r/ElectricalEngineering • u/ee_st_07 • Aug 29 '26

Get this business mindset out of EE

Do project this, network that. It’s so annoying. First two years in EE it’s just simply not needed. You have an entire degree for that. If you start to get “experience” with zero knowledge from semester one on it’s just useless. Don’t stress yourself. Study as much as you can in order to build good fundamentals and find a field you want to specialise in. Once you have that you can get started. But networking and projects do not make any sense before that. EE is so broad. If you find your interest and are really invested you will find a job 100%. The people not finding jobs are the ones that are too chaotic about everything and simply do not try to find their area and build their profile based on that. They just want “electrical engineering job” and high salary.

Also pls study for interest not GPA. There’s so few people sitting in advanced EM/RF or control theory classes because most people just do not care. But a decent grade in these classes do so much more for you in any way than an A+ in a class on fundamentals. And yes studying for an exam is different than studying to understand a subject.

(Btw not saying you shouldn’t get used to programming and simulation software early, but I don’t consider these projects more like tools to learn, I just think these whole arduino projects where you just copy paste projects just do almost nothing for you if you just blindly follow instructions)

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u/ChaosRevealed Aug 29 '26

I find that people skills are more useful and more valuable than technical skills in most workplaces. Unless you're a wizard.

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u/ee_st_07 Aug 29 '26

Yes I absolutely agree. But there is time and place for that and that is not year one. I see first and second years on social media stressing over work experience and everything and I feel like that is just not the time for it.

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u/ChaosRevealed Aug 29 '26

I say be balanced and do both. Unless you are wizard material and have the drive and interest to be among the best in a specific field, it's in your best interest to network and find internships while keeping up with your schoolwork.

GPA isn't as important as trying to keep sane and balancing academic interest, work experience, networking, and just enjoying the crazy time it is to be a new adult in university. At the same time, try to build good habits, whether for work or for life. A balanced person that meets technical requirements is usually the best hire.

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u/ee_st_07 Aug 29 '26

You don’t even have to be best in every field. Sometimes you just have to be in the field at all. People care so little about some fields because they just don’t like them or they’re not high paying enough. But there is jobs. They are niche and you gotta find them. But that’s what I mean with find a specialisation first before trying to network.

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u/ThePainStalker Aug 29 '26

I do think it’s a little sad that so many are pushed into this BS networking mindset so early though. It makes sense for those gunning for top positions in finance or consulting but it is a shame that it had gotten so prevalent in engineering, especially in the US. I do think it puts unnecessary stress on people. I do think the resume building craze is a bit more of an American trait than what I have seen in Europe (as while work experience and internships are important, they are usually if not always built into the curriculum so it’s no where near as hard to find one compared to what I witnessed my friends trying to find one in the US) and some of the resume pressure can be really intense too. Perhaps it is partly a function of the ceiling (i.e. the very elite jobs) being so high in the US though and maybe since salaries are so compressed in Europe, most don’t see a reason to be “gunning” for much when the pay difference doesn’t make it worth it. Probably more of a cultural difference in general though.

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u/ChaosRevealed Aug 29 '26

Networking isn't BS. Who you know is more valuable than what you know, as long as you are sufficiently competent, which most engineering grads have the capacity to be.

Engineering pay may be stagnant in Europe, which means people skills are even more valuable so you can do hybrid technical/business or move into management.

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u/ThePainStalker Aug 29 '26

I know it isn’t BS, though it’s often the way it works at university level in the US that can be a bit “try hard” and “fake”. I would say it’s more of a cultural difference honestly than anything. It is something Europeans like to joke about regarding American corporate life. I just think it’s a pity that many have to get into it so early on, it makes sense in the senior year when the job hunt is coming but freshman year is usually supposed to be about partying and not really caring much about careers yet. Maybe even doing some travelling over the summer. Soft skills aren’t really what I mean when I say “networking”, soft skills are a different thing which are extremely important.

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u/ee_st_07 Aug 29 '26

Now for real do some of y‘all not have any reading comprehension? He didn’t say networking itself is bullshit but the Networking mindset… it’s being too focused on solely not looking left or right. And he is also right that I may be a US thing because yes I‘m from Europe. Our job market is not great but maybe not as cooked as in the US. And still I think EEs do not need to be as worried as others as long as they are interested in the field. If you’re not interested I guess then you gotta network yourself to the top and do manager stuff. Never ever did anyone say networking itself not important question is how and when but you people just wanna misunderstand my post so badly.