question about education and career guidance

[rafi21]

i was thinking. here i am just starting with electronics and digital circuits in community college. but what im worried about is the future. what am i to make of myself? i mean cause theres crazy amounts of advanced circuits and microprocessors and nano technology, people already figured it out and doing things. but me just designing projects for class like a scoreboard and similar simple circuits.
is it wise to continue in this field, is there something specific that will actually be useful to be in the future. what path should i take and where to go, what to strive for.

thx for reading and hope you guys have some wise feedback

 

[Ian Rogers]

The electronic world is a vast place. More and more are discovered everyday. It takes quite some time to design and develop a retail-able product. The first years will be learning other peoples designs, analysing circuits and repair. Even the good old toaster has now received a micro!!!! You will have something " specific that will actually be useful " one day. Be warned though! Some people don't get the breaks and never really get to design REAL products. Quite a few do. If your driven and want to succeed in this field, you will!

 

[colin55]

Electronics is a path you have to love and understand and have a natural flare for.
It’s not like a Lawyer, Solicitor, Accountant or Builder where you can flum your way through life making mistakes and still get paid.
You have to be 100% accurate and correct; otherwise the project will not work.
You have to start young and build hundreds of circuits.
You are wasting your time if you think otherwise.
I go to “Inventor” meetings and “MAKE” groups and talk to young electronics enthusiasts and am absolutely astounded at their capability.
And you have to be this capable if you want to advance in this highly technical world.

 

[Reloadron]

I'll give you my take on things.

My own little career in electronics began with vacuum tubes. Stay with me on this. Things were much simpler 40 years ago. Over the years electronics changed. It got much bigger. There were no microprocessors, nano technology, or even computers unless we count Eniac and some early fortran stuff using the then new transistors. About 5 years ago we were looking to hire a new EE. I wanted someone right out of school but I wanted someone who could program in C+ as well as VB, I wanted a strong electronic background with a focus on programming skills for data acquisition systems. I was looking for someone who excelled and studied areas that never existed when I went to school. Two years ago I wanted someone with design skills using IGBTs and power amplifiers. I found both but it was interesting. They were both EEs right out of school but with varied areas of expertise to bring to the table. Over the decades electronics has become more and more specialized, hell much like being a doctor but they make bigger bucks!

Work through community college and once all that new basic ******** is behind you I would venture you will find your notch. You will find a place that you want to be doing what you want to do. Today the beginning is a little of this and that it is later that you begin to get more specialized. What is more important than anything else is make damn sure this is what you want.

Ron

 

[rafi21]

mmm thanks guys!