ECE Roadmap — Part III
This will be the last part of the career series. I hope it was beneficial for everyone.
Before we continue, I just want to mention the conclusion of a talk with one of the alumni that he divides the tiers into:
- Communications (Wired, Wireless & Moblie)
- Integrated Circuits (Analog & Digital)
- Electromagnetics (Microwave & Optics)
- Devices & MEMS & Signal Processing
- IT & Software & Networking
- Embedded Systems & Control
- Robotics & Machine Learning
But I still stuck with the way I categorized them in the last article. So let’s get started!
First, let’s mention career tracks, setting job titles for each as follows:
Mobile Communication ‘Telecommunication’:
Wireless/RF Engineer (5G & LTE)
Transmission Engineer (Optical & Microwave)
Core Engineer (Packet & Circuit Switching)
Network & Security:
Network Engineer
Cybersecurity Engineer
Cloud Engineer (limited in Egypt, explained in this section last video)
Note: In the last topic, we added cybersecurity to the software layer and cloud computing to the communication layer, but both are at the end of the software layer and the beginning of the communication layer.
Full stack:
Frontend Developer
Backend Developer
DevOps Engineer
Note: Database considered as Back-end Dev, Mobile App Dev is considered as Back-end and Front-end Dev
AI & Data Science:
ML Engineer (or, NLP/CV Engineer)
BI Developer
Data Engineer (or, Scientist)
Note: AI will affect all the layers, which we talked about in the last article, as it will optimize them and add new features to each track, so universities like MIT have made machine learning courses part of their main curriculum.
You can find the intersection between AI and other careers if you search well!
Embedded Systems: (A lot of side job titles)
It should be noted that the majority of the embedded market in Egypt is for self-driving cars (ADAS).
Analog IC: (shown in the last topic but note that MEMS are part of it)
Digital IC: (shown in the last topic)
Note: Not every job title is a career track or specialization, as well as not every tool or technology, so don’t care about them like IoT; any of the 7 tracks can fit your work into it. Also, other tracks like games and blockchain development are not included because of the low number of job opportunities and look like the other unmentioned tracks because they have hundreds of people but no jobs! Things like classic DSP (digital signal processing) software engineers started to be limited, and hundreds of them shifted to AI as it was the nearest field to what they were doing. Note that too: things like quantum computing and cryptography are R&D fields!
Signal Processing Engineer: Work on the design and implementation of algorithms for processing, analyzing, and interpreting signals from various sources, such as audio, video, and sensor data.
Advice for choosing a career track:
You have two main ways to choose your own career first is by booking with a career coach or career mentor and the second is by trying each one they do what we mention in the last article and I prefer the second considering doing market research on things like job opportunities, salaries, demand per graduate ratio, impact, etc…
One more thing I mentioned in Part 0 is that ECE can work as EPE in control and renewable energy (solar cells as photodiodes), but to do that, you will need to take more courses like power electronics for control. Also in distribution, you can work only in smart grids or, furthermore, in power line communication, both of which are not available in Egypt. Otherwise, you will need to take courses to work in the usual grid or simply change the department to EPE.
Note: Tracks like full stack can be considered career shifts because they are outside the ECE scope and more CSE-focused. So, please try what is in your scope first to learn more about it and save the time you spend in your college life.
So when is the best time to choose a career track? Simply put, level 2 is the perfect time, but you can do that after or before this duration and make your plan as per the requirements I set for you below in the Industry vs. Academia section.
The fundamentals you need to take if you still don’t have any attraction to any of the tracks, and please master them well!
- Electronics & Semiconductors
- Digital Logic Design
- Design Patterns
- Computer Architecture
- Programming & OOP (C/C++, Python, Java)
- Data Structure & Algorithms
- Operating Systems
- Database
- Network Fundamentals (CCNA)
- Mobile Package
- Discrete Mathematics
Academia vs. Industry Requirements:
Here we go to the backbone: academia is not the preferred track for hundreds of engineering graduates because it is tough and low-income, but some others love to keep educating and are curious to discover new things and do new science!
- Internships:
Both industry and academia require experience and need at least one internship, but make sure that the review of the company that you will take an internship at is good to get a real experience with the tools you are interning at.
Also, internships are a good way to detect the career track which you like because you will simulate what happens in real not just the image you take from online videos, etc…
- Graduation Project:
One other remarkable thing in your CV is the graduation project; make sure to make it relevant to the career track that you chose.
Every company will look at what you did with what you learned at college through this project because it is always the largest one you have participated in during the college period.
Furthermore, if you work to publish this project in any scientific journal, that will give you a bonus for postgraduates. So, please make sure to work hard on it and get a fund to make it as big as you can.
- Competitions:
The awards you win and the knowledge and experience you gain from the technical competitions make you more able to master your tools and make them a daily skill.
