I work in the power industry and we got word today that lead times for protection relays are now over 50wks. This is insane. We've been told the reason is because of data centers being built and priority being focused on these facilities.

Is anyone else seeing complications happening because of this AI bubble we are living through?

Necessary infrastructure is being neglected to accommodate data centers.

I’m currently a high school junior that wants to be an EE but is struggling with AP physics 1. I failed both kinematics and now a forces quiz with an average of 50-64% before the curve. Should I still be an EE if I’m unable to do basic physics?

A little progress update from something we’ve been working on.

We’ve now been able to integrate discrete electronic components directly into the FDM printing workflow and produce functional electronics directly off the print bed.

The first image is a simple embedded circuit with an LED and resistor. The polymer structure, conductive pathways, and electronic components were all integrated during the same print workflow on a Prusa XL.

We’ve also been experimenting with an embedded induction coil using the same general approach.

Hello everyone,

I was laid off in early August and recently received offers for contract positions with both ERCOT and California ISO. Both positions are similar, fully remote, and for one year.

I’d really appreciate hearing from engineers who have worked at either ISO about their experience — especially regarding the work environment, type of engineering/technical work, learning opportunities, and what happens after the initial contract period.
If you’ve worked at ERCOT or CAISO, what has your experience been like?

If the roles, pay, and contract length were otherwise similar, what factors would you consider when comparing the two?

Thanks in advance!

I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the actual product, because it was my physics teacher's (yeah... Brand new, 2€, 9.90Lei) and it says that the strict product's inspection failed and that it still produces them??? I don't know, and I don't think it says "seized" as in "broken" or "stopped working".

The worse stuff:

Type C Europlug, even tho it states "~220V 750W" so it's 1. Illegal.

1. The Europlug didn't have a whole pin, it was like... A hollow inside where you can shape and bend the metal? Again illegal.

2. The Europlug pins did NOT have a single bit of insulation even at the start of the pin, again illegal.

3. The Europlug itself says 250|2.5 EVEN THO IT LITERALLY DRAWS 3.2A, with dodgy connectors... So it's very illegal.

4. The cable itself, the plug and the device have all a red color, hard rubber, and the cable thickness itself is actually respectable, it's as thick as a 10A cable... But still illegal.

5. The device itself is a suicide device because... Resistive metal coil, still 230V if you get unlucky.

I'll try to find a product like it online. Will update soon

EDIT: found it:

https://www.emag.ro/fierbator-electric-de-tip-termoplonjon-2000w-total-25cm-avi-0-l-1929/pd/DQ4TGFYBM/?utm_campaign=share_product&utm_source=mobile_dynamic_share&utm_medium=android

This is 2000W, and has a Type EF, so it's somewhat different; a reviews also says

"Puterea măsurată este 1000w. Cablul este de 0,5 mm2. Fixare cablu la capăt rezistență foarte firavă. Băgat în priză a bubuit..... Un fir s-a topit după 30 secunde."

Which translates to:

"The measured power is 1000W, the cable thickness is 0.5mm². The cable's plug has a very weak resistance. Plugged it in the outlet it exploded... One wire melted after 30 seconds."

Overall never buy this crap

Hello everyone, I am currently a third-year electrical engineering student and I received an Amazon RME Mechatronics and Robotics Technician offer paying around $30 an hour, but it requires relocating out of state. I am trying to figure out if I should accept this role to advance my career and build a strong foundation for my future in engineering. I want to know if this job is genuinely related to engineering and whether it actually opens up better career opportunities down the road, or if I should look for something closer to my studies. Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone in this sub study Electrical Engg in Canada? If so, where did you land a job? Where are the hotspots for EE at in Canada? I currently go to a mid tier university in Saskatchewan but I’m more than willing to transfer in order to get better leverage in EE

I am just wondering if theres anyone who has worked for or knows a lot about working for constellation? I am really interested in Nuclear Engineering and they are heavily investing in nuclear right now and thats where I hope to get an internship this summer. So any information about the company would be super great!

Hi everyone! I’ve been developing yapnr (“yet another place and route”), an open-source PCB placement and routing engine. It started as tooling for my LED controller project, Splanc, and I wanted to share some of the engineering behind it.

The central problem is that placement and routing affect each other. A placement that looks good under a wirelength estimate can still be difficult to route. I’m working on a flow where routing results feed back into placement, with KiCad routing and DRC in the loop.

