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My self-study plan for electrical engineering

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Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#61

Post by ampdepolymerase »

shagie wrote: post #60
WillSlim95 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who survied a BSEE, the range is too huge. I work with digital design as my day job, I only intuitively use EE101, digital logic and computer architecture and occasionally analog when dealing with post silicon issues. The OP wants to study EE because he has a specific goal. My suggestion was that instead of trying to study everything EE focus only on those subjects that are relevant. For example: If I was…

> The OP wants to study EE because he has a specific goal. My suggestion was that instead of trying to study everything EE focus only on those subjects that are relevant. This is something that I've seen often in self study plans for software development - the "learn everything and then try to use it" rather than "learn what you need to start solving the problem... and start solving it." In software development this…

OP has a formal background in applied mathematics and is an experienced software engineer, I don't think he will have any problems with generalization.

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#62

Post by someguydave »

sleavey wrote: post #51
someguydave wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely depends on what you want to do. If you really want to design RF or analog circuits, having a mastery of undergrad EE signals and systems courses would be helpful. But if you only want to make digital logic work, you only need some basic knowledge of circuitry. EE is a vast field that encompasses everything from high power transmission to designing semiconductors. Even full course work from undergrad to…

> analog circuits Can you expand on how analog electronics benefits in particular from a formal EE education? I build analog circuits (amplifiers, filters, power supplies mostly) very frequently in my job as a physicist. We have to care about noise so I've picked up a knowledge of how to deal with it in analog circuits. Is there some other area of analog electronics that "hackers" like me might not get exposed to, co…

Probably not. I'm thinking of things like Laplace transforms and their relationship to differential equations, and stability analysis for things like amp feedback. Most of that you should have gotten academically in physics, just with a more specialized application when applying it to how you model an inductor or capacitor for instance.

But if you can design an amplifier or power supply, you probably already understand how to think of all the basic circuit elements and write down a differential equation modeling the circuit behavior.

With respect to RF, it's also a large field. In lower frequency regimes you can model everything as a lumped circuit element. As you get into higher microwave frequencies, you start needing to worry about modeling things as a distributed circuit. If you are focusing on things like antennas then you need to know more about electromagnetics. These days practicing engineers dealing with things like antennas and feedlines typically model them with computers. In some ways RF analog circuitry is disappearing as ADCs and associated digital circuitry are becoming advanced enough to swallow large bandwidth signals.

In many ways EE is pretty close to "applied physics", just focusing more on emag and less on mechanics.

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#64

Post by Avtomatk »

And why not build a team with professionals in each field? Create a cooperative.

I am currently investigating more efficient forms of study (which would imply creating a new language) for the compression of academic text (which is often very long and not very accessible to inexperienced people).

Whoever is interested in studying with me, my email is: fabricioteran06@gmail.com (I speak Spanish)

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#65

Post by krapht »

aj7 wrote: post #41
krapht wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (I'm a physicist who transitioned to working as an EE. I have never had a single EE course, and yet I find myself with no obvious deficits compared to my colleagues who have.) Not to dunk on the rest of your reply, which I agree with, but there is a humongous overlap between your typical undergraduate physics and electrical engineering degree, and I think you're able to be successful because they're so similar. Aca…

No. I disagree, and I’m a Physics SB and PhD (lasers). EE is a discipline unto itself. A stack of physicstextbooks and coursework is useless when you need to build a circuit that does what you need. Indeed, even writing down the desired circuit specs in a reasonably professional manner has zero overlap with physics.

If it's just circuit design, the difference between an EE and a physicist is 6-9 credit hours of courses. You will both share all the necessary prerequisites in mathematics (mostly Fourier analysis, linear algebra, basic statistics, and differential equations) and electromagnetics.

New graduates in EE also can't do the things you listed :)

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#66

Post by someguydave »

apcragg wrote: post #55
exmadscientist wrote: post #8

Why push yourself through a degree-style path? So much of what EEs learn in their coursework is of low utility. (I'm a physicist who transitioned to working as an EE. I have never had a single EE course, and yet I find myself with no obvious deficits compared to my colleagues who have.) There are two ways to learn an existing technical-ish subject: you can spend a lot of time reading textbooks, then do some projects…

As a practicing EE / RF comms engineer, I will say that it is very obvious when you're working with someone who thinks that their EE coursework wasn't useful for the real world.

Yeah I have run into plenty of EE's who don't understand how to model a simple filter, for instance.

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#67

Post by CalChris »

WillSlim95 wrote: post #13

I have some recommendations for you as an EE graduate, you can club Digital Circuits and Systems, Embedded Systems and Digital Hardware with one book in one continuous course with the book Digital Design and Computer Architecture by Harris and Harris (A RISC V Edition will release soon in 2-3 months, buy that one) For Electronic circuits choose Microelectronics by Behzad Razavi. Instead of Purcell go for "Engineering…

Yes, it is too broad. You should look at a school like Berkeley and look at their concentrations. Maybe RF isn’t important if you’re doing systems (unless you’re interested in RF).

https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fberkeley.box.com...

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#68

Post by cushychicken »

someguydave wrote: post #66
apcragg wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a practicing EE / RF comms engineer, I will say that it is very obvious when you're working with someone who thinks that their EE coursework wasn't useful for the real world.

Yeah I have run into plenty of EE's who don't understand how to model a simple filter, for instance.

The first interview question is always an RC filter.

It's an easy leading indicator of who has their shit together.

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#69

Post by OnlyOneCannolo »

Some of your reference materials are overkill and better suited to guided classes than self-study.

For basic circuits and electronics, I'd recommend Electronics with Professor Fiore. It's comprehensive with free lecture videos, textbooks, and lab manuals.

https://www2.mvcc.edu//users/faculty/jfiore/index.cfm

For digital, Introduction to Logic Circuits & Logic Design with Verilog by LaMeres (not free, sorry).

https://www.montana.edu/blameres/

For electromagnetism, Electromagnetics Volume 1 by Ellingson is free.

https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/84164

I don't have a signals & systems reference that I actually like and would recommend to anyone, unfortunately.

That's pretty much the core of EE. Everything else is a specialization.

Re: My self-study plan for electrical engineering

#70

Post by jacobolus »

zxexz wrote: post #12
exmadscientist wrote: post #8

Why push yourself through a degree-style path? So much of what EEs learn in their coursework is of low utility. (I'm a physicist who transitioned to working as an EE. I have never had a single EE course, and yet I find myself with no obvious deficits compared to my colleagues who have.) There are two ways to learn an existing technical-ish subject: you can spend a lot of time reading textbooks, then do some projects…

I can't recommend The Art of Electronics highly enough - it's way more intuitive and informative than any other resource on the subject I've found. It's exceptionally great when paired with the self-paced lab manual Learning the Art of Electronics[0]. [0] https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/edu/harvard-lab-kit

Unfortunately these kits are unavailable from either digikey or mouser, because they include various obsolete parts which are no longer sold.

Here's the website for the book https://learningtheartofelectronics.com

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