Career Switch

[Architect_1077]

I'm in my 30's and have hit a wall in my professional life and am seriously considering a career change. I won't get into too much detail but I will say that my choice (at the age of 18) for a profession was maybe not the best. Family/outside pressure and/or lack of guidance may have played a role in my career choice. Seriously, at 18 what did I know about life or what I wanted to do?

Anyways, I have always had a passion for building things and taking them apart with a considerable interest in computer technology and electronics (generically speaking). All I have to do is look at my hobbies and pass-times and what they center around: computers and electronics. In fact, I sometimes get asked why I'm not in a related field...
So, as I think of possibilities, electronics engineering seems like a possible candidate (there are others). The idea I have regarding EE is that I get to build, design and prototype electronics products which does seem to fit my personality better.

However, I'm frightened at the massive and difficult task a career change of this magnitude seems to be. So, here I am asking experienced and/or recent EEs for some insight into EE as a profession.

What is the job outlook for EE within the US? How hard is it getting a job?
Do you think a career change at my age to EE is really feasible in the US?
How do you view your profession and what you do?

These are just some of the many many questions I have... 

[Simon]

just remember that it is one thing as a hobby and another as a job. My work let me do some electronics for them but due to being micromanaged (basically being told to do it all wrong) I got so pissed off I'm happy that they decided to subcontract it.

[EEVblog]

The corporate world of EE is often not all you dream it will be. Read Dilbert, it's a documentary, seriously.
Often, even in a good EE job, you can find yourself doing hardly any electronics at all, that is very common.
I've spent the good majority of my career on projects that have never seen the light of day.
So just be aware that it's one thing to get a job and a career in EE, and another to be actually doing real hand-on electronics work that you really want to be doing.

As for the US, I obviously don't know, but it's the same everyone I'm sure, there is always a job if you are good and enthusiastic enough.
So I would never worry about "can I find a job", the answer is yes. It always much harder to find an ideal job, be it in electronics or anything else.

Now, how you go about getting into the electronics field is another matter entirely...

Dave.

[IanB]

How "massive and difficult" a career change is depends on your circumstances.

If you have a mortgage and a family to support and need to continue earning an income then change will be difficult indeed.

If you have a fighting fund stashed away and can pay for college tuition and living costs for four years out of savings, then it's a different story.

A halfway scheme is to study part time outside work, but be aware this will exhaust you.

That's the hard stuff out of the way. Actually making a career switch and finding a different job--that's entirely up to your people skills. If you're good you can land a job selling snow to Eskimos. If you're not you will be forever unemployed.

So if you think you're good, and you can handle the financial side of things, then go for it. But heed what Dave says. Dilbert is not a cartoon, Dilbert is real life.

[ignator]

Note what IanB said about your life situation.  Is there a local college with university level math and physics available to you?
Have you taken university level calculus?  Was it easy?  Your hobbies should be an indicator of a science thinking brain.
You asked about career opportunities here in the states.  I just retired from an avionics company. They can not hire enough US born engineers, so they are hiring from anywhere on the planet for people to come here to the middle of a corn field in Iowa.  As well they now are outsourcing engineering to India, and China, the company opened a design center in India a few years ago.  The biggest problem I'm seeing both with US born and off shore born engineers is because of demand, and the belief you can make a good living, many kids were told by high school counselors that they should go into the sciences for a career.  Too many, with good memories (they can regurgitate for tests), get engineering degrees, with NO APTITUDE.  They don't test for that at least here in the states.  As well many universities are now degree mills, passing even failing students.  So If you have the gift, you can get a job, but you also need the degree as BSEE is a litmus test that you are trainable.  Or so that's what human resources believes.
Note there is a slow down waiting for this moron sequestration pandemonium to subside.  This is short term.  Look at where the world is going, are you seeing less stuff being designed and delivered to the hungry consumers?  Technology is still exploding into everything.
Now if I had it all to do over again, I would get a bio engineering degree on top of EE.

