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Civil & Environmental and Electrical Engineers Needed...

B

BehindEnemyLines

Senior member
Well, I just got accepted into both Civil & Environmental Engineering and Electrical Engineering at my university. I've until July 26th to reply of my acceptance. Now, if I choose CEE, I would probably go into Transportaiton and Construction. If EE then electronic devices (if that's a subset of EE). Please tell me of your experience with CEE or EE while studying it and your career after it - what you like, what you don't like....

CEE
It seems I understand this subject, the concepts, etc...better than EE. Jobs outlook is good in Seattle since I can apply for DOT, Sound Transit, etc...do my internship with them too.

EE
I love electronics, although I'm not too confident in my abilities to study electrical simply because it seems so abstract especially when it comes to microprocess programming and designs (if it comes to that), etc...I did really well in the basic course in analysis but that was analysis nothing more. And jobs don't seem good either in Seattle or near Seattle.
 
I am an EE major, let me make sure I understand what you mean when you say devices. Devices has a lot to do with chemistry. Its transistors, not microprocesses. Has a lot to do with JFET, MOSFET, and you talk about silicon A LOT. But this is just one out of maybe 6 or 7 ways you could go with EE. Personally, I enjoy digital more and will probably try and find a job designing chips. Also, realize if you want to make sure you get into that field specifically there is a high likelyhood you will need a masters, as in undergrad you don't go into enough detail to specialize without further school or training. If you have any other questions about EE you can PM me.

As far as I know, the civil (no ideal about env) will be more design of structures, you will study materials and all that fun stuff.
 
It depends on what you like more.

Do you like physics or electronics? Do you like solving "real world" problems directly, or using electical logic and circuitry to solve "real world" problems.
 
i'm 5th/final year EE and i am here to say with 3 summers of experience you won't use any of those fancy mathematics that we are taught. the real world is about dealing with problems and politically-correct bosses.

it's fun though, and not as hard as people make it out to be, but then again it's not that abstract to me. and there is a great thrill when you work on a circuit problem and figure it out after 3 pages. woo hoo.
 
Originally posted by: DLeRium
Come on. CEE is not even cutting edge anymore.

EE FTW!
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what the...

i didn't do civil for my undergrad but i did environmental for grad.

environmental is a lot of chemistry, biology, and math.

if you're more science oriented, enviro is the way to go.

i think it's neat that most places combine the programs but civil and environmental are pretty different (but work well together).

if you go civil, be sure to focus more on the transportation/construction classes rather than the environmental ones.
 
also, if you go into EE, you could hop onto the wave of new nuclear power that is underway. the new plants are going to much more simple than the current ones we have now. and the construction of the new plants is where you learn the most and make some good money but... that's only if you do the power side of EE.
 
Originally posted by: thepd7
I am an EE major, let me make sure I understand what you mean when you say devices. Devices has a lot to do with chemistry. Its transistors, not microprocesses. Has a lot to do with JFET, MOSFET, and you talk about silicon A LOT. But this is just one out of maybe 6 or 7 ways you could go with EE. Personally, I enjoy digital more and will probably try and find a job designing chips. Also, realize if you want to make sure you get into that field specifically there is a high likelyhood you will need a masters, as in undergrad you don't go into enough detail to specialize without further school or training. If you have any other questions about EE you can PM me.

As far as I know, the civil (no ideal about env) will be more design of structures, you will study materials and all that fun stuff.
Click to expand...

No, devices would deal more with physics than chemistry. It would only deal with chemistry if you're talking about some of the fabrication processes, but I would be surprised if you go into chemistry in an undergraduate EE semiconductor fabrication course beyond just general talk of chemistry involved.

If you specialize in Devices, you would probably be going for a position such as Failure Analysis, Product Engineering, Device Engineer, etc. There are some semiconductor companies in the Seattle area like Cypress Semiconductor and some others, but it's not a big hotspot.

I'm guessing that a Devices specialization at the undergraduate level would be all the usual courses plus semiconductor physics, fabrication, and a basic VLSI design course. But really, you don't specialize TOO much as an undergrad. You'll probably still take the regular stuff like digital design, DSP, etc. so you'll be qualified for many types of positions.
 
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: thepd7
I am an EE major, let me make sure I understand what you mean when you say devices. Devices has a lot to do with chemistry. Its transistors, not microprocesses. Has a lot to do with JFET, MOSFET, and you talk about silicon A LOT. But this is just one out of maybe 6 or 7 ways you could go with EE. Personally, I enjoy digital more and will probably try and find a job designing chips. Also, realize if you want to make sure you get into that field specifically there is a high likelyhood you will need a masters, as in undergrad you don't go into enough detail to specialize without further school or training. If you have any other questions about EE you can PM me.

