Engineering Career Advice

[modulation]

Advice needed:
Hello I am a current Electrical Engineering Student at a local community college(all I can afford right now).
A little background on myself: I am 31 years old and after wasting away most of my youth partying and floundering etc until my mid twenties, I finally went to school for Recording when I was 24, after school I landed an internship at a local studio in Phx AZ. It was there i cut my teeth on recording and mix sessions, studio building, console installation, wiring, minor repairs etc and moved on from there. I was lucky enough to be at the right places at the right times and have been able to make a living recording and mixing records for the last 6 years, as well as doing many side gigs of system tech for a couple world tours, doing several neve and SSL installs, doing many large studio wiring jobs, as well as maintaing lots of analog gear and doing minor repairs.
As much as I love recording and mixing I have always had a geeky tendency toward the more technical side of the industry. So when my former employer laid me off temporarily 5 months ago I made a decision I would not return with them and instead enrolled in school to study Electrical Engineering and pursue and BA degree or even a masters. I just completed my first semester. And I am exciting about learning new things and moving onto something I feel is bigger and better.
Currently my areas of interest are:
Acoustic Engineering- Noise control, materials, structures, vibration control etc
Electro Acoustic Engineering - Microphone and loud speaker design and development etc
Audio/Electronics/Electrical Engineering - Audio equipment, signal processing etc design and development and or repair.
Broadcast Engineering - Signals Transmission and Receiving etc
Acoustician/Architectural Acoustics - designing spaces for sound or improving sound in designed spaces(studios, concert halls, schools, etc)

Anyhow I am seeking advice on a career path and feilds of study and I was interested to hear from people who work in these fields.
I want to hear what people in these fields do exactly for a living?
how you got your start?
What kind of educational background you have?
Job outlooks for the future?
any advice you would give to someone pursuing this route?
anything else relevant you'd like to add?
Field of study to pursue?

Look forward to reading some interesting responses

[A27Hull]

Sounds like you got a great start! Keep pluggin away at your courses. I'm right there with you, a rec school grad turned electro geek. You've obviously got the self start ambition, and the talent, so I think you'll do fine. Maybe some others can give some specific advice for the both of us.

[modulation]

Originally Posted by A27Hull

Sounds like you got a great start! Keep pluggin away at your courses. I'm right there with you, a rec school grad turned electro geek. You've obviously got the self start ambition, and the talent, so I think you'll do fine. Maybe some others can give some specific advice for the both of us.

So are you in school right now too? if so, what school and what are you studying?
what is your main goal?

[JohnRoberts]

I would consider a course, or courses in DSP... It will be pretty hard to avoid it, in the future.

JR

[modulation]

Originally Posted by JohnRoberts

I would consider a course, or courses in DSP... It will be pretty hard to avoid it, in the future.

JR

DSP is definately offered at the school I will transfer too.
It seems there are 4 concentrations routes one can go with the Electrical Engineering degree.
Computer Engineering
Fields and Devices
Systems and Communications
or General(a sampling of the above 3)

so i was thinking going the Feilds and Devices Route with:
Energy Conversion
Integrated Circuits and Semiconductor Devices
Power Electronics
Digital Signal Processing

I dunno i guess i have awhile until I get to the upper division courses to figure it out.

[A27Hull]

Originally Posted by modulation

So are you in school right now too? if so, what school and what are you studying?
what is your main goal?

I just finished a two-yr trade school (community college) electronics technology program. So, I'm almost an electronics tech with no work experience. I have done minor repairs and such, but nothing formal.

I've finished my cal sequence and will be taking DE/physics/chemistry this summer at U of AL Huntsville. In Alabama, its the one you want to go to for engineering, especially defense related industry. We have NASA and Redstone Arsenal, and a lot of companies that service them and other government contracts. Boeing, Lockheed, Northrup Grunman, etc..

Right now my goal is to get an EE, and perhaps an MEE, but I'm not sure which direction I will go within it, thats why I like this thread. What's here in my area is defense related stuff. Hear technologies is the only audio related company that I know of in AL, and they run a small operation. So the plan is to hopefully co-op and transition into some defense related EE field. Definitely more interested in electronics and electronics devices than power distribution/plant management. I have a good 60+ hours of University level course in EE to take.

Working with audio here in AL is tough. At least the kind of audio discussed on this forum. I have kept and am still striving for the goal I had when starting the tech school which is to one day be able to design and build my own recording gear.

[dosilegecko]

I would say that is a great start and the key part is motivation, which you seem to have nailed down. I am the same way, I like the insides of the amps/preamps/compressors and stuff a lot.

I think the materials, sound proofing, etc., would be more mechanical engineering than electrical.

I currently work in a signal integrity group, and electromagnetic theory is all thats really focused on there. But in audio, signal integrity doesnt really need the kind of engineering that it needs in high frequency (1 to 20+ GHz, vs. under 1 MHz in the audio world (some things sample at 192KHz)).

Still, I'd reccomend some e-mag classes, which will help you understand the world in a new light, and take any DSP classes you can. DSP, signal conditioning, and digital systems are all things I have found useful in my audio adventures.

[asplashofcitrus]

What studio did you intern down in PHX, AZ may I ask? I'm in Mesa right now

and I too have been considering electrical engineering, since I began to build guitar pedals a few months back.