[Architect_1077]

Note what IanB said about your life situation.  Is there a local college with university level math and physics available to you?

Well, as I understand it, there is (CCSU, in Connecticut, among others). I've already been looking into Colleges/Unis I could go to.
As far as my life situation... I'm single. I'd have to work and study part-time, however. Yes it is difficult but I've already done a bit of that before. My brother has been doing it for 5 years now. It can be exhausting, yes, but I think much less if I'm doing something I like.

You have a great point with aptitude testing. Where is aptitude testing usually done? At the University/College perhaps?

Have you taken university level calculus?

I've actually tried the MIT online courses in calculus. I have mixed feelings. Generally, I found it very learn-able and interesting enough. It depends on the professor as much as on the student, imho. Although I must ask, just how often does one actually use the various formulas learned in University when designing a product? Is it actually common?

Too many, with good memories (they can regurgitate for tests), get engineering degrees, with NO APTITUDE.

Well, I can tell you that is NOT just in the US (I studied in Europe). One of my biggest lessons going through Uni is that people not the least bit passionate about what they are studying can actually get by and complete a degree, often with good grades, merely by memorizing study material. I always found that to be ridiculous and pointless. How can anyone every become competent that way??
I don't like memorizing stuff just for the sake of it, I like learning and understanding, no matter how long it takes me to get there.

Often, even in a good EE job, you can find yourself doing hardly any electronics at all, that is very common.
I've spent the good majority of my career on projects that have never seen the light of day.
So just be aware that it's one thing to get a job and a career in EE, and another to be actually doing real hand-on electronics work that you really want to be doing.

Well, what exactly does a career in EE entail other than actually working on electronics? What are the "other aspects" so to speak? It's actually good for me to get a broader idea of what else I could (end up) do(ing) with a degree in EE. In your case, you appear to have created your own job, i.e.

Read Dilbert, it's a documentary, seriously.

I just did...LoL! I find it hilarious and awfully similar to what I myself have already experienced. I don't think that it is something exclusive to EE (sadly).

[IanB]

Although I must ask, just how often does one actually use the various formulas learned in University when designing a product? Is it actually common?

Learning formulas and applying them is technical work, not engineering. As an engineer you would need to understand where the formulas came from, where it is appropriate to use them (and where not), and how to go about deriving those formulas from scratch if you didn't have them to hand. If you apply a formula in the wrong situation to the wrong problem you will get the wrong design, and that will be your responsibility. At university you don't learn formulas, you learn the theory and concepts that underly the formulas.

One key thing about engineering is that it not simply technical. It is also about business, and teamwork, and project management, and budgets, and schedules. Engineering is also a very creative discipline. You should anticipate a need to be inventive, to be adaptable, and to find answers to problems not encountered before.

As far as aptitude, that's a hard one. One simple test you could try is to look at mathematics. You doubtless know the formula for the roots of a quadratic equation. How quickly can you derive that formula from scratch with a pen and paper? How many different routes to that formula can you find?

Another good one is the cosine rule for triangles:

a² = b² + c² - 2bc cos A

Can you derive that formula with pen and paper also?

You may think that's nothing to do with engineering, but that kind of problem solving does give you an idea if you would have an aptitude for engineering.

[ignator]

Well, what exactly does a career in EE entail other than actually working on electronics? What are the "other aspects" so to speak? It's actually good for me to get a broader idea of what else I could (end up) do(ing) with a degree in EE.

It depends on how big the company you work for is.  And if manufacturing is done in house.  There are component engineers, process engineers, manufacturing, test, field support, 2 drink minimum marketing (that's a Dilbert joke), program managers, product line managers.  There's specialty design guys as switching power supply experts.  In avionics, there's many different RF engineering technologies, RADAR, DME, VOR, VHF, UHF, HF, code transponder, GPS.  Then there's the military side that has lots of secret communication stuff.
No matter what your first job will set you down a path of being an expert in the technology you worked on.  If you do it long enough you become the grey beard expert.  And you evolve the next generation of product.

