Jump to: Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering or Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineer designs, develops, and maintains electrical systems and components for various applications.
Electrical Engineers are responsible for designing, developing, testing, and maintaining electrical systems and components used in a wide range of industries, from power generation and distribution to electronics and telecommunications. They work on projects that involve circuit design, power systems, control systems, electronics, and more. Their role is crucial in ensuring the efficient and safe functioning of various electrical systems, and they often collaborate with other engineers and professionals to bring projects to fruition.
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Electronic engineering is concerned with the generation, transmission and processing of information and includes computers, software, transmission networks, telephones, radio, television, signal processing and optics.
They design, develop, test and maintain electronic parts and systems for application in the fields of automation, communication, navigation, military, signal processing, medical and entertainment. Some manage manufacturing processes, while others may be responsible for the marketing of products.
Electronics engineers may design, prepare and supervise designs, prepare specifications, estimates, tenders and contracts. Some are involved in establishing and monitoring performance, setting safety standards and specifying methods for modification, maintenance and repair of equipment and systems. Others may examine installations to ensure that they meet contract conditions.
They are likely to liaise with clients, other engineers, technical officers, technicians, trades people and other workers. Modern management abilities are important. Electronic engineers need to be able to participate in planning, organisation and the control of proceedings.
Some examples of applications of electronics engineering are as follows:
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Computer engineers apply the principles and techniques of computer programming, engineering, and mathematical analysis to the design, development, testing and evaluation of the software and systems that enable computers to perform their many applications. This is basically an Electronic engineering qualification with more software subjects and less engineering subjects.
Computer engineers design and develop many types of software including software for operating systems, network distribution systems and compilers, and which convert programs for faster processing. Software engineers program computers using various programs, for instance, Assembler, C++ or Java. The major part of their work is, however, developing algorithms and analysing and solving programming problems.
Computer engineers are also required to solve technical problems that arise and should therefore have a good knowledge of hardware components, for instance, microprocessors, embedded controllers, personal computers, routers and transmitters. They should also have the skills to develop the necessary software in order to implement a complete system operating on a variety of platforms, such as Windows and Linux. Because computer systems and technology are rapidly evolving, the tasks performed by a computer engineer have become more complex and specialised.
It may also involve project management - the management and delivery of a project in consultation with other members of a team. A core team may comprise engineering, marketing, manufacturing and design people who work together until the product is released. Computer engineers normally work in an office environment. Their job requires a fair amount of interaction with customers and co-workers and may require spending time away from the office in order to consult with clients at their premises.
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