Live data from Hacker News

Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

theregister.com

471–480 of 536 posts

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#471
Am one of the black sheep of my Electrical Engineering batch who moved to software. Why? The steep learning curve that involved loads of memorization of long formulae and static values which sucked for someone like me.

An easier, and more forgiving entry path based on self-learning ("hack my way through") in software development as compared to the entry barriers of EE - especially in India where Oscilloscopes and other equipment were crazy expensive some decades ago.

20% of my batch has moved to software over the last 25 years, compensation being one key factor.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CS degree holder here who had many CE/EE friends who switched from CE/EE to CS (Rutgers University). One thing that used to blow my mind was the difference between logical circuit design in CS vs CE/EE. E.g. if the task was "Build a circuit to do X logic using these components AND, OR, XOR etc" - In CS, it was " Please use the common shapes for each component" - In CE/EE, it was "Please use the EXACT part code for EA…

It's not 'looking up the part code' it's identifying components that have level and drive compatibility, fanout and timing requirements met, acceptable internal and parasitic inductance/capacitance/resistance. Checking if the nets are still theoretically a wire and not a transmission line, that ringing isn't degrading intended application, that the final output of the logic can actually drive the output of the logic…

Do individual logic gates even have part numbers anymore? In my EE labs in college we had FPGA’s.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#473

As it almost always goes: pay people better. Deep down, we know capitalism doesn’t really work and we’re stuck playing this stupid game for now, and that means individuals have to look out for their own bottom line. If EE wants better supply, they must pay more.

>Deep down, we know capitalism doesn’t really work

It doesn't? Do you have any examples of anything proven to work better? I don't remember feudalism being very good at promoting specialization of labor.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#474

In a software engineer. My cousin is an electrical engineer working at a large power distribution firm. For all intents and purposes his job is absolutely critical to society. I basically fumble around and do a few projects for my clients. I get paid several times more than him. I am happy for myself but it makes no sense to me how society is mispricing our work.

>In a software engineer. My cousin is an electrical engineer working at a large power distribution firm. >For all intents and purposes his job is absolutely critical to society. I basically fumble around and do a few projects for my clients. >I get paid several times more than him.

If your cousin and all his fellow power EEs quit for software jobs, how would this affect the pay for these EE positions?

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#475

I will just add to the chorus here: * I graduated as a Computer Engineer. * Worked as EE/EEE entire career (currently almost 14 years). * Half of my class of EEs and CEs went into other careers immediately after graduation because money was better. * 10 years later my best conservative estimate (based on sampling from friends from my year) is that at least another quarter has left because money. * I have mainly worke…

I don’t understand how the market dynamics work here. As a software engineer, I feel like the market is flooded with workers, and that it is an easy job. I have no idea how we’ve managed to sustain these salaries for so long. At some point, I keep expecting a correction in salaries simply due to supply / demand. I also keep thinking, surely other industries will start paying more and treating folks better, so they ca…

I see this from the business side. The reason is that growth continues to outpace supply. Software and technology are high growth industries and there aren't enough experienced workers to fill all the new positions opening.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not 'looking up the part code' it's identifying components that have level and drive compatibility, fanout and timing requirements met, acceptable internal and parasitic inductance/capacitance/resistance. Checking if the nets are still theoretically a wire and not a transmission line, that ringing isn't degrading intended application, that the final output of the logic can actually drive the output of the logic…

Do individual logic gates even have part numbers anymore? In my EE labs in college we had FPGA’s.

Here's a 4 channel OR gate

https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/...

But my logic labs were also done on FPGAs.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#477
I've read through half of the comments and still didn't read the most obvious reasons why SE or CS is much more in demand:

* You can change software much faster than hardware

* You can customize software exactly to your needs in hours, depending on the skill of the SE even in minutes

* You can use hardware in ways beyond the initial purpose by changing the software

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#478

EE spent so many years making sure everyone knew it's impossibly hard, the professors eat their young, etc. I've seen this in other professions where the incumbents desperately want to impose, in actuality, the uphill-both-ways life story they believe they endured. And then they are shocked when the young peace out. The military, and their insanely rigorous special warfare training. The medical profession in general.…

I did EE and I thought it was not difficult AT ALL - like nowhere near what the reputation is. The thing is I went to a shit university, did end up putting in a lot of time studying so that I could graduate top of my class (which I did) because I stupidly though this would help me stand out. I could have coasted by with significantly less work, there were people I helped out who honestly should have been failed out - barely understood basic circuits in 3rd year. I think the department was desperate to hold onto students and so nothing was made too tough. As I said shit school. In the end I currently do "embedded" programming (all just embedded Linux not even bare metal). I really regret the whole thing - I should have done something completely different finance, actuary. EE is a completely stupid field. To have a "serious" EE career now you need a PhD or at the very least a MS.

Despite graduating top-of-my-class and honestly have a very good command of the material at the time, I graduated having ZERO skills in electrical engineering. I went the software route basically because its something I could pick up and learn and get work with, what the FUCK was I supposed to do with my "skills" solving textbook problems? As I said it was a shit school where the courses didn't involve nearly enough project work to build real skills.

The only people I know who went on to do legitimate EE stuff got a masters. Not sure how they are doing. I realized by the end of the degree I had zero passion for this shit, I wouldn't even know what I would want to specialize in. The only courses I found interesting were control theory and signal processing somewhat. I though the actual electronics courses blew.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget low level embedded programmers, Kernel developers, and many who live in the world of coding in C/ASM. I recall numerous instances in my undergraduate career where professors and the students passionate in these fields would actively persuade people who didn't get exposes to the stuff from even trying. I remember one professor teaching an elective class on the Linux kernel and how he would try his best to…

We are currently having a hell of a time trying to hire embedded developers We're looking for bare metal developers so basic SPI, I2C, UART knowledge is essential, but even in that realm it's surprising how many embedded devs can't work outside of an RTOS and lack basic hardware knowledge

I've been sending lots of resumes out to companies for embedded jobs since I'm looking for something new. I currently do embedded Linux but my education was EE so hardware isn't mysterious to me. Never-the-less I just get constant rejections, so not sure how desperate these employers are.

Re: Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

#480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, I have this experience burned in my skull. My backwardish university, where I started 1999, had SW engineering degree only available on their Faculty of electro engineering and informatics. Historically it has been EE through and through, CE was just an relatively new addition and you could see it on classes. Even on CE, we had for first 2 years tons of absolutely mandatory EE courses which had 0 relevance to sof…

Sounds like TUKE (or any other uni in Slovakia). I've studied Cybernetics/AI there from 2008. Your comment is eerily familiar to me, even though I don't think I attended a course with the professor.

Yes good? old TUKE. The guy's name is Jan Dudas. I can see on wiki he is prosecuted for denying holocaust... not that surprised to be honest, he was extreme
Post reply on HN