Studying Electrical Engineering is exhilarating
yet demanding and there are quite a few of
lessons to be learned outside of the topics
themselves.
Here’s a list of 6 things we wish we’d
known before studying electrical engineering.
Which math is important.
Engineering takes a lot of math and it is
overwhelming to all but the most math literate.
But not all of it is necessary.
In electrical engineering, single variable
calculus and differential equations are very
important but multivariable calculus usually
isn’t.
Also, while L’Hospital’s rule is cool,
Laplace transforms are used a lot more frequently.
Not every topic will be interesting.
If you went into electrical engineering to
work on power grids, then making little robots
with an Arduino isn’t really going to light
your fire.
On the other hand, if electronics is your
thing, then calculating power factor corrections
isn’t going to make you jump for joy either.
Grades are not in direct correlation with
actual understanding of the subject.
There will be classes that you understand
very well but test poorly or bomb a big assignment
and will drop your grade.
Other classes you’ll somehow manage to follow
steps enough to get great grades but still
not understand the material.
Understanding is more important than grades,
but hey, good grades are great as well.
Electrical engineering doesn’t mean electronics.
Electrical engineering has a surprisingly
wide subset of fields ranging from antenna
design, to transmission lines for the grid,
to control systems for robots, to designing
the next iPhone.
While not all electrical engineering is electronics,
soldering is a good skill to have.
Learning engineering is like drinking from
a fire hose.
If you can, learn soldering before getting
to school so that you’re not struggling
to figure out if it’s your design or your
soldering work that is causing a circuit to
fail.
There is no replacement for learning by doing.
While studying the topics in class is important,
working through problems, theoretical or physical,
hands-on problems, is the way that the topics
will be truly understood.
If you really want to learn something, wherever
possible, try to actually do it.
We hope that these items will help you as
you prepare to study engineering.
We created Circuitbread.com to help electrical
engineers of all levels, so go check it out!
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