Audrey Rubart
AddedTuesday, February 14, 2017 at 12:34 AM
I am a college freshman in electrical engineering and my first year classes are pretty hard and not terribly interesting. This makes it hard to stay interested in this major. Someday I want to work in the space industry (like NASA or SpaceX), and since I really enjoyed my physics classes in high school, I thought that this major would be a good fit. I'm wondering if I made the right choice. It's hard to tell if I like this major or not because I think introduction classes don't really show what it's like to be an electrical engineer. What are good signs to know whether or not I should stay in electrical engineering?
-
Khadijah Latiff, Amazon
Answered Friday, February 24, 2017 at 10:15 AM
Whether you become an electrical, aerospace, or mechanical engineer, or a or an accountant, or anything for that matter... work is incredibly hard and not terribly interesting - in generalThings become fun and interesting only after you get really good at something, and getting there will take a lot of time. Read Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" in which he explains the 10,000 hour rule.Ask yourself why you want to work in the space industry, specifically why you want to work for NASA or SpaceX?Do you want the prestige or glamor? NASA nor SpaceX are none of those things. You may spend thousands upon thousands of hours designing and testing something over and over again for months and years before you see any outcome. If you are a bright, young, intelligent student who wants to contribute your analytical skills to making designing better things for safety and comfort of humanity, give engineering a chance. Engineering may not be glamorous or sexy, but it can be very rewarding.Electrical engineers contribute in many fields such as infrastructure (buildings, fire protection), transportation (trains, planes), telecommunication, automotives, healthcare (medical instruments, radiology), computers, space and more. Many engineers end up picking up skills on the job along the way, but classroom education is absolutely essential to form the basis of your understanding later on. I recommend you read about the founding of SpaceX in Elon Musk's biography by Ashlee Vance, as well as the "Wait But Why" blog post about Elon Musk. Elon Musk is not an engineer, but he is an entrepreneur and an autodidact. He is a gifted visionary and a lucky one, SpaceX and Tesla almost went bankrupt a few times. Read about the many failed SpaceX launches.I hope that you continue to be curious and I hope the readings above sparks further curiosity about the field of engineering and success in general. All the best!