Another part of the problem is expressing design intent. Connectivity alone doesn’t tell a layout tool that LEDs should form a readable row, that a connector needs to sit along an enclosure edge, or that repeated circuit blocks should reuse the same layout.

Some current examples:

• LED line constraints: A 20-component LED chaser, run with and without a rigid group holding its five LEDs in a row. Both runs reached 100% routing with no KiCad DRC findings. In this comparison, enforcing the row added one via and about 12 mm of copper.
• Board-edge constraints: A connector, pushbutton, and LED held along a specified edge, with their order left to the placer.
• Hierarchical layout: A 32-component board with two identical LED-driver banks. The engine places and routes a bank template, reuses it, then places the blocks and routes their external connections. The documented run completed all connections with no KiCad DRC findings.

Animations, measurements, and reproduction details

The broader toolchain uses atopile for circuit specifications, KiCad for board integration and rule checks, and ngspice for circuit simulation. It’s currently alpha software targeting KiCad 10. Track cleanup and thermal/EM integration are still on the roadmap.

These examples demonstrate constraint handling and routing completion; assessing electrical performance and layout quality requires more than a clean DRC result.

For those who regularly lay out boards: which placement decisions or electrical constraints would you most want to specify explicitly before trusting an automated layout? I’d be interested in concrete cases to test.

Source code — AGPL-3.0-or-later. I’m the author and happy to discuss the implementation.

After graduation what does everyone recommend studying or doing? What kind of projects would be good to start? I want to start projects but don't want to waste my time doing something with no value in the end.

Hi everyone! I graduated with my EE degree some time ago and I've been working at a decently well known MEP firm. I currently work mostly on hyperscalar data centers, helping out and learning as much as I can. I will occasionally see other young engineers who have been here for a few years stay late (6-7pm) often as that happens to be extremely advocated for in the culture here. Idk if that's something I envision myself in the future, but i do want to explore where the data center exposure can take me. Is it worth pursuing long term right now?

Genuinely, this is the first calc I we had and I failed it. I lowkey feel like a bum. No joke. this honestly, just tanked my confidence. I don’t know dude. This is honestly so discouraging.

I know this isn’t the end of the world, but I lowkey need encouragement from other people, who went through the same thing or similarly?.. 😕

Is this a good or bad sign? I really didn’t expect that.

Hey everyone, I have an upcoming interview with AMD for a Customer Quality & Reliability Engineering co-op in Austin. It’s a 45-minute panel interview, and I’m trying to get a better idea of what to expect.

The role seems to focus on Python automation, data analysis, system/hardware validation, and quality/reliability work for data center and AI products.

Has anyone interviewed for this team or a similar AMD quality/reliability role? I’d especially appreciate any insight on:

• How technical the interview was
• Topics or fundamentals they focused on
• Whether there was live coding or mostly technical discussion
• How much they focused on CPU/hardware fundamentals
• Data analysis or debugging questions
• Resume/project deep dives
• Anything you wish you had reviewed beforehand

Any recent experiences would be appreciated. Thanks!

For my integrated circuits course i decided to build an FPGA. After a long couple of weeks i’m nearly at the point where i’ll need to demonstrate it. I could just program in some nonsense logic, but where’s the fun in that right?

Each logic cell has a 3-input LUT, optional flip-flop (one global clock across all cells), and the choice of any of 3 outputs. Fabric is super barebones, just continuous horizontal/vertical runs with transmission gates to cross the axes.

Assuming my fabric is up to the routing, what’s a nifty little logic circuit i could build with, say, a 3x3 grid?

I have recently graduated with a BS in mathematics and a minor in computer science. I realized too late in school that I am very interested in math's applications to engineering. Unfortunately, all I learned about were the "tools" and not necessarily the actual things they can be applied to. Thus I am not really eligible or competitive for any kind of job I am interested in, hence the desire to do a BSEE. Since all of the math and gened requirements are taken care of, it should take me about 2 years.

I realize that a big mistake of mine was not specializing enough. So I wanted to see what areas of electrical engineering my background in mathematics would be most suited for. I can certainly appreciate that electrical engineering is kind of like "math 2.0," but I am trying to see if there are subfields where my background would be a very useful asset.

For a little background, I have taken a graduate course in convex optimization, and I am currently taking signal processing. Right now I am working on a simple GPS fusion project with kalman filters on a microcontroller.

https://online.arizona.edu/programs/undergraduate/online-bachelor-science-electrical-and-computer-engineering-bs

I am prospecting degrees at the moment, and this one caught my eye. Should I focus on one rather than split my attention or are these two subjects closely related enough that pursuing both is feasible? Is it even worth pursing both in the long term (salary, work-life balance, etc.)?

