EE Career oriented question

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum and was hoping to get some insight</p>

<p>I’m an EE undergrad with ~1.5 years remaining. I’m at a co-op school so tack on another .5 - 1 year. I’ve already done an engineering co-op at a top networking company where I enjoyed the atmosphere of working with engineers (laid back, flexible schedule - as long as deadlines and schedules are maintained). I want to get technical experience and then move into management, then executive.</p>

<p>For that “technical experience”, I want to work in the clean energy industry developing solutions to oil dependency. I’m interested in areas of energy harvesting such as solar, wind, tidal, vibrational. I’m also interested in how materials can be used for these purposes, such as nanophosphate technology for lithium-ion batteries, how energy conversion is optimized in photovoltaics, and so on. I’d also want to work with taking these technologies and developing them into systems that can be used/commercialized. I believe that the real innovations in energy solutions will come from optimizations that require deep knowledge of chemistry and physics rather than “electrical engineering”.</p>

<p>I’ve looked at jobs postings from corporations as well as start-ups for college undergraduates and recent grads - electrical engineering jobs do not seem very attractive.</p>

<p>I feel that a materials degree would be more appropriate for me, but my school doesn’t offer that and I’m pretty close to my EE degree… </p>

<p>How does someone get into research & development? Would graduate/masters be required? I want to be paid to do research and have a company reimburse me if I were to go for a masters rather than to pay for it like I am doing with my undergrad degree.</p>

<p>Any thoughts appreciated!</p>

2

<p>In order to be deeply involved in research, it is likely that you would need to get a Ph.D. That is a long road but, on the positive side, you could easily apply and enter a materials science or engineering program with an Electrical Engineering degree. When it comes to research the lines between disciplines tends to be blurred. While you won’t earn a lot of money in a Ph.D. program, it is enough to live on and since tuition is paid for, you won’t go into debt for the degree.</p>

<p>If that is not the path you wish to take, then try to fill any elective courses you have with those which will give you the background you seek to get into the field once you graduate. Once you are in the right field, you can see what the best path might be for you to have the career you want. It might be a masters paid for by your employer, or you might leave work and get that Ph.D. after all.</p>