Furthermore, those competitions will be the motivation to learn and know more, and each project for a competition can be added to your CV, making sure you earn problem-solving skills not only for coding but for robotics competitions too.
- Open Source Projects:
The second thing after your graduation project and the thing that helps you get the high potential for internships are open source projects. Do as much as you can and make sure to have a minimum of 2 projects for any track!
- Publications and Patents:
Undergraduate research interns open the doors for you and your potential to publish and conduct research, which gives you a huge advantage in postgraduate studies but is useless for the industry!
- GPA:
Your grades aren’t worse than anything in the industry for the previous factors, but in scholarship and postgraduate programs, you have to acquire a 3.0 or above. Guess what? That's not easy, but you can see effective ways of studying by watching the top students study.
- Extracurricular Activities:
Volunteerism builds your awareness of new things, but that is not required for both industry and academia; it’s just a bonus that gives you an advantage and builds your character to be stronger.
10 Actions You Must Do!
- Set SMART goals with high passion and look for the field that achieves your happiness and satisfies your needs for innovation
2. The best person to teach and guide you is yourself. Use social media and search engines.
Arriving at information and data nowadays is easier than in the past; anything you need to know about requires just the internet and your phone. So, please search and understand before asking anyone!
3. Always ask & Get mentors
Getting a mentor will facilitate your way of thinking and optimize it; furthermore, it will take you to a new level of thinking and knowledge because he will map your path and remove barriers he passed by!
4. Always understand the root of the hypothesis
Don’t take grades that seriously; nothing will benefit you from that; your health is more important, and the understanding of what you are studying will facilitate your future subjects; furthermore, it will make you a real engineer.
Be careful of fast achievements (fast grades), and don’t miss understanding what you learn!
Note: not every subject will be important to do that with; normally, it ranges from 1 to 3 subjects per semester that you have to do! You can do that on vacation instead of the semester, but make sure you do that!
5. Apply practical
Joining competitions, technical teams, and open-source projects will give you the space to apply and verify what you have learned.
6. Volunteer for at least 3 hours a week
Again, volunteerism will build your character and will help you build your network, but I have to mention that not all volunteerism is good for that.
Student activities, for example, are a waste of time if they don’t have a good supervisor and mentor, but things like foundations and organizations are perfect for that, and I recommend IEEE and Egypt Scholars for that.
7. Build a network
Networks build your future opportunities and affect your personality, so don’t miss getting to know each one you think will have a great future!
8. Be an ethical, honest, and ready person:
You have to get the following skills, which are career readiness skills:
- Career & Self-development
- Communication Skills
- Critical Thinking
- Equity & Inclusion
- Leadership Skills
- Professionalism
- Teamwork
- Technology
9. Manage your time perfectly
10. See the big picture
Don’t limit your knowledge; learn as much as you can during the college period from books, MOOCs, etc. Learning tools and skills is beneficial even if you will not use them in your career as you think now! See the big picture of the science, history, and philosophy of what you learn!
More Tips!
Certificate vs. Accreditation vs. Skills
Not every certification is accreditation, but every accreditation is certification. In today’s world, with the large scale of educational institutes and globalization, it’s a must to have standard accreditation to take on any career. For example, the Cisco CCNA is one of the international accreditations that you take to prove your work in networking, but it’s a beginner’s certificate compared to the CCNP, which is more advanced.
Not only is Cisco doing that, but all the international companies do it for their technologies, or more generally, for all technologies. Furthermore, there are a lot of international institutes that do that for other things like PMP.
But is that really a benefit? Watch the following video for the answer!
Three more pieces of advice:
- Stay sharp, stay updated, and stay motivated.
Understand that this is lifelong learning, not only for the college period. You will learn every day. The industry of ICT is in fact growing and changing so much between day and night, so make sure you learn something new each day. Also, make sure to read scientific journals like IEEE Xplore.
Don’t miss why you have started this path, and find something that will renew your motivation when you get bored. Also, please don’t be missed in the terminologies; just take it easy.
2. Don’t be hurried.
Hundreds of youth today love the fast pace and think about entrepreneurship as the place for that. I agree with that, but how will you become an entrepreneur without knowledge, a network, and an idea? You have to have at least 3–5 years of experience in your career!
3. Take off.
Understand that the journey is tough and hard; this is not a one-day picnic. Make sure to have a good rest to get a free mindset and good health to keep going.
Talks about Career:
Note: the previous videos can be considered as general, not for CS, build your projection for ECE
Useful Materials:
My Backpack (updated continuously):
IC Design:
Mobile Communication:
Networks:
Software:
Embedded:
R&D:
This is the end of this series, and I wish Allah would be beneficial for all youth in the same way as me. See you in the next article on new topics. I wish you all the best!