As far as I know, the civil (no ideal about env) will be more design of structures, you will study materials and all that fun stuff.
Click to expand...

No, devices would deal more with physics than chemistry. It would only deal with chemistry if you're talking about some of the fabrication processes, but I would be surprised if you go into chemistry in an undergraduate EE semiconductor fabrication course beyond just general talk of chemistry involved.

I'm guessing that a Devices specialization at the undergraduate level would be all the usual courses plus semiconductor physics, fabrication, and a basic VLSI design course.
Click to expand...

QFT, we only talked about holes and electrons, not the chemistry involved in fabrication.
 
Realistically, what kind of job positions would an Electrical Engineer get with a Bachelor rather than Master or PhD? I'm more interested in designing of electronic circuits (which branch of EE would do this?), but honestly I think it would require at least a Master Degree to do design and research. What are the possible branches of EE and how do they compare to each other?

If I go into Civil, then Transportation/Construction is first choice.
 
also, remember that civil engineers sometimes have to work in that scary place....called 'outside'

here's something to try to help you decide...check the job postings (paper, online, etc), and see what companies are hiring, how many, if job descriptions sound interesting, variety of locations, etc. I found that very motivating when I was in school.
 
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: thepd7
I am an EE major, let me make sure I understand what you mean when you say devices. Devices has a lot to do with chemistry. Its transistors, not microprocesses. Has a lot to do with JFET, MOSFET, and you talk about silicon A LOT. But this is just one out of maybe 6 or 7 ways you could go with EE. Personally, I enjoy digital more and will probably try and find a job designing chips. Also, realize if you want to make sure you get into that field specifically there is a high likelyhood you will need a masters, as in undergrad you don't go into enough detail to specialize without further school or training. If you have any other questions about EE you can PM me.

As far as I know, the civil (no ideal about env) will be more design of structures, you will study materials and all that fun stuff.
Click to expand...

No, devices would deal more with physics than chemistry. It would only deal with chemistry if you're talking about some of the fabrication processes, but I would be surprised if you go into chemistry in an undergraduate EE semiconductor fabrication course beyond just general talk of chemistry involved.

I'm guessing that a Devices specialization at the undergraduate level would be all the usual courses plus semiconductor physics, fabrication, and a basic VLSI design course.
Click to expand...

QFT, we only talked about holes and electrons, not the chemistry involved in fabrication.
Click to expand...

It'll depend on what courses are offered. For example, we have a course specifically designed for device fabrication in which students will fabricate a chip of their own design. That means they will talk extensively about the chemistry of fabrication. There is also a more theoretical device course, which is more physics-oriented, talking about majority and minority carriers, band gaps, tunneling, and so on.
 
I'm in civil, starting third year soon. It's definately one of the easier ones, but I love the balance of physics and chemistry. Lucky I didn't (couldn't) go mechanical since I stink at dynamics. Found out how much I hate chemistry, but I love learning about concrete and statics. Go with what you like or find interesting.
 
I am a recent graduate of Civil Engineering. I concentrated on the Transportation side of CE and enjoyed it. I currently work at the Iowa Department of Transportation. Common jobs that I can think of off the top of my head with a CE degree would be for DOT?s, contractors, and possibly architectural firms. Of course, with architectural firms that would be more on the Structural side of CE.

I went to Iowa State University and I don?t know about your program, but we were able to take several electives in other areas of engineering if we wanted. Whichever route you choose, I would recommend taking classes in the other discipline if possible. This would help in determining which you liked better. And I would guess most Universities are like here in that the first year of classes is almost identical in the different engineering curriculums so you could start as one or the other or as engineering undecided and switch when you made up your mind.

Also, if you want to get licensed, it doesn?t actually matter what your degree is in. Although my degree was in CE, I could have taken any of the FE examinations that I wanted, including a general one. I believe I have pretty much the same option at the PE level but I am not sure on that at the moment. I hope that helps and if you have any other questions feel free to PM me.
 
because CEE is lame. EE is more hardcore.

lets put it this way:

all EEs can become CEEs, but not all CEEs canbecome EEs.

btw, i am EE.
 
I'm an EE, switched from CompE. EE is huge. Looking at the starting salaries of Civil Engineers I wouldn't bother.

