To School or Not To School?

Consider junior college first. You can kill the math and physics (and liberal arts- yuck!) prerequisites there without spending too much money.

Some junior colleges might surprise you. There are 3 in my area, and one of them even offers a class on microprocessors. It's during my regular work schedule, though, so I can't attend. Waah!!! ;(

If you enjoy it, stick with it... !

this context. I turn 32 this year, so if I

Snipped a lot of yada yada yada. I started engineering school at 38. Dropped out. I'm 50 now. I'm getting osteoarthritis now because I did carpentry most of my life. No idea where I'll go from here.

Currently there has been news that large compaines, APPLE for example, have moved back to the USA for various reasons. There is still quite a few jobs in programming. Study web-based technologies and it's probably best to focus on the Microsoft products. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering which I used for about 10 years after getting it servicing large unix systems, which BTW rarely have any hardware issues, it was mainly software and that's how I ended up of the other side of the house writing code.

If I can get through the math I am sure you can, I ended up taking some classes two times as I sorta sucked the first time..........

if u do consider pursuing an EE degree defiently brush up on your math skills. They'll probably make u take a bunch of mathc classes as well but unfortunatley the bulk of coursework theory is math based - especially communcations etc.

If u like programming i suggest perhaps applying to a program that offers a computer engineering like degree..here u'll take a mix of EE and computer science classes and can focus a lot more on embedded systems design.

--Hage

These are good points. I've my own emphasis to add.

To phaeton:

Hage's comments about CE are good. Definitely consider that as an option, if you can find such a program locally. It represents a reasonable mix of skills and will press you some in mathematics without perhaps dragging in too much, given your existing math experience, knowledge, and interest. In my area, Portland State offers CS, CE, and EE programs. (The CS seems to attract some folks looking for easy money and low stress as an alternative to becoming, say, an accountant.)

But I think you should look for something you can stick with for the long haul. And that means something you can enjoy. reality is going to hand you ups and downs in any work, so if you are going to stay with it in the long term it cannot be entirely about the money. You have to have other reasons for being there, so that they will hold you when things are harder, moneywise. Otherwise, you will quit and go on looking for yet something else that pays better the next time things are difficult or thin and thus never settle down.

If you really are going to do electronic design, you need to get more comfortable with mathematics (or else you need to have one of those rare talents of intuition, supplemented by lots of Excel spread sheet and simulator work that may manage to get you by without so much math.) The first few chapters of ordinary differential equations (2nd year calc) can, with use of integrating factors to solve linear differentials, allow you to compute closed solutions, with voltage or current as functions of time to circuits with inductors and capacitors and resistors. Some familiarity with complex numbers and a simple ability to use complex conjugates to place rational fractions into standard form, polynomial expansions of some key things like e^x, pi, and a few transcendentals, plus Euler's e^(ix)=cos(x)+i*sin(x) and some familiarity with hyperbolic sine and cosine and how they relate to e or to sin(i*x) or cos(i*x) will help. So a couple of years of calculus and a good teacher or two. Fourier and Laplace transforms, also. And familiarity with matrix algebra helps, at times.

But I think a lot of electronics designers manage to get by with far less math. So may you.

By the way, I'm no designer nor an EE. I just enjoy math and physics and happen to sometimes spend time with electronics for personal fun. So really, I'm more suggesting you think about what it is _you_ want to do and can stay with.

Jon

If you _do_ go to school, please learn how to read and write proper English, like for example, capitalization, spelling, that sort of thing.

Scriptkiddies are the scum of the earth.

Thanks, Rich

Minor Edits:

If you _do_ go to school, please learn how to read and write proper English: for example, capitalization, spelling, et cetera.

Script kiddies are the scum of the earth.

Sorry, couldn't resist... ;)

On 8 Jun 2006 21:37:29 -0700, in message , "phaeton" scribed:

Dude, you are soooo young! You'll need the math. I like the junior college idea one poster put forth. My EE degree, obtained at age 30, landed me in automatic test equipment (ATE) software acquisition and maintenance. I had a good, long and mostly satisfying career. I started a new career in microwave radio communication at age 48. I had several job offers in ATE and avionics testing when well into my forties.

Being an EE has been fun. I recommend it.

On Fri, 09 Jun 2006 23:13:32 GMT, in message , Rich Grise scribed:

u r 2 krool, sux 2 b u

(Likewise on the inability to resist!)

Thanks, that's encouraging. So far most everyone tells me i'm making a bigger deal out of the age than i should be, and making less of a deal out of the "are you *sure* this is what you want to do" thing.

Problem is, I'm not sure.

I've never been sure about anything, and this is why I've been wanting to return to school to study something, but never could decide. One month i'm fascinated with mechanical engineering, next month it's electrical engineering, next month it is computer programming, next month it is hydraulics, next month....

well.... ad nauseum until my brain gets mad and goes home.

Thenagain (this is the 'separating the wheat from the chaff' scenario) I'm going to guess that there are probably just as many people who chose to be an EE because it is a good career and pays well, but don't have any real passion for it. It's just a "job". A pretty good one, but a job nonetheless.

Just like in the IT world. You'll find network and server admins that all but computers, but the boom of the late 90s attracted them into it. A lot of them are leaving now though, I think. $5 and a side of fries says that the EE field is less volatile.

Take a class or two at the local junior college. You'll get to network with professors and classmates, ask questions, see what you like and what you don't like. For cheap.

If you can't finish junior college, the questions are moot, really.

Summer session is starting up. See if you can get a class. Otherwise, mid-August or so is when the semester starts...

Possibly. I chose chemical engineering for various reasons - I liked the idea of renewable energy, water treatment in third-world countries, being on the cutting edge of materials science - but at work I'm more of a contract manager than as an engineer. If I wanted to work in contracts, I would have majored in business... but I chose engineering. But it pays the bills. ;)

Similar story with my cousin - he majored in EE in college, and now supervises 4 employees.

A friend (who never finished college) went to work for a software company, and now supervises several employees (somewhere between 4 and

Seems like the big money is in management.

Good luck!

Michael