The problem with all math in a university, is it's taught by the math department, for math majors, so engineers get all the delta-epsilon proof crap that really is not needed.  But if you don't intuitively understand the theory, you can't apply it.

It's luck of the draw for who hires you, unless you have a special domain skill, and look for a job to use that.

[EEVblog]

Although I must ask, just how often does one actually use the various formulas learned in University when designing a product? Is it actually common?

I've said it many times, in the 20+ years I've been in the electronics industry I have never had to use an integral or differential equation. But many times I've had to use and understand the concepts. e.g. an integrator is common building block circuit.
So if you asked me to solved a basic integral right now, I couldn't do it.

Some people do use advanced math all the time on the job, but IME, they are in the small minority.

Of course, that is completely beside the point of whether or not you have to learn it.

Dave.

[ddavidebor]

Yeah you never rememb the formulas, but you remember how to do it.

The day you are going to need the formula, you should only read a bit on and you can do it.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Do it, if possible.
There's a lot to be said for doing something your interested in.
Also making, designing, fixing stuff, it's good for the soul.

[EEVblog]

Well, what exactly does a career in EE entail other than actually working on electronics? What are the "other aspects" so to speak? It's actually good for me to get a broader idea of what else I could (end up) do(ing) with a degree in EE. In your case, you appear to have created your own job, i.e.

It's essentially infinite.
Apart from electronics design, I've worked on mechanics, sensors for almost everything, acoustics, ceramics and various materials engineering, production testing, underwater, shock and vibration testing, machine vision, software, failure analysis, and that's just scratching the surface. And doesn't include the project and team management and documentation side of thing.

It entirely depends upon the industry you get into and the company you work for.

Dave.

[AndyC_772]

As an engineer you would need to understand where the formulas came from, where it is appropriate to use them (and where not), and how to go about deriving those formulas from scratch if you didn't have them to hand.

There does seem to be a widely held misconception that deriving and applying complex mathematical formulae is a common and important part of working as an EE - and it couldn't be further from the truth.

I use Ohm's law (and various derived formulae to do with things like resistors in parallel and power dissipation) every day. Once or twice I've had to solve the equations for charging and discharging a capacitor, but that's about it.

No doubt there are a tiny, tiny minority of people who work in engineering and who can and do use complex mathematics on a regular basis. Good for them, I'm sure that what they do is essential and beneficial - but in 15 years working as a design engineer I've never met one.

One key thing about engineering is that it not simply technical. It is also about business, and teamwork, and project management, and budgets, and schedules. Engineering is also a very creative discipline. You should anticipate a need to be inventive, to be adaptable, and to find answers to problems not encountered before.

Absolutely agree, though I'd add documentation and other paperwork right to the head of that list. I've had to explain to junior engineers on a number of occasions that it's not what you can do that really matters, it's what you can explain to other people that you've done. You absolutely must be able to write clear, accurate and readable reports and specifications. It's for just this reason that any CV which is badly laid out or written in poor English goes straight in the bin.

I'd be much more impressed by a job candidate who can explain to me clearly what a diode is, and who can choose an appropriate one for an application from a catalogue, than someone who has spent the last six months fabricating one in a university lab and deriving its expected behaviour from first principles.

As far as aptitude, that's a hard one. One simple test you could try is to look at mathematics. You doubtless know the formula for the roots of a quadratic equation. How quickly can you derive that formula from scratch with a pen and paper? How many different routes to that formula can you find?

Yikes... why on earth would I want to do that? Standard results exist to be used, not derived over and over again. Learn the result - or even, learn that the result exists and can be looked up - and move on. There are plenty of problems out there that actually need solving.

