cps13
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| posted on 27/4/13 at 11:56 PM |
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Electronic Systems Engineering.
Hi,
I currently work as a Load Cell engineer and I am studying a HNC in EE. After doing this I will be continuing my studying, my boss has asked me to
look into what I want to do.
For my job there is a lot of control boxes, displays etc and I am looking at Electronic Systems Engineering rather than Electronic Engineering as I
think it may be more relevant but cannot find too much info on it. Don't get me wrong I have found a lot of uni's which have pages full of
info like...
"You will design systems, build and test prototypes while employing a wide range of technologies"
And things like you will study
Electronics
Digital Signal Processing
Data Communications
Control Engineering
But can anyone tell me what you ACTUALLY study. Do you learn programming languages? Do you learn about things like RS232/485 technologies etc.
Any advice greatly received!
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skov
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| posted on 28/4/13 at 07:00 AM |
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I did my Electronics degree at Sheffield about 15 years ago. I did Electronics with Computing, which I suspect has some similarities with Electronic
Systems.
If I remember rightly the first year of the degree was pretty much the same regardless of what speciality you signed up for and covered the
'basics', i.e. lots of maths, basic electronic, electrical, and electromagnetic theory, and how to program in C.
For the second and third years there were some core modules that everyone did (maths, electronics, etc), some modules based on your speciality (for
computing I did things like software theory, digital electronics, communications), and you got to pick a few modules you liked the sound of (I did
pattern recognition and artificial intelligence amoungst others).
What you you learn is going to depend on the particular course and Uni, but you'll almost certainly do some basic programming and look at things
like RS232/485.
To be honest, you'll never use most of what you learn, and you won't learn a lot of what you need.
What it does give you is the mindset, background knowledge, and problem solving skills to figure things out for yourself once you've left
though.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 28/4/13 at 07:53 AM |
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I did a HND in electronic and telecommunications, and it was very similar to Skov. I seem to remember out of the 18 units, only 1 or 2 were directly
related to telecoms. The rest were all the theory that you need as a basis. I did maths, electronic principles, networking, programming and others
that I can't even remember now.
I did think it a bit odd at the time to be covering more overall theory than specific telecoms knowledge, but since technology moves on so quickly
these days it's almost pointless to learn how one type of thing works. It's better to understand the building blocks that it comes from,
and be able to apply those same building blocks to future technologies.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 28/4/13 at 08:56 AM |
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What you will study will depend on the uni and the staff employed at the time, which is why you must visit and ask lots of questions if you are
serious about something specific. Systems eng courses often sacrifice the in depth knowledge of elec design for the gain of understanding systems
integration/specification and testing in more detail. Buy as I say, that depends on the uni and staff in that particular year. Uni courses are not
like school/college courses, no one sets the syllabus apart from the staff and their interest, you pick one that matches (and is of sufficient quality
for your needs, there is a vast variation in quantity across the UK in engineering). some courses will be 15 hours a week and cover the basics of x,y
and z, some will be 35 hours a week /minimum/ and cover everything to do with x, y and z.
I have 2 eng degrees and use the content of both daily, just to buck the usual claims 
The point being what you study depends on where you go and what course you pick, and whether you use it depends on what job you get/have. As
mentioned above, you might learn only processes and thought structures which help in a job, or you might learn theoretical details of exactly how
something works.
This is a difference of thinking, from college thinking, that I think few students realise before starting a degree. It is usually the people who have
not invested the time in researching first that get the least out of their course.
Pick carefully!
[Edited on 28/4/13 by coyoteboy]
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Litemoth
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| posted on 28/4/13 at 11:15 AM |
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Tread carefully when choosing a course. Many of these universities are selling a course to get bums on seats and will promise you great earning and
employability potential that may not necessarily be the case when you finish. Interview them thoroughly and ask to speak to their final year
students.
The course will arm you with the ability to do your own research and answer your own questions but there will be a set text. I suspect that the
'project' or thesis element will allow you to do your own thing, pose your own questions and get help answering them from the staff and
companies that they may be linked with. Some universities have great links with industry which can be a gold mine of practical help (and
employment).
A degree with or in 'Instrumentation and Control' sounds like it could be for you.
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cps13
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| posted on 28/4/13 at 03:20 PM |
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Thanks for all the advice guys, all seems to make sense. Seems like I will need to arrange some visits...
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