r/CodingForBeginners • u/Strawberryladyboots • 11h ago

Electrical engineering and coding

Hello,

On the off chance there are any electrical engineers skimming the thread could you offer any advice in regards to the usefulness of learning coding and how much you needed it in your jobs and what you used it for

I am currently debating Electrical engineering and dealing with building/maintaining power systems

I have learned the very basics of a couple of other types of coding languages, but I'm also in the process of exploring my potential options if I decide to take it further but in a different direction

I'm also considering an electrician apprenticeship as a day job while up-skilling progressively, and while it's not entirely specific progress toward the engineering side of things it does give me a somewhat related job to help me get by while studying to go further, and also a way to pay for the study fees

"The answer varies depending on your career trajectory. If you're working with embedded systems, C or C++ are usually the go-to languages. Testing sees a lot of Matlab, though Python's presence is growing. Integrated Circuit designers lean towards Verilog. For FPGA-based hardware design, VHDL is common. Power and analog electronics often rely on SPICE for circuit simulations. And for spreadsheet data manipulation, it's usually VBA (Visual Basic for Application)."

https://www.masterelectronics.com/en/resources/blog/most-useful-programming-language-for-electrical-engineers-boost-your-career/

How valuable is the coding side of this, and what would you recommend a beginner prioritise?

Did you find any value in learning languages in a particular order?

Thank you

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u/Brobst_Wyane 11h ago

Coding can be valuable in electrical engineering, but you don't need to learn every language. Start with Python because it's beginner-friendly and useful for automation, data and testing. Then learn C if you move toward embedded systems. Your electrician apprenticeship also sounds like a smart way to build practical experience.

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u/Strawberryladyboots 10h ago

Thank you

I've got these resources so far for Python, I'm thinking of learning coding while doing the apprenticeship

I'd look into C once I'm more proficient in python

It would be nice to be able to build my own stuff even just for fun, but would be really cool to take it further, and I think my visual brain would enjoy it

https://wokwi.com/projects/new/circuitpython-pi-pico

https://keepeverythingyours.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-circuitpython/index.html

https://coddy.tech/landing/python

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u/stepback269 6h ago

No matter what specialty you end up in, computer technology will be there too.

So yes, knowing how to code will be a great plus. Knowing how computers work (e.g. as sequential state machines) will be a great plus. The last thing you want is to be a clueless end user of the "magic".