Mariana Rodriguez

8.22.16
Period 7

Career Research Paper

It seems that tracking down the routine of an electrical engineer is a bit more
complicated than expected due to the flexibility in their job. Throughout
their day they spend a lot of time talking to other engineers, what I mean by
this is that they are in constant communication with one another in order to
solve difficult problems. One of the ways they do this is by conference calls,
this gives them the ability to expand their knowledge and share their
findings with engineers all over the world. Their days consist of problem
solving and decision making all while following the scientific method, its all a
long process of trial and error. In order to be an engineer you need to know
how to take constructive criticism, this will help you grow as an engineer and
hopefully it will help you get a better job.
The working conditions vary it can be either an office or a lab
depending on the project they are working on and what stage of the
scientific method they are in. While in the lab especially for electrical
engineers they have to wear special safety gear. Most labs also have a
clean room which is an isolated room where very extensive measures are
taken in order to keep the experiments and procedures accurate. This clean
room eliminates as many random errors as possible and gives the engineers
an area to do intricate experiments. Safety is crucial due to the extensive

Mariana Rodriguez
8.22.16
Period 7

chemicals and machinery used in labs, engineers take a lot of safety

precautions and are always trained before using tools. Some of these tools
they use are often on computes such as CAD, analytical and computer aided
manufacturing softwares.
Currently there are about 153,000 people in this industry and there is
only a 1.8% unemployment. It is expected to have a 6.3% growth rate in the
next 10 years. Some of specified fields you can find are electrostatic
discharge professional, fiber optics for traffic system technician and
electrostatic discharge control technician. These statistics may change at the
moment this career is very sought after but due to the growth in technology
and new companies rising it seems that everything is balanced out.
In order to become an electrical engineer, it is required to have at least
bachelors degree. There are also several exams you will need to pass in
order to qualify as an engineer, one of these is the FE or Fundamentals of
Engineering from an accredited engineering program or ABET. At this point
they are engineers in training, this will change as soon as they take their
Professional Engineer exam. Most bachelors engineering programs consist
of probability theory, physics, electromagnetic fields and microprocessor
systems. In New Mexico there are 7 schools which offer electrical engineer
programs. Of those seven, three of which offer up to masters degree.
This job gives you the opportunity to improve your positions with time
and effort. Some of the highest paying positions are Firmware engineer,

Mariana Rodriguez
8.22.16
Period 7

Controls engineer and applications engineer. Other jobs in the field are
project engineer, software engineer,

electrical design and many more. A

Firmware engineers salary is approximately $86,000 a year but to get to this

point it is important to have experience. After graduation it is most likely to
have a job with a salary of about $64,980.
At the moment the best companies an electrical engineer could work
for are The Boeing Company, International Business Machine Corporation or
IBM, and of course Google. Starting with The Boeing Company, they are a
commercial transport company they often need help of engineers to help run
things smoothly and improve their services. The second company is IMB
which is known world- wide for their computational technology. The size of
this company allows the engineers to expand on their knowledge and gain
new experience on various fields of engineering. Las but not least there is
Google, which again is known world-wide. Google is expanding and will
probably continue to grow throughout the next few years, their vast need of
engineers would allow any inexperienced engineers to learn new techniques
in a unique environment.
After high school it is a requirement to have at least a bachelors
degree in electrical engineering in order to be licensed. Some of the best
schools for this are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford
University, University of California in Berkeley and Harvard University. These
schools are said to be very difficult to get into, but to an extent that is

Mariana Rodriguez
8.22.16
Period 7

exactly what makes them the best the students there are focused and
determined to be the best making the competition very tough.
While in High School it is important to begin focusing on courses which
will help you in the future. Some of these courses are computer programing,
chemistry and physics. In order to be admitted into most collages you will
need to pass the math ACT with at a least a score of 27 and an AP score of 3
in a BC Calculus test. There are also dual credit courses offered for high
school students allowing them to take college courses with little to no cost.
Dual credit will usually offer the core classes needed to go through your
freshman year of college giving you a head start and allowing you to get a
bit more experience for the future.
In conclusion electrical engineering is a growing field, with new
technology entering the field constantly this job will always be changing. In
the future there might be different problems to be solved or new techniques
needed but that is what engineers are here to do. Science is evolving and
engineers constantly need to be updating their information. Technology is
made to make our lives easier and our creativity is expanding creating things
we never thought would be possible. Trial and error is an important factor to
learn in order to enter this field, and in all reality no idea is a bad idea simply
more or less convenient. The competition for any job is going to be difficult
but as long as you are determined this will be easy to climb the ladder of
success until your goal is achieved.

Mariana Rodriguez
8.22.16
Period 7