Electronics career in the UK

[esaglik]

Engineers out there! I'm studying in the uk and have just finished my a levels, waiting for my results and fingers crossed I'll start my electronics and computer engineering course at Nottingham uni in October assuming I've got the grades. I chose this degree because electronics is something I am
passionate about and really love working with. It's more like a hobby than work and I really love it! Given that was my reasoning I didn't really look into what the job market was like for the subject. What's it like finding a job out there at the moment? Any insight would be greatly appreciated

 

[ZekeR]

Re: Electronics Careers.

From my limited perspective, this is what I think...

If you're passionate, then you are (or will become) good. And if you're good at what you do, then you're pretty much guaranteed to get a job—even in a field where there "are no jobs." So, I would argue, don't even worry about it.

I didn't answer your question yet though: how is the job market? In my (very limited) experience, the job market for electronics engineers is so-so at the moment... it's not super hot (like web devs), but it's also not super cold (like nuclear engineering). It's reasonable.

I think that increasingly, it will become more difficult for employers to find the electrical engineering talent they need for their projects. Why? Because programming/comp sci is attracting young talent away from EE. Many of the best EE's are hobbyists, who got their start in Ham radio, kits and the like. These were popular decades ago, but their popularity has died down considerably. Today, most hobbyists are programmers, and couldn't be bothered to build an op-amp circuit (unless it's a simple circuit to interface with their Arduino). So, the old workforce that grew up on Ham radios is aging and reaching retirement, leaving a considerable talent void in the electronics world. I think in the next decade or two, that although EE won't ever be quite as glamorous as it once was, its practitioners will be quite well-off due to their scarcity and high demand.

I could be way off the mark here; history has a funny way of proving everybody's expectations wrong—over and over again. But that's my 2¢. I wonder what input others have?

Hope this helps!