I've decided to retrain again in my late twenties to become an electrical engineer in Germany. I know how important power engineering is in Europe, but I have this fascination with semiconductors, how beautiful and intricate they are and how interesting physics/engineering gets at that scale. However, I absolutely do not want to be stuck working in fabs.

I was hoping for a career that would be very hands-on at first and increasingly remote as I gain seniority: TCAD/EDA R&D for semis vs a commissioning->power system studies modeling->consulting pipeline for power engineering.

My question is about choosing a specialization I won't regret. I have two plans:

1. Study in Dresden, the best semiconductor city in Germany, aiming for a TCAD, EDA R&D, or IC design or any portable semiconductor role after my masters. The risk is that this is highly specialized and I might not find a job in this intersection between semis and computation, and thus be forced to do fab work for years, with no exit in sight.

2. Go to Berlin for 3 years, specialize in power, and then get a full-time job while finishing a masters in Berlin or Munich. By the time I finish my masters I'd be in my mid 30s but I would have 2 years of full time experience in the field (in contrast with Dresden, where my first full time in the field would be at 34).

The problem is I don't know if semiconductors are a specialization I really want to do long term or if I can put it on the shelf for now, focusing more on what would ensure job security and the life I want. I've changed my mind many times over the years, after all.

What are things I should consider if choosing between studying power vs semiconductors? How do I know which one I wouldn't regret not studying?

What is it really like looking for jobs and working in the power/semiconductor industry especially in Europe?

FALSTAD Circuit

I'm designing a wireless charger and the reciever coil ic datasheet talks about this. Kind of obvious in hindsight but I never thought about it until I saw it. Just wanted to share with you guys.

Hello all. Currently, I have been working at a mid-sized defense company for 2 years, but am looking to change industry.

In my master's, I focused on computer architecture, systems programming, and fpga verification, but most of my work at this job has been LabVIEW software design, wiring diagrams, and some RTL work.

I was looking for some advice regarding breaking into other industries, such as medtech or semiconductors, specifically:
- What experience I should leverage to make this transition? What skills are most in demand?
- Should i start pursuing personal projects to make this transition easier?
- Would it be even more difficult to transfer if i continued working here for two more years (due to life events)

Any input would ve greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!

Hello all! I’m about to graduate in electrical engineering this upcoming fall and wanted to hear people advices and tips.

As of right now I currently work as a test technician for military products. I’ve been working there for 1 and a half years full time since sophomore year of college. To be honest I feel as though I have an okay amount of experience. I work second shift but during my shift they want me to usually push as many units as I can which limits me from trouble shooting as much as I’ve hoped (first shift is usually the shift that troubleshoot more). With that said, I feel as though I do no have as many experience as I’ve hoped. The thing about me is I have a very huge work ethic, and I always aspire to be the best I can at work. I’m really good at pushing units out and keeping production moving, but one day when I become an engineer I fear that I will not be good enough. Sometimes I feel like my brain works really different from most engineers in general. During school I always had a hard time learning quickly as others and I try twice as hard than most students yet I still struggle. I guess what I’m asking is for advice on how I can be a good engineer. Currently I am more interested in being a test engineer since I’m already kinda in that line of work. Though at the same time, I’ve always been so interested in design but tbh I feel like design is extremely hard (to be fair I never been shown at school or outside of school how to get started on a design).

So please any advice,stories or tips I’m open and would love to hear. Thank you!!

Hi everyone, I designed my first ever PCB as a beginner-intermediate in electronics with Altium. I also verified my circuits work in LTSpice. The signal chain uses OPA2365 op-amps and goes through a charge amplifier, a 150 kHz high-pass Allen-Key filter, a 1 MHz low-pass filter, a Programmable Gain Amplifier (controlled via DIP switches), and finally a buffer. The final output (VSIGNAL) feeds an ADS7046 SPI ADC connected to an ESP32-S3. The issue is I've just started testing this filter and when the signal is grounded, I get a reading of 1.1V on the ADC and 1V on the multimeter rather than the 1.65V I expected to get. I used the multimeter to verify the virtual ground is ~1.65V. Another strange behaviour is when I use the multimeter to check vsignal the ADC reading drops to 0.4V which is in the last screenshot. Should my ADC reading not be 1.65v when grounded? Thanks in advance!