When I interview job candidates I keep the questions strictly relevant to the job in hand, I'm no fan of contrived academic questions like the infamous resistor cube or infinite grid problems. I might, for example, present a circuit with an SPI interface and ask about all the different ways it might fail to work properly - so we'd get straight into a discussion about logic levels, pulse widths, signal integrity, ground bounce and so on.

[Bored@Work]

There does seem to be a widely held misconception that deriving and applying complex mathematical formulae is a common and important part of working as an EE - and it couldn't be further from the truth.

Just because you work in a corner of the industry where this is apparently not needed doesn't mean there are no corners where it is needed.

[EEVblog]

Just because you work in a corner of the industry where this is apparently not needed doesn't mean there are no corners where it is needed.

He specifically said there were corners were it was was needed, but it's small.
He said he's never met someone who's needed it, and I think my experience is the same.
Off-hand I cannot recall ever seeing anyone at any place I've worked at use any sort of really complex math, nor do I recall ever seeing it in any engineering documentation.
Perhaps there was, maybe in some non-electronics related areas perhaps.

That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, I'm sure there are places and industries were complex math is used and solved daily in electronics design. But I'd be willing to bet his (and my) assertion is correct, that it's a small minority in the electronics design field overall. And that is the OP's question.

Dave.

[SeanB]

In developing brand new designs you will probably use the complex maths, but in the most common where you are modifying something or doing it with standard parts then no. If you are making a new optical fibre light source and receiver capable of operating at 50x current and with cost comparable to current then you will be using the complex maths a lot, but as somebody designing that into a new design you will not use it directly, probably in a tool yes or off a data sheet.

[Architect_1077]

Very interesting answers...
I know I'd need some extra classes to get a better foundation in Math. I've already been trying that on my own. Complex, but doable.

(...)and another to be actually doing real hand-on electronics work that you really want to be doing.

Here's a another question: who, then, typically does the prototyping work (I assume it would be the EE)?

[Bored@Work]

Here's a another question: who, then, typically does the prototyping work (I assume it would be the EE)?

In my case, but I have been labeled an armchair engineer here, it is typically done by technicians. They are more experienced, better, and (the part my employer probably likes most) they are cheaper than engineers when building prototypes.

Engineers plan, organize, think, and - shock, horror - do the math, but my employer does not want to have engineers sitting in the lab for hours assembling and testing prototypes. It is just to expensive. I do have a lab bench, but you are more likely to find me and my engineer colleagues at our office desks, in a meeting room or in a phone conference (and recently, because it is chic, in a video conference). You probably even find me more often trying to beat the living shit out of our incompetent outsourced IT department, than at my lab bench.   

[AndyC_772]

Here's a another question: who, then, typically does the prototyping work (I assume it would be the EE)?

It varies. Occasionally I'll build up something on the bench, but it's fairly unusual - mainly because the physical layout of a circuit has such a strong influence on its behaviour, so there's no real substitute for a PCB.

When we order prototype PCBs, sometimes they're built up in-house by a technician, but more often than not they come ready assembled from the same CEM that will be making the production units. It gives them an early opportunity to see the design and provide feedback, and means that none of the in-house technicians and engineers need spent the time on it.

When it comes to debugging and modifying the prototypes then, of course, I do it myself. I can just about solder anything that can be done with an iron or heat gun, but although it'll be functional it won't necessarily be pretty. Other people, who solder stuff every day, can do a better job.

[IanB]

As an engineer you would need to understand where the formulas came from, where it is appropriate to use them (and where not), and how to go about deriving those formulas from scratch if you didn't have them to hand.

There does seem to be a widely held misconception that deriving and applying complex mathematical formulae is a common and important part of working as an EE - and it couldn't be further from the truth.

In response to this comment and others, I didn't say that work commonly involves deriving formulas, I said that you ought to understand where those formulas came from and how you would go about deriving them if you needed to.

The question was about aptitude. If you know how to combine various core physical principles to come up with an appropriate formula, then chances are that when given a selection of possible physical components and choices to make in how to combine them to solve a problem, you will be able to do that too.

