Does anyone here have a b.s. in electrical engineering technology?

[Neverstop]

I have decided to go back to college next year and finish getting a bachelors of science in electrical engineering technology. It has crossed my mind a few times to switch my major and head into mechatronics, but I think I'm better off staying in eet since it will ultimately be cheaper, I am close to half way through.

Does anyone else here have a degree in eet or a similar technology field? What is your title and what do you do? Salary?

[2Cent]

I have. I'm now a software engineer. Started with embedded software but moved to regular software. There are just so many more jobs in software.

The electronics field is always trying to push more things to software so it's hard to stick with real embedded stuff.

But electrical engineering is more than micro-electronics. So what jobs are you interested in?

[big_owl]

I have a BS in EE.  But now that I read your post more closely, I'm guessing EET is something difference so nevermind.  This was a helpful post I'm sure.

[Jack]

If you can, get an Electrical Engineering (technology) degree instead. If I understand correctly, it's a more prestigious piece of paper for what amounts to be mostly the same curriculum (maybe a math class or two difference?), which means it probably will get you a higher starting salary and would therefore be a better value. It also lets you get your P.E. license faster, if you care about that sort of thing.

I'm also somewhat skeptical of a college that offers an undergraduate degree in "mechatronics." As far as I know, top-tier universities (MIT, etc.) don't, so the fact that the school you're planning to attend does makes me worry that it's more concerned with recruiting student[ loan payment]s via flashy buzzwords than having a solid curriculum. Is it ABET accredited? (If it isn't, it's a worthless diploma mill.)

[MasterStache]

If you can, get an Electrical Engineering (technology) degree instead. If I understand correctly, it's a more prestigious piece of paper for what amounts to be mostly the same curriculum (maybe a math class or two difference?), which means it probably will get you a higher starting salary and would therefore be a better value. It also lets you get your P.E. license faster, if you care about that sort of thing.

That is not necessarily true. I have a BS in EET. I could not gain entrance into the main University for the Electrical Engineering program. So I went to the sister college for an Applied Science degree instead. I attended classes with many folks who transferred because the curriculum was so horribly difficult in the main EE program. I did my co-op at a major corporation and have worked at two other large companies now alongside regular degreed EE's. The companies quite honestly see no difference. I've even worked with engineers who have only 2 year associates community college electronics degrees. Although I wouldn't suggest that route. They are looking for experience, knowledge, how well you work with others, yadda, yadda, yadda over a piece of paper.

I don't doubt there are companies that might consider the differences, I just personally haven't found one yet. Heck I wish I would have completed my first two years at a technical college and then transferred. Could have saved a boatload of money.

[Jack]

That is not necessarily true.

Fair enough. I imagine that for EE it probably has a lot to do with what industry you go into as well, ranging from completely irrelevant for someone working in software to extremely relevant for somebody designing high-voltage equipment for power grid substations. Maybe radio is somewhere in the middle?

(Admittedly, I'm more familiar with how it works in civil engineering, where everybody eventually needs a license and people with engineering technology degrees have to wait an extra couple of years to become eligible to sit for the exam. In that field, without a license you're a glorified draftsman or construction foreman.)

[big_owl]

In my company (power/energy), unless you have a BSEE, you can't get the title of Engineer.  A BSEET degree would get you the title of technical specialist, which of course is a much lower pay.  Also, you could not be promoted to a director-level position without a true engineering or management degree.  The only way to get around that is to go back and get your BS engineering degree or else become a PE with your technical degree. 

[MasterStache]

That is not necessarily true.

Fair enough. I imagine that for EE it probably has a lot to do with what industry you go into as well, ranging from completely irrelevant for someone working in software to extremely relevant for somebody designing high-voltage equipment for power grid substations. Maybe radio is somewhere in the middle?

(Admittedly, I'm more familiar with how it works in civil engineering, where everybody eventually needs a license and people with engineering technology degrees have to wait an extra couple of years to become eligible to sit for the exam. In that field, without a license you're a glorified draftsman or construction foreman.)

Sure, and admittedly I only have experience with controls related jobs (CAD, PLC , HMI, etc.). The two different programs actually merged a couple years ago. So the College of Applied Science and College of Engineering are practically one and the same now.

The main difference that I know of involves a higher level of mathematics for the non-technical degree. I am sure it wholly depends on the field and employer. 

[Neverstop]

Yes, The EET program is ABET accredited, but I dont know about the mechatronics one. From what I have read online Some companies do or do not distinguish between EE and EET. I really have no interest in obtaining a PE license at the moment.

I would like to work

I have. I'm now a software engineer. Started with embedded software but moved to regular software. There are just so many more jobs in software.

The electronics field is always trying to push more things to software so it's hard to stick with real embedded stuff.

But electrical engineering is more than micro-electronics. So what jobs are you interested in?

You have an EET degree? How did you get into software?  Ideally I would like to get into that field, it seems more professional, but I don't know how likely that is to happen with an EET degree.

If I cant get into that field I would like to work with controls and instrumentation or automation.

[Jack]

Yes, The EET program is ABET accredited, but I dont know about the mechatronics one.

If one is accredited and the other isn't, do the accredited one.

You have an EET degree? How did you get into software?  Ideally I would like to get into that field, it seems more professional, but I don't know how likely that is to happen with an EET degree.

If I cant get into that field I would like to work with controls and instrumentation or automation.

If you want to get into software why not major in CS?

Otherwise, you should be fine getting a job as a software developer with an EET (or mechatronics, for that matter) degree, as long as the electives you choose have a decent programming component. (That's where it might be helpful to go for the computer engineering technology degree instead of the straight-up electrical one.) In particular, you'll want to become competent enough at C/C++ (at least), including understanding things like pointers and parallelism, to pass a technical interview.

Having an EET degree instead of CS will help you more if you're going after jobs writing code for embedded devices than if you want to work in web development, of course.

[Neverstop]

I want to stick with eet since I'm only 74 credits short. This way the classes I have already taken and paid for will not got to waste.

As far as programming gows, the program only requires c++, microcontrollers, and some plc programming. It's a course for each.