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Electrical Engineering, Career and Education
Electrical engineering is a discipline that is concerned with the study and application of three main fields: electricity, electromagnetism and electronics. The area of expertise has become more popular starting with the 19th century when the commercialization of the electric telegraph and the large scale electrical power supply boosted the field by increasing the necessity of professionals who could deal with these developments. The field includes nowadays a series of sub-fields including, control systems, signal processing, power, electronics and telecommunications. Some people confuse electrical engineering with electronic engineering whereas these two disciplines are not the same. As a general rule, electrical engineering is the encompassing discipline which may include electronic engineering. Moreover, electrical engineering is considered the discipline that covers the large scale electrical systems while electronic engineering is more about dealing with small scale systems such as integrated circuits. Another distinction can be made at the level of the tasks of the professionals. An electronic engineer has the job to use electricity to transmit energy whereas the electronic engineer is preoccupied with using electricity to process information.When it comes to pursuing a career in this field, things have become quite straightforward. Thanks to the development of the industry and the increasing need of specialists in the field, most universities and technical colleges include a bachelor in electrical engineering, or the expertise may be gained through a bachelor of engineering, science or technology. Most programs last four years and they start from a general point of view by including most subfields but which later on offer the students the possibility to specialize in one or two areas of interest.
Programs of master’s and doctorates may also be pursued. They are often offered within a master of engineering or science, engineering management or as a doctor of philosophy in engineering or engineering doctorate.