EE Student with some questions

[lasmori]

Hi folks! I am a college student working on an EE degree and have decided it's time to ask a few questions .

I have a grant paying my tuition each quarter and it provides me with a little bit of money after paying a couple bills. I would really love to use this for obtaining some lab equipment. If I were to buy some equipment off ebay or another online auction... what should I be looking for? What should I be careful about? I live in a remote/small city and have not had a much luck at my local auctions (Hoquiam, WA US).

Engineering licensing in Washington requires 4 years of internship under a licensed Engineer. Do I have to be working a certain number of hours? What are a few good ways of finding an Engineer to intern under? It's especially important the internship be compatible with a school schedule. I am likely transferring to Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA) around 2017 and hope to find an internship in that area during that time.

I have worked in the software development field for a number of years now. My life made a downhill turn resulting in homelessness until a little over a year ago. Things have been going way better this past year and I have decided to use this as a pivot point for my life. This is my first time in college and I am very much loving it so far! Electronics has been a long term interest of mine and I am pretty excited about changing careers.

Thanks for answering my questions!
Lori

[edavid]

Hi folks! I am a college student working on an EE degree and have decided it's time to ask a few questions .

I have a grant paying my tuition each quarter and it provides me with a little bit of money after paying a couple bills. I would really love to use this for obtaining some lab equipment. If I were to buy some equipment off ebay or another online auction... what should I be looking for? What should I be careful about? I live in a remote/small city and have not had a much luck at my local auctions (Hoquiam, WA US).

Visit your local ham radio club and ask that question: http://www.gharc.org/
People will probably be happy to give/sell/loan you equipment to get you started.

Engineering licensing in Washington requires 4 years of internship under a licensed Engineer. Do I have to be working a certain number of hours? What are a few good ways of finding an Engineer to intern under? It is especially important that the internship be compatible with a school schedule. I am likely transferring to Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA) around 2017... and an internship in that area would be my best option.

Why do you think you want to be a PE?  Very few EEs are, for good reasons.

[lasmori]

Visit your local ham radio club and ask that question: http://www.gharc.org/
People will probably be happy to give/sell/loan you equipment to get you started.

I will do that! I met someone in this club last quarter... didn't occur to me to ask them some questions in this regard! I used to have a license myself a few years ago and had been thinking of attending their club.

Why do you think you want to be a PE?  Very few EEs are, for good reasons.

That is a very good question. I had assumed this was the standard route one eventually goes down with Engineering.