According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Electric/Electronic is the third largest specialty in the engineering field with 214,000, behind Civil (278,000) and mechanical (238,000). Growth in the field should be steady with the Bureau estimating a need for 11% more between now and 2018. While the general public gets the terms mixed up, there is a key difference between Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Electric Engineers focus primarily on power generation, such as power plants and transmission infrastructure. Electronic Engineering concerns itself more with end products ranging from computers to iPods. What the two STEM professions do share in common are very bright futures.
The field then subdivides into eight primary areas: Power, control, electronics, microelectronics, signal, telecommunications, instrumentation and, probably the fastest growing of the areas, computers. There’s also one very popular cross discipline called mechatronics that combines mechanical and electronic engineering.
The first step in becoming either type is a Bachelor’s degree. While one can enter the field from there, sooner or later the young engineer is going to need certification. Obtaining this can be done through professional groups such as the Institute of Electric/Electronic Engineers, which can easily be accessed through the Web.
On the plus side, financial aid for high school students is a lot more common than in other occupational tracks. According to the Bureau, the lowest 10% of electrical engineers make slightly over $52,000, with electronic engineers upping the ante to over $55,000 and computer hardware engineers nearing $60,000.
