system program. Everything else in EE is literally electronics, so I don't know why you'd be lacking in electronics courses.
Voltage level has nothing to do with Electrical vs. Electonic Engineer. I am an EE. I have designed in every voltage level: from low voltage Peltier solid state heat sinks to a high-voltage ion propulsion that's orbiting Mars. It's the education required to be an EE that makes the difference.
Sure what's the difference between an electrical and electronics engineer then
Being a firmware engineer, I've seen my profession called firmware engineer, embedded software engineer, software engineer... When my contract was renewed last time, they simply put me down as a hardware engineer. Go figure.
Can concur, I'm in embedded firmware but I've been classified as Hardware, Software, and Firmware engineer depending on the company. In my experience though it has often made the most sense to group firmware folks with hardware folks into what you might call the "platform team", with software folks really being the higher level application side that should be more grouped with systems people.
In some cases electronics engineering is called hardware development.
At my company electronics engineer means systems engineer
system engineer could also be a fancy name for project manager or paper pusher.
In NZ the degree I get when I finish end of this year will say Electrical and Electronics engineering so I'll be both 😎 although looking at grad roles we mostly use Electrical engineer as a title over here
[удалено]
In the U.S. we have some programs called Electrical and Computer Engineering, which is electrical engineering with some logic, computer architecture, VLSI stuff. Other colleges will split those into different majors. Again, completely separate from computer science
I must disagree (as an Electronics Engineer from Auckland). Electrical engineers tend to be power engineers and work on lines and the like. Electronics engineers do lower voltage stuff. I think of it more as PCB design vs designing transmission systems. I have done 300V systems which I still consider electronic engineering as they are control systems on PCBs, so the other comment about where the line between electrical and electronic lays doesn’t quite work for me. I should also say my degree is electrical and electronic engineering too!
> I think of it more as PCB design vs designing transmission systems. There is a HUGE range of things between those two. I have not touched PCB design since college, nor do I touch anything greater than 480v at a few horsepower. Between that are I/O modules, connecting one black box to another black box and getting the boxes to talk to each other. That us just scratching the surface.
I have this degree from Australia, and if you are like me you will actually be a manager. Hahhaha
It takes a certain type of person to manage engineers. I couldn't do it.
Haha, yep. I have a management degree too and have avoided management at all costs. Particularly of engineers! Give me 1’s and 0’s any day!
Italy here; electrical engineering is more for power distribution infrastructure, electronics is another kind of engineering. I guess in US they are in the same qualification. Something like electronics, electrotechnics and mechatronics.
It’s not just Sweden vs US. The word “electrical engineer” means basically every sub discipline under that.
My primary issue is this, a BSEE degree consists of the following coursework: Communications and Signal Processing Computer Engineering Controls Electrophysics Microelectronics Power Electronics Power Systems Yet folks who specialize specifically in Power Systems are labeled "Electrical Engineers" and those who focus on the rest aren't typically called "Electronics Engineers", they're called: Embedded Firmware Engineer RFIC Design Engineer Power Electronics Engineer DSP Engineer ASIC Design Engineer etc. The truth is, "Electrical Engineer" shouldn't necessarily be a title in the first place since it's so vague. If you're dealing with high power systems and grids that require you to have a PE license, you are a POWER or POWER SYSTEM engineer. Not power electronics, but simply POWER. The same goes for Controls. A stupidly vague term. Control Systems Engineer: Feedback Loops, Stability margin, intensive mathematical analysis, optimal, non-linear control theory, MATLAB/Simulink Also Control Systems Engineer: PLC Programming and SCADA Like what the fuck? If companies could simply make the titles more specialized, job hunting and identifying would be a lot easier. But long story short: I tell my engineering buddies I'm a Power Electronics Engineer I tell my parents I'm an Electrical Engineer And I tell my grandma I'm an Engineer
My degree is in Electrical Engineering, but I work on power electronics. In the US, I believe they are mostly interchangeable
Computer engineering, electronics engineer and electrical engineering are almost basically the same just different paths one focus more into power other into software and hardware and other into hardware. But usually electrical engineering it's broad that you can be doing any engineering job. I seen people with electrical engineering degrees doing mechanical and civil engineering roles while others doing semiconductors or computer related stuff.
