Electrical engineers work on a variety of projects, such as computers, robots, cell phones, cards, radars, navigation systems, wiring and lighting in buildings and other kinds of electrical systems.
Electrical engineers start out a project by defining what a new electronics should be able to do. They will then design the circuits and parts of the electronics using a computer. They will create a prototype and test the product to improve it. Most products do not work initially or have some bugs that need to be fixed. The electrical engineer needs to figure out the problem and make the product work.
There are many sub-disciplines of electrical engineering. Some electrical engineers specialize exclusively in one sub-discipline, while others specialize in a combination of sub-disciplines. The most popular sub-disciplines are:
Electronic Engineer
- deals with electronic circuits such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors and diodes
Microelectronics Engineer
- deals with design and micro-fabrication of tiny electronic circuit components
Signal Processing Engineer
- deals with signals, such as analog or digital signals
Power Engineer
- deals with electricity and design of related electrical devices such as transformers, generators, motors and power electronics
Control Engineer
- deals with design of controllers that cause systems to behave in a certain way, using micro-controllers, programmable logic controllers, digital signal processors and electrical circuits.
Telecommunications Engineer
- deals with transmission of information via a cable or optical fiber
Instrumentation Engineer
- deals with the design of measuring devices for pressure, flow and temperature. This involves a deep understanding of physics
Computer Engineer
- deals with the design of computers and computer hardware