If you rely on doing things by rote learning and you are stumped when faced with a new challenge, then it's quite likely you won't make a good engineer.

[AndyC_772]

In response to this comment and others, I didn't say that work commonly involves deriving formulas, I said that you ought to understand where those formulas came from and how you would go about deriving them if you needed to.

Understand where they came from? Sure, I agree completely with you there.

Be able to derive them from first principles? No thanks. Ploughing through mathematical derivations isn't something which I'd recognise as using the same skill set as I use in my day-to-day work. I think there are other, more useful ways to determine whether or not someone will make a good engineer.

If you rely on doing things by rote learning and you are stumped when faced with a new challenge, then it's quite likely you won't make a good engineer.

Absolutely agree with you there. I've interviewed some terrible candidates who no doubt know a lot of facts but who can't give a straight answer to a straight question, and who are completely stumped when asked to actually apply the knowledge they have to a real world problem.

[Architect_1077]

Well, very interesting answers indeed.
Thank you all 

[JVR]

Since no-one has asked thus far, what line of work are you in currently, as that can make it easier/harder as well.

[Architect_1077]

Since no-one has asked thus far, what line of work are you in currently, as that can make it easier/harder as well.

Won't make it easier, afaik... I'm an Architect. 

[metalphreak]

I'm working in building services as an electrical engineering consultant at the moment. There's no real "engineering" in terms of creating products. It's all about implementation of designs using existing products. It's just where we lie in the food chain from design -> production -> sales -> implementation -> builder -> final outcome.

Even working as an electronics designer, you are using parts and integrated circuits which are built and designed by someone else. Ideally, all of the hardcore mathematical engineering really only has to be done once, by one person 

As Dave said, you need to vaguely understand how it all works, so that you can achieve a working implementation, but you do not need a deep level understanding of how those building blocks function - just how they interact with everything else.

Ironically, I spend half my day sometimes looking at building schematics thinking like an architect so I can work out where I'm placing and running services

[brainwash]

It's just another opinion but I guess some things in life bring the money and other things bring the pleasure.

Just hypothetically, if you suck at your current job and you suck at EE even though you like EE I would guess a career change is not necessarily a good thing. In order to earn good money and also do what you like you have to be really passionate: that passion translates into hours of tinkering and reading, which still counts as education, but that time is spent with pleasure. If you are good in your job then you can make demands, you can work on the R&D team instead of being assigned to all the obsolete projects and designing cases for piezos.

Case in point: I have started programming since I was 7 or 9 years old and kept at it until now, so that's more than 20 years of doing just ONE thing. In my youth I averaged about 16h per day in front of the computer out of which very little was gaming and internet was still unheard of. So that's a few thousand hours of doing just that.
I choosed EE as a college instead of IT since I always liked watching my father tinkering with this stuff. This means I have a degree in EE, sort of, specifically measurement equipment. But I wouldn't hire myself for this job. Even embedded programming which should be just on my alley is a bit out of reach, for getting good money I mean. I quit my job for a few months or maybe a year to pursue some hobbies and I know I can get back into the field whenever I get bored of this or short on money.

So what I'm saying is to strive in your current job to be the best you can so that you can get even more satisfaction in your hobbies and more money to spend on them. You don't need to quit your job to do that, just rearrange priorities.
Procrastination kills the dreams.

[KJDS]

In 25 years of professional engineering, almost exclusively RF, I've occasionally had to do some real maths, but it's been rare. What is important is that you are confident of being able to deal with it on the rare occasions that the need arises.

[Architect_1077]

Ironically, I spend half my day sometimes looking at building schematics thinking like an architect so I can work out where I'm placing and running services

I'm sure the thought process is somewhat familiar, the difference being the subject(s) of the designs (buildings vs electronics).

Just hypothetically, if you suck at your current job and you suck at EE even though you like EE I would guess a career change is not necessarily a good thing.