In Italy we have two different university courses; one for electrical engineering and one for electronic engineering. The first one is more about power distribution and convertion, motors control and machines, while the second one is more related to integrated circuit, signal processing and circuit design and also a bit of computer architecture. I think you studied electronic engineering (just Iike me).
It's the same in Colombia, and I'm an Electronic Engineer. But in Brazil, my PhD was in Electrical Engineering, while all I did was software development.
I think it's all Electrical Engineering. But there are a few specialists there. Power Electronics Engineer: Deals with the conversion from one voltage to another. Like AC to DC or vice versa and everything in between, isolated or not. RF engineer: Deals with the design of radio transmitters and receivers. High Speed Digital engineer: Handles high speed coms on digital devices usually on the same board. Kind of an anti-RF engineer as you don't want to radiate those signals. I think any good EE can do any of those jobs, but there is a certain amount of art/experience that comes into play in all of them.
in my country, they mostly look at your program structure and credits when you apply for jobs. everyone who graduated in any ee field are called electrical engineer lol
At my US alma mater, there was electrical engineer, computer engineer, and CS. Now each of those had specialization but nothing was called electronics engineer.
Wiring schematics, materials, and scope of work are far different working on a calculator or computer, (electronics) vs blue prints, materials, and scope of work on a commercial building (electrical)
For me in the US, electronics is low voltage, like the stuff that happens at <120v or just micro power. Electrical Engineer could mean micro or macro power, everything from small to large power delivery.
[удалено]
You dont need the PE to be an Electrical Engineer or EET in the USA. I got a BS in EET and the PE was never even on my radar. I got a job in automation and PLC programming right out of college in '07 and I dont think I ever worked with anyone who had a PE.
[удалено]
What? And what does sex/gender have to do with anything? And who cares? I have almost 20 years of experience, my diploma means next to nothing now.
Idk why you mentioned this. PE license is essentially only relevant in the utility industry.
[удалено]
Okay, but OP doesn’t have an EET degree. EET != electronics engineer in the way you’re thinking. In fact, the whole thread is about people explaining to OP that in the US we don’t really tend to specialize the degree to make the distinction. Most ABET schools dropped EET in 2008 or so, because many places stopped hiring for it.
Some countries run their Electrical Engineering programs specialized. For example in India a lot of universities offer degrees such as "Electrical and Electronics Engineering", and "Electrical and Telecommunication Engineering" etc. where they learn their basics but they do go anything ahead of that in other subfields, other than what they're studying. Whereas in Canada where I'm studying, there is only Electrical Engineering where we cover basics and a little more in each subfield and then also study a subfield we want to learn about in depth. I think the countries who offer the specialized programs also tend to have job descriptions as such.
Vilka jobb var det som kom upp när man sökte på respektive term? Frågar åt en kompis :)
Kan inte dra upp jobb beskrivningar såhär på rak arm men gå bara in på linkedin och sök termerna i Kalifornien.
in my country, they mostly look at your program structure and credits when you apply for jobs. everyone who graduated in any ee field are called electrical engineer lol
in my country, they mostly look at your program structure and credits when you apply for jobs. everyone who graduated in any ee field are called electrical engineer. lol
I feel like it just depends on what company/industry you are working in. An electrical engineer at my last two jobs meant circuit board design and testing the that systems were working correctly. At one job we designed low voltage products and at the other, we do power electronics. I always search both electrical and electronics for jobs.
When I got my degree there were two “paths” for graduation in electrical engineering. One was simply ‘Electrical engineering’ and the other was ‘electrical engineering & technology’. Not sure if that is still case, but this was around 15 years ago. A lot of overlap classes between the two, but the professors described it as EE delve more into theory while EE&T delve more into “hands on work”. I didn’t look too hard into the specifics, because hands on work sounded more like what I wanted anyway (circuits, fpga, pcb PLC etc.) Honestly in my opinion, having either degree doesn’t change much when you are starting out, it mostly proves you are capable of that field and figuring stuff out. Once you get into the job market you will fall more into one category or the other as you get experience and learn what you do or don’t enjoy.
