Discovering Electronics Engineering

Electronics Engineering has a very wide limit. It is the combination between learning and problem solving. If you look around us, engineering is everywhere. From a simple Wrist Watch to the Space Station or Mars Robot or  Nuclear Power plants and Trains and Cars, everywhere we can find an electronic system built in.

Electronics is about "Using power to transmit or process Information". In the modern world, computers, integrated circuits, communication systems have provided a major revolution to our living standard. Well, it is definitely considered as one of the toughest engineering subjects in the world right now due to its complexity and technicality.

If you are seeking to be a good "Electronics Engineer", then you should definitely have the passion to perform in your subject. It is a vast field with lots of opportunities and you should always be clear in your mind about your goals and destinations.

The term "electronic engineering" denotes a broad engineering field that covers sub fields such as analog electronics, digital electronics, consumer electronics, embedded systems and power electronics. Electronics engineering deals with implementation of applications, principles and algorithms developed within many relates fields, for example solid-state physics, radio engineering, tele-communications, control systems, signal processing, systems engineering, computer engineering, instrumentation engineering, electric power control, robotics, and many others.

In the field of electronic engineering, engineers design and test circuits that use the electromagnetic properties of electrical components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes and transistors to achieve a particular functionality. The tuner circuit, which allows the user of a radio to filter out all but a single station, is just one example of such a circuit.

In designing an integrated circuit, electronics engineers first construct circuit schematics that specify the electrical components and describe the interconnections between them. When completed, VLSI engineers convert the schematics into actual layouts, which map the layers of various conductor and semiconductor materials needed to construct the circuit. The conversion from schematics to layout can be done by software but very often requires human fine-tuning to decrease space and power consumption. Once the layout is complete, it can be sent to a fabrication plant for manufacturing.

Integrated circuits and other electrical components can then be assembled on printed circuit boards to form more complicated circuits. Today, printed circuit boards are found in most electronic devices including televisions, computers and audio players.

Education and Training

Electronics engineers typically possess an academic degree with a major in electronic engineering. The length of such degree is four years in Nepal and the completed degree is designated as Bachelors in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Many universities including Tribhuwan University offer the Bachelor and the Master degree in this field.

The degree generally includes units covering Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Project Management, Embedded Systems, Digital Logic, etc and so on. Initially, such topics cover the most of the course and then later on the students get specialized in one or more subfields towards the end of the degree.

Project Engineering

For most engineers not involved at the cutting edge of system design and development, technical work accounts for only a fraction of the work they do. A lot of time is also spent on tasks such as discussing proposals with clients, preparing budgets and determining project schedules. Many senior engineers manage a team of technicians or other engineers and for this reason project management skills are important. Most engineering projects involve some form of documentation and strong written communication skills are therefore very important.

The workplaces of the engineers are just as varied as the types of work they do. Electronics engineers may be found in the pristine laboratory environment of a fabrication plant, the offices of a consulting firm or in a research laboratory. During their working life, electronics engineers may find themselves supervising a wide range of individuals including scientists, electricians, computer programmers and other engineers.

Obsolescence of technical skills is a serious concern for electronics engineers. Membership and participation in technical societies, regular reviews of periodicals in the field and a habit of continued learning are therefore essential to maintaining proficiency. And these are mostly used in the field of consumer electronics products.