Engineering

[Peter_wadley]

Hi there,

I was wondering what engineering program you are all going into - are in - or have graduated from?

I have been excepted for computer engineering @ the university of toronto as well as electrical engineering @ the university of waterloo.

(Also @ McMaster but ill pass)

I was wondering which program you all think I should go into and why.. I would like to design circuits for a living.. so.. computer or electrical?

Take Care

 

[Gayan Soyza]

You asking for a course which side you have to go computer or electronics……?

I think you need both………Electronics and Computer……..if you want to design circuits.

I keep my electronics as a hobby. Not as a job. Because in my country mostly have repairing stuff no any designing stuff.

Designing stuff comes from a proper knowledge plus with the experience in real life.

I have done couple of courses like C & G (Electrical & Electronics) and some basic electronic courses.I gained a little theory knowledge from that.

But I gained lot of experience after making circuits,troubleshooting & Designing them at home.

 

[Hardwire]

If you really want to design circuits for a living then go with electrical engineering. Computer and Electrical will be pretty close in course material up to a point, but you will probably learn a lot more about analog electronics/control systems with the electrical courses, and that will help a great deal with designing circuits in the real world.

 

[Optikon]

Hi there,

I was wondering what engineering program you are all going into - are in - or have graduated from?

I have been excepted for computer engineering @ the university of toronto as well as electrical engineering @ the university of waterloo.

(Also @ McMaster but ill pass)

I was wondering which program you all think I should go into and why.. I would like to design circuits for a living.. so.. computer or electrical?

Take Care

Go electrical, you can pick up the EASY computer stuff anytime.

BTW, this thread should really be in ****-chat

 

[Hank Fletcher]

Electrical at Waterloo is definitely what you want to take, Peter, so do so with absolute confidence you're doing the right thing.

While in Ontario high school and college programs there is a lot of cross-over in the electrical/electronics and computer curricula, at universities in Ontario there tends to be much more distinction between electrical/electronics and computer engineering departments. From what I've seen of the computer engineering programs (students' group and individual projects), those tend to be focused on creation of things like virtual models or else instead on what I would call the civil engineering side of electronics engineering. That's not what you want if you want to design circuits, your own ICs, build your own CNC, build a robot army, etc.

Electrical is in a nice pocket right between computer and mechanical. As already mentioned, pretty much everything you need to know about computer engineering you can pick up as you go. Software is always going to be changing, so everyone runs a constant hill up the learning curve everytime a new program comes out. The laws of electricity and mechanics, however, are always going to stay the same, so you're better off dedicating your opportunity for intense study at university in one of those areas. So take electrical, dabble in computer as a hobby as you go along, and buy your friends in mechanical a beer once a week (they'll be the ones building your robot army, and they're the most fun to party with).

Chances are your first job out of uni is going to be in Ontario. For that reason, I highly recommend Waterloo. Waterloo graduates' cred with engineering employers in that province (and arguably the rest of Canada) is unsurpassed. This is a non-partisan comment on my part, as I've never attended Waterloo (or any engineering program, so keep that in mind, but I dare say that if you look into what I'm telling you you'll discover it's all true), it's just what I've both seen from students of various programs and what I've heard from both engineers and employers. Waterloo grads are automatic first draft picks, which is part of why the standards are so high for getting in in the first place.

To give you an idea of the context of my comments, I've got degrees from UWO, U of T, and York. The lion's share of my impression of Waterloo has come from engineers who have worked with grads from that program, but who themselves attended school elsewhere (mostly in England), so I feel pretty safe in stating that my views are non-partisan. Based on what I know and you've said you'd like to do, electrical at Waterloo is the way to go.

Incidentally, tell people you've been "accepted" not "excepted" to the programs you've applied to. The meaning of each word is arguably contradictory. Sorry, that's the English teacher in me, but you'll find profs in engineering are fussy over such things too, I'm sure.

 

[3v0]

At the U where I got my degree computer engineering was an EE degree with CS classes in place of power engineering, drafting, etc. It was a good degree to have.

It is easier for an EE to moonlight as a poor to middlin program (there are some good ones) then the other way around. I only know of one CS type at our plant that actualy was allowed to do hardware. Many EEs doubled as programers.

 

[Marks256]

When i graduate high school, i want to go to college for either electrical, software, or computer engineering. I think civil engineering would be fun, too, but i am not as interested in that type of stuff.

 

[Sceadwian]

Marks, I'm not sure what subject to suggest but look for sensible engineering as well =) There is only one engineers motto that I use on a regular basis and that's KISS "Keep it simple stupid" Integrated design theory perhaps?

