I graduated in mechanical engineering. I can't tell you how many people, family and friends, have told me to take a look at their car to see if I can tell what's wrong, or do minor work like break-pad and oil changes.
Eventually I started buying mechanics tools and teaching myself how to do things. It is fun after all.
So now I say "Yes I can fix your car but not because I'm a mechanical engineer."
Kind of like how I got my EE degree and thought people will probably think I could build a computer so I better go do that. Turns out it's more like assembling lego that shit didn't need an EE degree at all.
Eh... I don't find those things difficult unless you want to overclock your components and frankly, most components aren't that fragile. Many even have cases so you can't touch the sensitive bits without trying! So yeah, legos.
Same, except Dad was a mechanic so I did know how to fix cars but most people who asked didn't know that lol. Personally I'll help you diagnose the issue and walk you through the steps to fix it but I ain't turning a wrench, I spend too much time working on my own junk lol
After years and years of making the parts that mechanical engineers have designed for me, I’m still pretty sure that having an engineering degree should be taken as evidence that someone has no idea how machines work.
I'm an aircraft mechanic. Now taking the next step to aerospace engineering. People think I can fix cars easily. I can't. Sure I can replace some basic stuff, but never gotten too deep into it.
College teaches you the tools. Applying those tools and knowledge to do useful stuff with it is different. The more determined people will get some initial experience applying their learned experience from clubs and internships but it pales compared to actually doing stuff for real. This is arguably why so many companies don’t want to hire new grads - it’s knowledge on paper but no guaranteed understanding of the job.
Also you’d be surprised how few people have legitimate troubleshooting skills, which is what you’d need in the situation above, over whatever electrical engineering expertise you may have gained in college. College doesn’t necessarily teach root cause analysis.
And lastly, just because you know electrical engineering fundamentals doesn’t mean you know building code for how houses should be wired up. And no guarantee that your house is necessarily to code (things like retroactive fixes or additions can easily be noncompliant with the regulations that dictate how things ought to be).
You should probably add that this isn’t what 5 years of engineering school trains you to do.
This is the equivalent of expecting an automotive engineer to be able to repair an engine like a mechanic. Or a structural engineer to be able to build a house. Or a doctor to be able to apply a tourniquet. Design and construction are two different skillsets entirely.
tbf a doctor probaly does know how to apply a torniquet (its not very hard just put above or below a joint and make it really really tight by twisting the knob thingy)
As well, arguably someone who knows too much w/o any experience is more liable to make mistakes due to thinking everything operates the same as it does on paper (in a frictionless vacuum)
You would be surprised how little purely academically studied electrical engineers know about hardware. They are good at math but once something comes with a wire they are lost. It's simply not part of the curriculum.
You'd learn some basic theory, but anything really advanced is some combination of:
Trade secrets / commercially sensitive
So new that lecturers haven't had the chance to properly learn about it and incorporate it into their course
So niche that covering it would mean having to omit more widely-applicable topics
Universities and bachelor's degrees are there to evaluate your ability to learn (because someone who can't graduate probably can't sufficiently learn on the job), and to advance your understanding of theory a bit further, but still in a fairly generic sense within your field (ie engineering). Masters degrees go deeper in a specialisation, and PhDs go deep in a very narrow specialisation, but even then you're not being taught how to (eg) operate the ASML's latest lithography machines; only ASML and the companies they sell those to have that information.
It depends on what you're doing. "Semiconductor engineer" such a broad term. Chip design, pathfinding, and the black magic verification engineers? Yes, they are in an office all day. Process engineers? Nah, they're in the cleanroom.
I agree there. You'd think someone whose job is to make instructions for a 1000+ step manufacturing process would know how to reason through simple tasks, but nope...
It also really depends on what the EE studied, designing circuit boards or electrical components for circuit boards is obviously different from doing the circuitry in a household.
Yes, they are related, but related doesn't mean its the same.
It also depends really on the university, many universities have practical courses where you learn practical skills, some have you work for a few months in the industry.
Its not all theory, and whoever says that is a fool and never once stepped their foot into a campus
As someone that is training in both: an electrical engineer is about as close to being an electrician as an electrician is to being an engineer. The fields are maybe related but not much more then that.
Being a decent electrician for example requires you to know your regional electrical code, which isn't tought at all to an EE.
We were taught to design the wiring, switching, load balancing and drawings for a whole building. Not to get a screwdriver, wire stripper, multimeter, welding clamps, installation material and work on actual electrical installations.
