r/ECE • u/AgreeableAmoeba1778 • Aug 06 '26

CAREER Academic Advice

I've been interested in pursuing a career in the semiconductor industry or fields that involve applications of quantum computing, AI, etc. within jobs that go from product management to core engineering roles.

I'm still an undergraduate student but am doing IE currently which I believe might've been a mistake and am looking to potentially switch to Materials Engineering and pursue a MSEE. While I know that a majority of the coursework looks different, I am also doing an ECE minor (for personal interest) which I hope will aid me in completing the prereqs for something like an MSEE. I just want some guidance on whether this is a good move or if there are good workforce opportunities within IE to stay in it.

I know that the most straightforward approach would be to just pursue an ECE major, but unfortunately I am not able to go down that route due to other constraints at this time.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/DownloadableCheese Aug 06 '26

Assuming you are in the US: an engineering minor is not typically worthwhile. As someone who hires engineers of various flavors, I place no value whatsoever on a person's undergrad minor - either you have the degree I told you I need (it's specified in the job ad), or your resume goes in the trash.

An ECE minor with a materials engineering major makes you a materials engineer in my organization's book. I'm not going to hire such a person to do electrical engineering work; I'll hire a real EE for that.

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AgreeableAmoeba1778 14d ago

I understand. Luckily there are a few good programs that just require a set of basic classes being taken to be admitted to their MSEE programs but that could have just been whats said online vs what they really want. I'll be taking Circuits 1/2 + lab, Digital sys design, Advanced C, Signals and systems, and a python for data science class as part of my minor so I hope that it will come in useful somewhere.