It might seem a 'management' position to most but it is one of the single biggest boundaries to modern engineering. Getting everything and everyone working together and on the same page. Modern society isn't about a person anymore it's about people. It's not about inventions, it's about systems. You can't embrace any level of engineering without some form of respect for it's true goal, to achieve a desired result, which in modern society are becoming increasing large. I would highly recommend as many classes as you can on comparative morality and even light psychology.

Read everything you can find written by Einstein, especially his non scientific writings and biographies and histories of him and the people around him and his thoughts and ideas. There is more to logic than bits and bytes, and there is more to being moral than right or wrong.

I appear to be ranting this evening =) My apologizes. Growing older (30 this year) I think it's important to at the very least attempt to show to those that are younger that knowledge is good, but knowledge is only useful when tempered with wisdom, and science alone is seldom wise.

 

[Marks256]

There is only one engineers motto that I use on a regular basis and that's KISS "Keep it simple stupid" Integrated design theory perhaps?

I am already familiar with the KISS philosophy...

Marks, I'm not sure what subject to suggest but look for sensible engineering as well =) There is only one engineers motto that I use on a regular basis and that's KISS "Keep it simple stupid" Integrated design theory perhaps?

It might seem a 'management' position to most but it is one of the single biggest boundaries to modern engineering. Getting everything and everyone working together and on the same page. Modern society isn't about a person anymore it's about people. It's not about inventions, it's about systems. You can't embrace any level of engineering without some form of respect for it's true goal, to achieve a desired result, which in modern society are becoming increasing large. I would highly recommend as many classes as you can on comparative morality and even light psychology.

Read everything you can find written by Einstein, especially his non scientific writings and biographies and histories of him and the people around him and his thoughts and ideas. There is more to logic than bits and bytes, and there is more to being moral than right or wrong.

I appear to be ranting this evening =) My apologizes. Growing older (30 this year) I think it's important to at the very least attempt to show to those that are younger that knowledge is good, but knowledge is only useful when tempered with wisdom, and science alone is seldom wise.

Ok, so what was that for? What i got from it, you were either trying to scare me out of engineering, or umm... yeah, trying to scare me out of engineering...

I am just going to ignore that..... Screw conformity... I already know the world sucks, therefore i vow to make my life as meaningful to myself as possible.

 

[Leftyretro]

I am already familiar with the KISS philosophy...




Ok, so what was that for? What i got from it, you were either trying to scare me out of engineering, or umm... yeah, trying to scare me out of engineering...

I am just going to ignore that..... Screw conformity... I already know the world sucks, therefore i vow to make my life as meaningful to myself as possible.

Well what I think I got out of it is that in today's world an engineer's people skills are as important as his/hers technical skills. Learning about and willing to participate in consensus decisions is essential. Today's projects demand lots of participation by many specialist working under management that has to always try and keep the big picture in mind and the ship headed into the desired direction. The day of the lone engineer working in his lab is long past in today's global economy. So courses that help expose one to non technical ideas and methods can be a big help when you actually seek employment and joining a team........

Lefty

 

[Marks256]

Well what I think I got out of it is that in today's world an engineer's people skills are as important as his/hers technical skills. Learning about and willing to participate in consensus decisions is essential. Today's projects demand lots of participation by many specialist working under management that has to always try and keep the big picture in mind and the ship headed into the desired direction. The day of the lone engineer working in his lab is long past in today's global economy. So courses that help expose one to non technical ideas and methods can be a big help when you actually seek employment and joining a team........

Lefty

Mmm, yeah, i guess. I am not a people person, though. There is nothing that will ever change that, either. I don't work well in groups (unless the group i am working in knows what they are doing...)

 

[Sceadwian]

Which is exactly the point I was trying to get across Marks as Lefty surmised. People going after engineering degrees that are intelligent will eventually end up in a job that encompasses a large scale, which means many people are involved. If you have a low ability to function socially it will hinder your chosen profession, no matter what it is. That's why I suggested reading a little bit more about Einstein, he knew better than most men of his time the social implications of technology, and that technology alone was not a solution to anything, and that tempering of knowledge with wisdom was very important. That's also why I suggested psychology and comparative morality or any modern equivalent as a course of study. You have to learn at least a little bit about how your own mind works, how it senses it's environment and at least some exploratory studies on understanding consciousness.

A simple example of relevancy is the fact that we are not consciously aware of any action we make or sensory input we receive until almost a full second after it actually occurs. The inputs are fed into the primitive reactionary and then then the trained portions of the brain. We only become 'conscious' of events in our lives after our brains have filtered out what's really going on with what we're familiar with.

The single most important thing you will EVER learn in your life is about how you yourself function, and that will teach you how others also function and how you might better relate to them. Disregard that and you will regret it later on, likely too late to be of any use.