Computer Engineering
processor architecture, bus architectures, data paths/pipelines, threading, multi-threaded architecture, scalar/super scalar architecures
vlsi (gates and logic unit schematic layout) vhdl (hardware prototyping)
embedded systems/processors microcontrollers pdas

Analog Electronics
This is very saturated. Here you will be talking about microelectronic circuits, amplifiers, filters speakers, audio amps. Or electronics devices down to the silicon level.
This segues into semiconductor devices

Semiconductor Devices
Very physics based. FET, BJT MOS technologies. Laying out gates in silicon, understanding silicon doping understanding ic fabrication processes


RF/Optical/Emag
These are emag intensive. Antenna design, microwave energy, wireless trancievers, optic fibers,

Digital Signal Processing
I think the money is here. GaTech's DSP is the bomb diggity. It's communications theory. Statistical analysis of signals.
compression, encryption image processing, image recognition, DIVX, XVID, MPEG, MP3, CDMA, GSM TDMA, GPS if you're talking
about electronic data and how to send it from one place to another this is where its at.

Systems and Controls
This is the older more analog version of DSP. This is where robotics, automation, power generators, motor control, ABS breaking,
inertial input navigation, stability analysis, lots of mathematical modeling of physical systems (industrial ovens, turbines, robotic arms, etc..)
some of this is required for...

Power Systems
3 phase, complex power, transmission lines, industrial energy, power systems control, power grid routing, safety. storage etc...

Networking/Communications
TCP/IP firewalls, hacking, routing, then cell phone networks cdma gsm technologies...

I will pm you a link to better descriptions that our undergrad site has. You can either survey all/some of these, I would recommend that you keep them all
in mind till your junior year, survey the ones you like then and specialize you senior year.

I started as a CompE switched to EE and combined embedded systems/microcontrollers and Systems and control. I regret not having done DSP since it's one
of Tech's strong suites. In any case I'm looking into industrial manufacturing controls. Electronic control of physical processes, ovens, robots, motors, valves etc..
I would like to do differential gps and fine tuning that with accelerometers/gyros for unmanned aircraft controls. Helicopter stability systems, automated aircraft controls.
Missile guidance/stabiltity etc... That will be down the road.

At first I was interested in electronic gadget design too. You'll find its fun to tinker yourself but to do something more substantial with your degree and save tinkering
for you own enjoyment. But if you do end up going that direction do embedded systems and maybe analog electronics.
 
I'd say if you are interested in Nuclear Energy be a ChemE. I wouldn't do NukeE since its too specialized. Also read the current reports regarding Brittan's removal of subsidize Nuke Power Generation.
As a whole Nuke Energy is less efficient that other renewable methods. I have a feeling it might be falling out of favor.
 
I'm a CE graduate (2001, structural emphasis) who just passed the PE exam. For all the CE haters thinking CE is easy, you've obviously never had to do advanced structural design for wind/earthquake loads on multi-story buildings that meet all the current codes. 😉
 
Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I'm a CE graduate (2001, structural emphasis) who just passed the PE exam. For all the CE haters thinking CE is easy, you've obviously never had to do advanced structural design for wind/earthquake loads on multi-story buildings that meet all the current codes. 😉
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guess who make those simulation programs.
 
totally offtopic:


why a mechanical engineer is better than a civil engineer?

A mechanical engineer makes missiles, a civil engineer makes targets.
 
Originally posted by: esun
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: thepd7
I am an EE major, let me make sure I understand what you mean when you say devices. Devices has a lot to do with chemistry. Its transistors, not microprocesses. Has a lot to do with JFET, MOSFET, and you talk about silicon A LOT. But this is just one out of maybe 6 or 7 ways you could go with EE. Personally, I enjoy digital more and will probably try and find a job designing chips. Also, realize if you want to make sure you get into that field specifically there is a high likelyhood you will need a masters, as in undergrad you don't go into enough detail to specialize without further school or training. If you have any other questions about EE you can PM me.

As far as I know, the civil (no ideal about env) will be more design of structures, you will study materials and all that fun stuff.
Click to expand...

No, devices would deal more with physics than chemistry. It would only deal with chemistry if you're talking about some of the fabrication processes, but I would be surprised if you go into chemistry in an undergraduate EE semiconductor fabrication course beyond just general talk of chemistry involved.

I'm guessing that a Devices specialization at the undergraduate level would be all the usual courses plus semiconductor physics, fabrication, and a basic VLSI design course.
Click to expand...

QFT, we only talked about holes and electrons, not the chemistry involved in fabrication.
Click to expand...

It'll depend on what courses are offered. For example, we have a course specifically designed for device fabrication in which students will fabricate a chip of their own design. That means they will talk extensively about the chemistry of fabrication. There is also a more theoretical device course, which is more physics-oriented, talking about majority and minority carriers, band gaps, tunneling, and so on.
Click to expand...

The guy claimed that the device side is chemistry based when it isn't. I took a course like that when I was in grad school, and I would still be surprised if an undergrad fabrication course geared towards EEs has in depth chemistry involved.
 
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