The issue isn't so much sucking at my job... the issues imho are that:
1. there is a nasty lack of work. Although I'm American born, I've lived an important part of my life in Portugal. I grew up here, I studied here and I live here. Now, I'm sure most people know the drama this country (and a few others) are going through right now. Construction related jobs have nearly vanished. So getting a job in Arch is nearly impossible here.
2. Even though I've never been too passionate about this job I actually only started to lose my initial interest in it only after I started working in the field. I lost interest over time as I hit a variety of difficulties which somewhat opened my eyes to the fact that maybe I just don't really like this line of work all that much. That fact that I'm currently unemployed is only making it worse.

You don't need to quit your job to do that, just rearrange priorities.

That's just it... I'm currently unemployed! Unemployment in Portugal isn't going to improve in the next few years (maybe more??) I'm considering moving to the U.S. as I have some family there to help me... Even though I could try working in my field in the U.S. I'm not sure if it's worth the considerable cost and bureaucracy that's involved in obtaining reciprocity. Hence why I'm considering a career change. Even so I am keeping my options open.

As you can see, it isn't just a career change... it's a major change in life!

[brainwash]

Sorry, I misread between the lines that you were actually getting bored with your current job and not able to reach your full potential.
If it's crisis mode then it's a completely different deal. I think you can (and should) try it now that you have time, there are a lot of online video courses from universities as well as interactive ones, completely free. They will fill in a lot of gaps that are required to land an EE job.

On a different note, I know a friend who has some colleagues at work that are electrical engineers and have tried MULTIPLE times to measure the amperage of a 220V socket. They are doing low and mid line voltage installation stuff like crane controls, security cameras, voltage regulators, not bricks&mortar.
But then again, the job markets are completely different even in countries that are next to each other.

[Architect_1077]

Sorry

No harm done, mate. I just wanted to clarify my situation as I didn't really elaborate too much.

[ddavidebor]

If you can, run to the usa!

I'm in italy, we're in the same ship (shit).

[IanB]

Even though I could try working in my field in the U.S. I'm not sure if it's worth the considerable cost and bureaucracy that's involved in obtaining reciprocity.

I can't speak specifically for architecture, but the extent of the difficulty here may depend on what kind of employment you seek. If you wish to practice in your own right, then you would need to satisfy the state licensing requirements. However, if you have a job working for an employer who can satisfy the licensing requirements corporately, you may not need to be licensed yourself. You would come under your employer's umbrella. So it may still be worth looking into.

[Anquietas]

There is a lot of talk in this thread about whether you should or should not start getting into electrical engineering (of any kind).

I find this besides the point to be frank, assuming that you are actually interested in EE. And I am speaking from the perspective of a person entirely unfamiliar with the EE subculture. If you are interested in EE, you definitely SHOULD get into it irrespective of possible job prospects in this field. Happiness through monetary means isn't particularly desirable, if it's attainable at all, and following up on your passions is always time well spent. It makes you a more interesting and useful person, which are attributes I personally value far beyond happiness. (More often than not, following up on your passions also leads to financial stability.) The Internet delivers to you the unique opportunity now to study what you have always wanted to study, no questions asked. Given that you are unemployed, it's not even like you wouldn't have the time to get into it.

And the mathematics / physics required for practical technician-level EE even at an advanced level don't go beyond second year undergraduate maths / physics, and this is within everyone's reach with some amount of effort. It's not like you wouldn't be doing that in high-school already anyway, just in a more concrete setting. I am fairly confident you can learn whatever mathematics you need to get a job done or a proper mathematical model set up in your mind for the task at hand.

You rarely if ever have to go beyond the package level of abstraction. That is, you do not need to know the specifics of a component's behavior's physical origin for the vast majority of applications. This would be an inefficient way to work, anyway, since you'd get caught up in details that are rendered irrelevant by the physical properties of your system (unless they are not, which is when things get interesting).