How is the math workload for you so far? I'm a bit intimidated by that itself- I haven't taken a math course in about 3 years :/ I just want to build stuff, not necessarily perform equations to get there :p and I recently just got my AAS degree in audio production.

[modulation]

Originally Posted by asplashofcitrus

What studio did you intern down in PHX, AZ may I ask? I'm in Mesa right now

and I too have been considering electrical engineering, since I began to build guitar pedals a few months back.

How is the math workload for you so far? I'm a bit intimidated by that itself- I haven't taken a math course in about 3 years :/ I just want to build stuff, not necessarily perform equations to get there :p and I recently just got my AAS degree in audio production.

It was actually in Mesa AZ, at the Saltmine.

The Math is rentlentless for Engineering pretty much Math back to back every semester for the first three years.

[modulation]

Originally Posted by dosilegecko

I would say that is a great start and the key part is motivation, which you seem to have nailed down. I am the same way, I like the insides of the amps/preamps/compressors and stuff a lot.

I think the materials, sound proofing, etc., would be more mechanical engineering than electrical.

I currently work in a signal integrity group, and electromagnetic theory is all thats really focused on there. But in audio, signal integrity doesnt really need the kind of engineering that it needs in high frequency (1 to 20+ GHz, vs. under 1 MHz in the audio world (some things sample at 192KHz)).

Still, I'd reccomend some e-mag classes, which will help you understand the world in a new light, and take any DSP classes you can. DSP, signal conditioning, and digital systems are all things I have found useful in my audio adventures.

Electromagnetic theory is definitely something required in the core curriculum at UTEP.

[rhythmtech]

I am 31 years old and after wasting away most of my youth partying and floundering etc until my mid twenties

are you me?????

[Les]

The Math is rentlentless for Engineering pretty much Math back to back every semester for the first three years

Hi, John.

If I may ask,what math courses are you taking now? How are you doing?
Do you enjoy math?

I'm an acoustics engineer, But have an Aero engineering degree. In our program we had to take all the EE core courses, and all the ME core as well.

My first job out of school was as an audio development engineer for Shure, inc. I worked in the home high fidelity division designing transducers.

For your first circuits course typically you have a prerequisite of a year of calculus and one course in ordinary differential equations. Then you're ready for Laplace transforms, a key concept in electrical, mechanical, and acoustic analysis. I took those at a community college, then transferred to a university.

If you do really well at math, you'll do fine in engineering. Engineering degrees are science degrees rather than arts, so B.S., M.S., etc rather than B.A....

Les
L M Watts Technology

[modulation]

Originally Posted by Les

Hi, John.
If I may ask,what math courses are you taking now? How are you doing?
Do you enjoy math?

Well since this is only my second semester back in school, I am taking pre cal, I have alot of catch up to do since the last math class I took was 14 years ago. math seems to be going good for me, I wouldnt say I love Math, but I do not hate it either. I am pretty good at it I guess, I study hard.

[Les]

Well since this is only my second semester back in school, I am taking pre cal, I have alot of catch up to do since the last math class I took was 14 years ago.

Ah, ok cool. I had to take some stuff like that too, since I had no trig, or even physics or chemistry in high school. I did take algebra. All I did in high school was play my guitar and smoke weed.

When you're done with pre-calc, then you will take differential calculus , integral calculus, calculus of series, and calculus of multiple variables for four courses.

So first differential calculus next quarter?

As a TA, I used to teach it. Here's a good bit for you:

Calculus was developed to make impossibly complicated stuff very simple.
And it does. People tried to figure things in the universe out for thousands of years unsuccessfully using crystal spheres and geometric harmony. The greeks came close, but missed it. Then Newton and Leibnetz came along, and BAM!... industrial revolution. It kind of shocked me how simple it made things. I could hardly believe it. I had to believe it though, because it was proven to me.

Have a blast with it,

Les
L M Watts Technology

[modulation]

Originally Posted by Les

All I did in high school was play my guitar and smoke weed.....

So first differential calculus next quarter?

that makes two of us that wasted time high school. I have also been brushing up on algebra with online tutoring trying to make up for lost time... and brain cells, lol.

here is the math sequence of classes after pre cal for the engineering track at the university I will be attending

__ 2 MATH 1411 Calculus I
__ 3 MATH 1312 Calculus II
__ 4 MATH 2313 Calculus III
__ 5 MATH 2300 Discrete Mathematics
__ 6 MATH 2326 Differential Equations
__ 7 MATH 3323 Matrix Algebra

I have noticed math's purpose for solving and understanding things, although I don't completely understand it all yet, from the little physics exposure I have had, and my obsession with acoustics I definitely see how it relates to everything and i see the relevance of me having to take all this math, I get where its going.

[Les]

Ah, three calc courses, not four. Back when I did it we had quarters rather than semesters. So we had four.

Normally One takes physics with calculus along with the calculus series, at the same time. This is a cool thing because it's the same stuff twice.
It's like taking the same french class twice and getting credit for both!

Very soon, prepare to be amazed by the fundamental theorem of calculus.
Why didn't this happen 2000 years ago instead of 300? Of course, if it had we would have had mars colonies at the time of the late roman empire I guess.

Get in touch when you hit this theorem. If it clicks for you, the rest will just be a breeze. You'll feel pretty GD smart too, knowing how simple things really are.

Les
L M Watts Technology