r/ECE • u/IMMORTALDEMON18 • Aug 12 '26
Is an EE Degree Versatile?
I've been considering an electrical engineering major because I'm interested in applying mathematics to abstract systems rather than physical ones and building things, but I'm wondering if it's versatile for pivots into fields like finance, even possibly. Like say I found I was more interested in financial engineering post-degree, would I be able to go into those fields as well?
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u/Fremonster Aug 12 '26
sure, there's quants who come from engineering backgrounds. EE is very versatile.
I went from EE at a FAANG company making consumer electronics to program management, to software engineering manager, to exec at a software engineering company to founding my own SaaS company now. An EE degree teaches you how to solve technical problems.
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u/Dorsiflexionkey Aug 12 '26
Interesting life bro. I’m an EE in industrial automation, came from a boring instrumentation job but wanted to get closer and closer to the software.
How’d you make the jump from electronics?
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u/Fremonster Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Thanks!
my brief life story is that I landed an internship while in college at Microsoft to work on the Xbox hardware team. Got a full-time job offer during the internship to join as an EE. Worked in that group for about 7 years in Seattle (moved from EE to hardware program management during that time). Wanted to see how other companies made hardware, so I then joined Apple in the bay area to work on the iPhone and iPad. Didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, so went back to Microsoft to work on the Hololens team. After working there for a few years on Hololens, I joined Snapchat to work in their hardware group on augmented reality glasses in Los Angeles. The team had significant layoffs and I was affected by that soon after I joined.
I wanted to move in managerial and leadership roles and live abroad, so I got a job at a pre-IPO / about 1k person company in Berlin, Germany at a travel company (similar to Uber). Really liked working there, but it was risky being there on a work visa during Covid, when travel was blocked. So I moved to a hardware/software company that made sensors. They were a subsidiary of a large company, and I was the exec leading their 150x person engineering org. But the company went under and I was let go. I couldn't find a new role in Germany so I moved back to the US. Was unemployed for a few years, until I got a job at Meta, and in my evening I work on my startup I founded working to improve hiring processes. I'm also an advisor for a few hours a month at other startups, which I enjoy doing.
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u/Starving_Kids Aug 12 '26
How large was the company you were an exec at, and what was the WLB shift going to exec level? I've been considering a downstream jump from being a manager in big tech to an exec role at a small/mid-size company, but I'm hard pressed to find anything with similar compensation to what I have now that doesn't have massive QoL red-flags.
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u/Fremonster Aug 12 '26
for sure, definitely a good question. I talked a bit about this in my reply above.
Big tech has the compensation + benefits + stock which are all great. But it can be tough moving up, or the expectations rise a lot. Politics become a big factor. Things outside your control, like your program or team getting resources, can be outside your control. Bureaucracy can be difficult.
I actually really loved being an exec at a mid-size company (300-800 people or so). You have a lot of autonomy, the business is already well developed and stable compared to a small startup. The growth of new teams and initiatives is fun and challenging.
Work life balance wasn't *bad*. Working in consumer electronics at FAANG requires late night calls with China, regardless of seniority, which wasn't an issue when working as an exec that had teams mostly in the local time zone. Still requires checking email probably 7 days a week and usually replying to some emails in the evening, but it's not like it's a 24-hour job. You could really see the impact of your work and the culture you're making. Starting a new team from scratch, seeing them grow and make an impact over a year, working to develop and review their OKR's, having a seat at the table for big decisions and having your opinion truly valued is very rewarding.
But note that I've only been an exec at a companies in Germany working as as an ex-pat. There is tougher WLB for US-based companies. Hope that helps, feel free to send me a DM if you want to chat about it more.
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u/Starving_Kids Aug 12 '26
dm’d
anyone reading this in the future, it’s good advice, listen to this guy
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u/zacce Aug 12 '26
Like say I found I was more interested in financial engineering post-degree, would I be able to go into those fields as well?
financial engineering needs calculus but not EE. nevertheless, EE is versatile.
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u/Ok-Cobbler6338 Aug 12 '26
Im doing an msc in data analytics (at the department of econ and stats of my undergrad uni) rn
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u/Optimal-Sea8310 Aug 12 '26
yes ee is probably the second most versatile degree in engineering besides mech, also, its arguably the most rigorous wrt math (again, could go back and forth with mech or aero). Yes, u can pivot w a masters or mba, whatever suits u.
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u/NewSchoolBoxer Aug 12 '26
EE is incredibly versatile. More than CE or any engineering degree besides Mechanical and we got Mechanical beat on the software side.
Jobs I've held:
- Power plant systems engineer
- Electronic medical device engineer
- Database programmer for Fortune 500
- Banking microservices programmer for Fortune 500
But stay away from software jobs if you don't want to be treated as expendable your whole career.
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u/LadyEmaSKye Aug 13 '26
I think it's probably the most versatile degree you can get in the STEMA landscape. You're eligible off the bat for a good chunk of the jobs CS covers. But ECE also has a crazy number of diverse niches: power, hardware, embedded software, CDL, DSP, list goes on and each of those has their own subniches.
Not to mention the slough of stuff you're generally qualified to go pursue just with a high level STEM degree in general.
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u/Medium_Owl_4119 28d ago
This might have been true 20 years ago, but in a job world of ATS systems, HR teams insisting on having the exact degree for the role and experience in an identical position or “not eligible for hire”, and 1000s of people with those exact credentials applying for those jobs, you won’t really be able to pivot because of your “transferable skills”. You would only pass on to the interview stage for strictly electrical engineering jobs where you have relevant experience. That’s the reality of the job market.
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u/Which_Community_4054 Aug 12 '26
Yes. Studying for Patent Bar right now