(Engineering) Career advise from the Gurus

[Tina10]

I have been offered a place in the UNI where I can do one of the following :
------BEng EEE (Electrical & Electronics Engineering) (http://prospectus.lsbu.ac.uk/courses...SCode=H600%20-)
OR
------BEng TeCNE (Telecommunications and computer networks engineering) (http://prospectus.lsbu.ac.uk/courses...?UCASCode=H640)

I would like some insight into these two subjects from the people who've 'been there and done that'. Which Engineering requires more hands on work, building stuff that works and does something and money at the end. Which field provides more opportunity towards being self-employed? Which one is harder to study (comparatively among the two)? How has been your experience upto now if you are from one of the above field. Your inputs will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Charlie]

I think EEE offers a wider range of job possibilities.
Having spent a long career in telecom and IT, I think the space is saturated with experienced people and will be for some time to come, making jobs for new grads few and highly competitive. If I was restarting my career today, I'd target medical electronics - medical sensors, instruments, monitors, prostetics, and similar. With an aging population bubble desperate to extend life and improve comfort and independence, the next 20 - 30 years will have this as it's biggest growth area, similar to telecom in the 80's and 90's.

[Tina10]

Thanks Charlie. It is very important for someone in my position to gather as much info as possible and I call upon all the experts here in these fields to comment here. I am sure there are many students looking for guidance which they cannot find at home or find it hard to get the correct information. I hope my post will help many in my position to take the right decision for future. Thanks again.

[Pista1]

I can second the opinion that the medical instrumentation field is a promising direction for brand new career seekers. Having spent over thirty years in the medical instrumentation field dealing with hundreds of different devices I still find it fascinating and challenging. Make no mistake, this is a huge and varied field where none of us can know everything. You may work on amplifiers where the input is only tens of micro Volts or X-ray machines where the 100KV is not uncommon. Of course everywhere are computers, software and microchips. You’d better also know IT networking, at least on a casual level. Medical physics and medical imaging are advanced fields that stand on their own.
Some knowledge of anatomy and biology is also a must. Presently in the US at least it is hard to recruit knowledgeable new job candidates.
Here is a link to the AAMI which is one of the professional associations dealing with medical instrumentation, new happenings, standards, jobs etc.
http://www.aami.org/

[Tina10]

Thanks Pista1. I am also more inclined to do EEE rather than Telecom. But every opinion counts for me. I can't see any medical field related modules but I guess I am just being naive as I shouldn't expect a module but all knowledge from EEE will count towards it. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Pista1]

Yes you are right: electrical engineering knowledge provides a base for the medical equipment field. I myself started off my career as such along with ninety percent of my colleagues.
There is a catch however. Newly graduated engineers sometimes cannot find jobs because of lack of experience.
I recommend that while you are studying try to find some company where they will let you do professionally related volunteer work to gain real life experience and get to know people and make contacts.
This and the previous posting are meant to be just general advice since I am not familiar with the situation in the UK.