What to specialize in as an engineer?

[pepillo]

Finding your way?

I'm a baby in electronics world. I'm 22 years old, i'm finishing my electronics engineer/physics studies next year. I'm begining to learn about hardware layout, MMIC simulation&design, microcontrollers, and so on. What could i expect from my future as an engineer? I mean, should i begin specializing my skills, or should i continue to grow all my skills in a more general field?
I love hardware design for the moment, MMICs are great too. Do you recommend me to become (or at least try to) a device engineer or an application engineer?
What topics should a good engineer master in order to keep himself employed?
Is the world of electronics so hostile as i have heard?
Please open my eyes!
Pepillo.

 

[flatulent]

Re: Finding your way?

There are long term cycles of supply-demand mismatch. This is true of many professions.

Thirty years ago dentists were having trouble finding customers, now they are not.

Engineers are now in surplus and it will take some years before the equilibrium point is reached.

 

[pepillo]

Re: Finding your way?

Do you think it's better to specialize or to learn a bit of everything? In order to keep yourself employed.
I think the deal is wether the companies are looking for senior engineers or we beginers have got an opportunity to enter this business.

 

[flatulent]

Re: Finding your way?

Under the present conditions, employers are generally looking for people with years of experience in the speciality they need for a new product.

I would suggest to everyone in school are just graduated to get a more advanced degree if they have the time and money.

Things are so bad in chemistry that you need a Ph.D. from a famous school and years of postdoctoral research at another famous school to get a job interview.

As far as your question about general-specialized knowledge, I think that you should do both. Learn a little more about everything and a whole lot about what interests you the most.

These cycles are caused by many things. The dental one was from fluoride tooth paste that drastically cut down the number of cavities.

The engineering one was caused by the shortage of infants from 1030-1945 due to depression and war. The drastic increase of infants after the war is rippling through society. When they graduated from engineering schools there was a surplus that caused the 1970 "engineering depression." There was another "engineering depression" around 1990. 1990 and 2000 were caused by an oscillation due to time delay in the feedback loop of public knowledge verses reality. There is a four year queue in school and a few years of queue of people planning on getting into engineering that get put out onto the job market when there is a surplus of engineers. This seven years of queue keep going on an make the surplus even greater. Then the public gets knowledge of the problem and there are fewer people who go to engineering schools. The bump in the population from after the war is now 60 years of age or less. These engineers will start retiring in a few years which will produce a shortage of engineers and they cycle will start again.

 

[Naveed Alam]

Re: Finding your way?

hii..
choose field according to ur choices and likings, but
REMEMBER..according to my experience, u must be not be naroow-banded from now..b/c
in Bachelors... u studies are general
in masters.....u are a bit narrow-band
in Ph. D........u are master of a particular thing, or field..

in practical life..when u r afresh engineer, no one asks u about practical field.. just want to know about ur theoratical knowledge....
Regards