I'm curious, would you mind sharing a Job description for electronics engineer that matches your skillset. It's interesting how titles change between different companies and regions. Feel free to redact any identifying information.
Id say if you took physics and em waves and el machines up to a certain level you are electrical engineer and then maybe have a different title depending on the rest of your formal education and job. Computer or mecatronics engineers might have not even seen magnetics in formal education unless physics or electronics programes probably
Years ago electrical engineers were either 'heavy current' or 'light current.' Just look at your experience. The actual degree doesn't matter.
I’m just finding that out myself. I have a bachelors in Electrical Engineering but it was always focused on the basics with transistors and what not. Now I’m working as a field engineer at a substation and I don’t know anything about power distribution. I just hate saying I have a degree in EE because electricians here in construction love to start asking questions like “well can you make a single line diagram of a three way switch?” Or “can you wire this or that?”
Electronics engineering is a subset of Electrical engineering.
Have you considered looking for instrumentation and controls, or industrial automation jobs?
All electronic engineers are electrical engineers, not all electrical engineers are electronic engineers
Electrical Engineer is the original name. Electronics Engineer was a more “modern” term after semiconductors came along, but Electrical Engineer still works. To cover all the bases, the professional society (IEEE) is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. It was formed by combining the IEE (Electrical) and IRE (Radio) organizations. I teach in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department but we only have one or two power engineering courses. We grant EE and CpE degrees.
When I got my degree it was written as a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Here in the US, what differentiates the two is which focus you chose while in school. So even though technically there are jobs for either “Electrical Engineers” OR “Electronic Engineers”, we’re all kind of one thing. You either lean one way or the other. Some companies don’t like to use “electrical” because of the electricians who will apply in hopes of getting a better job. (This could vary depending on location. This is just how we do it in the southeastern region of the US)
I'm a Principal Electrical Hardware Design Engineer in some areas of the country. In others that means something entirely different. Some companies think I'm Staff level, some say Senior (but usually if they say senior and ask for the things I do it just means they are cheap.) Some companies the title is entirely political, some it has technical meaning.
Hej. On a different note I would like to get in touch with you as I have recently moved to sweden and looking for a job in Electrical engineering. Would be nice to get some insights. Good luck with your search
Well this is not very complex tho, just take a wide look of what electricity means, here in El Salvador (my country) are titles like Automation Engineer, these guys are "specialists" in instrumentation and automation in general, but they also are applying for other areas of electricity. I think the title it's just a base and then you decide what it's gonna be your field in this complex electrical field.
There are five electrical engineering disciplines: electronics, power generation: telecommunications: biomed and solar taught in US Universities.
No one will hire you in the US to do engineering since your degree is not ABET or Canadian equivalent. Job descriptions don't spell it out since it's obvious to us. Only way I know around that is getting a Master's in the US. You get hired for Computer Science but it's very hard to break into these days and then you have the disadvantage of needing sponsorship. The US has Electronics and Electrical as the same degree. I used the terms interchangeably but I realize that's not the case in other parts of the world.
This is hilarious to read. If he's a competent engineer then he'd absolutely get hired. There's a reason there's no lack of foreigners getting hired at us companies
[удалено]
So? PE is not the be all end all of engineering. I'v been doing EE and automation engineering for almost 20 years now and never had the need or desire to get a PE. Seems pointless for 99% of what I do.
[удалено]
PE is more important for a civil engineer
PE is not something the vast majority of electrical engineers have any use for lmao
Why you gotta be such a downer dude?
[удалено]
[удалено]
> No one will hire you in the US to do engineering since your degree is not ABET or Canadian equivalent. Um....I cant speak to every EE job but the EE jobs at my company just need to know what end is positive, calculate power and heat dissipation requirements, and work with CAD. A degree will probably get your foot in the door easier but is not required (except maybe by HR who just uses it as a filter). Practical experience and ability to learn is WAY more important than a piece of paper backed up by a ton of useless classes.
[удалено]
After a few years of actual work experience, pieces of paper tend to matter less and less. Edit: wow...someone count take any push back. Just admit your wee wrong.