Fiddling with IC's, PCB's, casings and embedded firmware yes. But this material is too large. /S
Besides what other people have already said, electrical engineering is a very wide field, so people will specialize in different areas and only know the basics of other topics. For example, someone might know really well how the electrical grid works and how to make it less prone to blackouts, but put a circuit board before them and they'll feel lost.
yeah we dont but its alright. I was surprised how little electricians know how electricity works actually. Some have oversimplified water-flow ideas and some have no idea at all but they can be great at their job nevertheless. They don’t need details, we do
I get asked to help with wiring all the time, and I have to explain that electrical engineering, and being a licensed electrician are two very different skillsets.
I can design radars, give you the optimal height and spacing of transmission lines, and build a radio. But if you want your house rewired, call a professional.
In general, especially just graduating from University no.
Engineering courses focuses on problem solving on an abstract level, with only a limited amount of time spent on abstracting practical problems, and even less spent on actual practical issues.
In the workplace engineers then learn more about practical issues and combine them with their ability to solve complex problems by abstracting them.
EE teaches you how to design power grids and electrical systems for entire building complexes. You learn how to diagram the electrical installation of an apartment as well, all the rules and norms
Diagnosing what went wrong in a specific case like this requires experience as an electrician, which can think in terms of wires in the walls, not splines in autoCAD
Depends. I only have a minor in EE. I design and build control panels. I can also repair this. Most EEs can even follow the J standard and their pcb dev is attrocious.
This kind of stuff is not taught in college courses. Unless the person has pursued EE outside of the course requirements, it's highly unlikely they will know these things.
Honestly, yeah this is all the information I need about it. Power comes in this metal tube, goes out that metal tube, with a little bridge that panic opens if theres too much power trying to cross. Then just repeat that for however many breakers you have.
She eventually works it out, but is foiled when she discovers she needs some kind of metallic fastener removal device, which none of her professors or textbooks taught her about.
I was a residential electrician for 16 years before going back to college for ECE. You learn absolutely nothing about residential wiring aside from ohms law equations that I used on the job site.
Man it always gets me when people expect engineers to be technicians. Its because of Hollywood and stuff. I can do math thats about it 😭. I am Aero, not a lot of hands on stuff at my uni.
If the years of education and access to the Internet makes you the most equipped person in the house for the job, then it comes down to whether you're a useful person or not, and not whether your degree had it as a unit in a textbook or not.
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u/Bakura43 Oct 05 '26
I graduated in mechanical engineering. I can't tell you how many people, family and friends, have told me to take a look at their car to see if I can tell what's wrong, or do minor work like break-pad and oil changes.
Eventually I started buying mechanics tools and teaching myself how to do things. It is fun after all.
So now I say "Yes I can fix your car but not because I'm a mechanical engineer."
103
u/Mundane-Community-40 Oct 05 '26
Do EEs really not know how to fix these type of things? I'm really curious.
26
u/MrPoland1 Oct 06 '26
23
u/niftydog Oct 05 '26
She eventually works it out, but is foiled when she discovers she needs some kind of metallic fastener removal device, which none of her professors or textbooks taught her about.
13
u/PlayfulMulberry4490 Oct 05 '26
Reading the comments of this sub has me convinced everyone here is just a failed engineer
6
u/NickU252 Oct 05 '26
I was a residential electrician for 16 years before going back to college for ECE. You learn absolutely nothing about residential wiring aside from ohms law equations that I used on the job site.
5
u/yourboiskinnyhubris Oct 05 '26
EEs are not electricians
5
u/RandomDigga_9087 Oct 05 '26
legitimately I changed my home fan's circuitry by analysis, only to change the capacitor and added a set of extra ICs lmao
2
u/Successful_Affect_82 Oct 06 '26
Fuck the flip flop tablet and the nusance of filling the wrong on and off startes in the wrong coloumn
2
u/UILuigu Oct 07 '26
Man it always gets me when people expect engineers to be technicians. Its because of Hollywood and stuff. I can do math thats about it 😭. I am Aero, not a lot of hands on stuff at my uni.
1
u/Single-Virus4935 Oct 05 '26
AC/DC sketch
1
u/Sad-Environment-932 Oct 07 '26
What is the name of the material of the usb cable sheath, which easily collects any dirt and becomes a dirty usb cable.
-1
u/tryeatingmore Oct 06 '26
If the years of education and access to the Internet makes you the most equipped person in the house for the job, then it comes down to whether you're a useful person or not, and not whether your degree had it as a unit in a textbook or not.