 

[3v0]

You need to work on that. A good deal of engineering is working with others. If you do not at least understand the politics of the workplace your career/paycheck will suffer.

 

[Peter_wadley]

Thanks for all the great advice!

I think I will be choosing Waterloo for Electrical. I have visited the school and left extremely impressed.

As for dealing with people, I agree - communication is probably the most important aspect of engineering.

What I am most afraid of is making technical presentations.. something that is done alot in ECE (So I hear)

It is very hard for me to focus when all eyes are tuned on me.

My mind drifts.

It seems most of the other students going into this program are from overseas.. I have already arranged to 'room' with a student from Israel.

Do you think I will need to purchase a laptop? Right Now I do have a somewhat good desktop.

I have never used an oscilloscope before, should I purchase a used one?

Take Care

Oh yeah check video out! :

**broken link removed**

 

[Leftyretro]

Thanks for all the great advice!

I think I will be choosing Waterloo for Electrical. I have visited the school and left extremely impressed.

As for dealing with people, I agree - communication is probably the most important aspect of engineering.

What I am most afraid of is making technical presentations.. something that is done alot in ECE (So I hear)

It is very hard for me to focus when all eyes are tuned on me.

My mind drifts.

It seems most of the other students going into this program are from overseas.. I have already arranged to 'room' with a student from Israel.

Do you think I will need to purchase a laptop? Right Now I do have a somewhat good desktop.

I have never used an oscilloscope before, should I purchase a used one?

Take Care

Oh yeah check video out! :

**broken link removed**

Good luck on your chosen path, I'm sure you will do fine. Don't sweat the public speaking thing, you are amoung the 90+% of the public that lists that amoung their greatest fears. You will get the chance to overcome that fear in a safe place that will guide you through obtaining that skill with practice and experiance. An engineer has to have the ablility to 'sell' their ideas and concepts to those that have the power and authority to allow them to come to fruitation and verbal face to face communicates much information to those that can't read technical proposals without their eyes glazing over.

Keep your present laptop unless later found to be insuffient. As far as the O-scope, if you can find one cheap go ahead it might make a useful way to spend the summer. Otherwise just remember it's just a visiual tool to allow one to see what they should already understand in theory.

Lefty

 

[Marks256]

Which is exactly the point I was trying to get across Marks as Lefty surmised. People going after engineering degrees that are intelligent will eventually end up in a job that encompasses a large scale, which means many people are involved. If you have a low ability to function socially it will hinder your chosen profession, no matter what it is. That's why I suggested reading a little bit more about Einstein, he knew better than most men of his time the social implications of technology, and that technology alone was not a solution to anything, and that tempering of knowledge with wisdom was very important. That's also why I suggested psychology and comparative morality or any modern equivalent as a course of study. You have to learn at least a little bit about how your own mind works, how it senses it's environment and at least some exploratory studies on understanding consciousness.

A simple example of relevancy is the fact that we are not consciously aware of any action we make or sensory input we receive until almost a full second after it actually occurs. The inputs are fed into the primitive reactionary and then then the trained portions of the brain. We only become 'conscious' of events in our lives after our brains have filtered out what's really going on with what we're familiar with.

The single most important thing you will EVER learn in your life is about how you yourself function, and that will teach you how others also function and how you might better relate to them. Disregard that and you will regret it later on, likely too late to be of any use.

No one is perfect. I am sure sociability will come to me in due time.

 

[Suds]

I totally agree

 

[TOM_PA]

Hey I just joined and want to ask anyone if they can help me get some ideas for a senior design I have to do next semester.

I am an Electrical Engineering student and I go to a small college in PA. I have to design something over the next 2 semesters in order to graduate. My problem is that I do not like programming at all and would love to avoid that at all costs in my design (idk if its possible to do the things I would like do design without programming though).

I have been looking into things on the lines of high power. I was looking at exploding wire but I am not permitted to do that due to there being too much dealing with that already.

If anyone has any ideas please get back to me. I am willing to accept any ideas. Thanks

 

[dknguyen]

Hey I just joined and want to ask anyone if they can help me get some ideas for a senior design I have to do next semester.

I am an Electrical Engineering student and I go to a small college in PA. I have to design something over the next 2 semesters in order to graduate. My problem is that I do not like programming at all and would love to avoid that at all costs in my design (idk if its possible to do the things I would like do design without programming though).

I have been looking into things on the lines of high power. I was looking at exploding wire but I am not permitted to do that due to there being too much dealing with that already.

If anyone has any ideas please get back to me. I am willing to accept any ideas. Thanks

You can start new threads clicking the button at the top of the window inside a forum. my final year project requires you to use a uC...now sure about yours,