True mastery comes, I think, if you can freely switch between different levels of abstraction and go from the very concrete to the very abstract and back with no effort.

I suppose, the bottom line is, if you want it, do it, if you aren't sure, it's not for you.

(This is a simplification, of course, because stuff like this is never a cakewalk, but obstacles should never make a man throw away his passions.)

[Architect_1077]

Given that you are unemployed, it's not even like you wouldn't have the time to get into it.

I've already been getting into it, for around a year. Just that it's been a bit on/off, more as hobby, self-taught. Yet, in spite of this, the more I dig into electronics the more I like it.

[David_AVD]

Most areas of electronic don't require you to know heavy maths or even how things work at a really low level.

For example, some people like to know exactly why a transistor behaves like it does.  As long as I understand how to use something, I don't care exactly how it works at a molecular level.

ICs are another example.  I don't give a rats how most of them work internally, just that they do what the data sheet says.

Use the component to do what you want and move on I reckon.  There's simply too many components / products in electronics to know intimate details on all of them.  IF you did spend the time to know, you'd never have any time to do actual work!

[brainwash]

That only works for basic digital projects. Get to high speed and you have to fsctor in pcb capacitance. Go to low voltages and you have to understand offset voltage. Get an adc and you have to understand inl and dnl. These are just a few examples but to get to a professional level you have to understand a lot of this stuff. There is no subsitute, except getting bit by all of these during the years and having to go back to the book anyway.

[David_AVD]

I agree that you will need an overall increase in electronics knowledge as you get to more exotic projects.  Knowing how a transistor works internally is not the same as reading specs and taking (published) pin specifications into account when designing.

It depends on what type of gear you're involved with.  Common sense and the ability to read data sheets and use Google will get you a long way these days.  High flying engineering will require years of experience and often those people will narrow their field somewhat.

There is plenty of room for people who design and repair everyday electronics.  A passion for learning and experimenting and some patience will see you do well in most areas.

[tylerl]

I've already been getting into it, for around a year. Just that it's been a bit on/off, more as hobby, self-taught. Yet, in spite of this, the more I dig into electronics the more I like it.

While I do programming and server admin work, I've managed to turn what I do into not just a job or a hobby, but now my own company. I left my job as a programmer 7 years ago, started doing contract work, got some hosting companies as clients, and it all turned into a pretty big deal largely because I really know what I'm doing. Sure I have a degree in this, but every important skill was self-taught.

My core industry is CS rather than EE, but the same career principles apply. I'm not going to hire someone who's just trying to break in to the field (and there are lots) unless they've done some wicked-cool stuff already on their own.

And there are plenty of opportunities to do cool stuff on your own in EE.

Think of Limor Fried (adafruit). She makes a living designing and selling kits for interesting projects: clocks, robots, prototyping tools, etc. With the credibility she's built, she could probably get a EE job at any company she wanted. I'm sure the Masters Degree in EECS from MIT helps, but lots of people have those; she also has a track record in designing, building, and selling successful products without needing management oversight.

So before you give up on architecture and go passing out EE résumés, you've got to build up some creditably. And doing so is pretty simple: find something that needs to exist, invent it, design it, and sell it. Rinse and repeat. You don't need to make a fortune, you just need to make an impression. 

If you don't want to build and sell it yourself, there are lots of places that will take care of the fabrication and sales logistics for you, seeedstudio for example. All you have to do is the hard part. You probably won't get rich, but you'll at least be a credible employment candidate. Or you may make enough on your own to stay that way.

Either way, you'll spend productive time doing what you enjoy, even if you ultimately decide to keep your current career path. And that's worth something.

[Architect_1077]

And doing so is pretty simple: find something that needs to exist, invent it, design it, and sell it. Rinse and repeat. You don't need to make a fortune, you just need to make an impression.

Pretty much what I've been thinking. And you're obviously right... it's not just about holding a degree, it's about what you accomplish.