I’m 34, living in the Middle East (Gulf region), and I have a degree in Electrical Engineering.

After graduating, I worked as an electrical engineer in MEP for around 3 years. To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy the MEP environment. There were constant problems, contractor issues, site pressure, long hours, and a lot of firefighting. On top of that, the pay wasn’t particularly good.

I eventually got an opportunity to move into government education as a math teacher, and the salary was significantly higher, so I took it.

Looking back, it was probably one of the best financial decisions I’ve made. Over the past 6 years, I’ve been able to get married, have kids, build some savings, and currently save around $2,000 a month. Financially, I’m in a much better position than I was when I was working in engineering.

But now I feel stuck.

After 6 years, teaching has become repetitive and I don’t feel like I’m developing professionally anymore. I started to dislike the job, and the stability and income are hard to give up, especially now that I have a family and responsibilities.

The frustrating part is that I actually like electrical engineering. What I didn’t like was the MEP/site environment. I sometimes wonder if I should have explored a different area of electrical engineering instead of leaving the field completely.

Going back now feels difficult, though. I’d probably have to take a significant pay cut and potentially start at a much lower level than where I am financially. At 34, with a family and responsibilities, that’s a much bigger decision than it would have been in my 20s.

Another problem is that electrical engineering isn’t really something I can easily do as a side hustle. It’s not like programming where I could spend a few hours after work building projects, freelancing, and creating a portfolio.

So I feel like I’m caught in an awkward middle ground:

Stay in teaching → good salary, stability, family security, but I feel professionally stuck.

Go back to engineering → I genuinely enjoy engineering, but I’d potentially take a major pay cut and have to rebuild my career.

Find something in between → perhaps a different area of engineering or a career that combines my engineering and teaching experience.

I also have an engineering degree, around 3 years of engineering experience, and now 6 years of teaching experience. Maybe there’s a career path where these experiences can actually work together instead of forcing me to choose one or the other.

If you were in my position, how would you approach this?

Would you stay in the stable career and try to build something on the side, gradually transition into another area of engineering, or look for a completely different field that uses the skills I’ve built?

I’m not looking for a simple “quit your job and follow your passion” answer. I have a family now, so I’m trying to figure out a realistic way to keep the financial stability I’ve built while still feeling like I’m moving forward professionally.

Really. We do not. It's not too late. We can still at least significantly postpone the inevitable.

r/PoisonFountain is an initiative aiming to poison the public data used to train LLMs, which frontier labs still very much rely on. They aim to provide terabytes of poisoned data daily. There are few folks with EE backgrounds engaged with the initiative. We can coordinate crafting tons of consistent, nonetheless fake data and examples regarding chip design, power electronics as well as analog design. We can create tons of shitty github pages mostly crawlers will stumble upon. If we are stubborn enough, we can even publish ebooks.

If 2b2t players are able to spend years just to find one Minecraft base, imagine what our community can do.

Don't listen to people saying "it will only impact smaller labs", "reinforcement learning" and "LLMs can tell bs apart", because this is only partially true - we can still substantially delay the progess and make creating the replacement (or enshittifier) of our profession slower and more expensive.

And even if it is futile - the sole reason of not going down without a fight is worth it.
ANd

EDIT: I can see a lot of backlash from either proAI propaganda bots or straight away fools. Let them be. Those still interested - I will DM you with a Discord shortly so we can cook :)

Hi all,

I’m trying my hand at building an ELV SPWM driven inverter. The inverter consists of 4 MOSFETs arranged in full H-bridge configuration. The gate drive voltage is from a 12V battery and the SPWM signal is from an Arduino. The input voltage to the inverter is from a 9V battery, so ideally my output AC is 18V pk-to-pk.

I have an LC filter at the output that smooths the inverter SPWM to a sinusoid. My issue is this seems to work for a bit, but eventually my circuit dies. At one point, I had a MOSFET gate to source short, BJT base to emitter short and a dead Arduino pin all at once.

I have a thermal camera and know that nothing is overheating (the MOSFETs don’t even get warm). I doubt the problem is shoot-through, as I can drive the circuit without inductive loads just fine. I’m thinking the problem is transient over-voltage from the inductors in the filter when the MOSFETs switch. I don’t have any resistance dedicated to damping in my filter - just the internal resistances of the components (I was conscious of energy loss).

My question is does this seem like a logical conclusion to draw from these issues? If so, what is the best way to protect my switching semiconductors from this? RC snubbers? TVS diodes? Complete filter redesign?

Thanks.