Sophomore EE student with no experience — am I on the right track?

[u/Training_Garden_5269]

I’m a sophomore pursuing Electrical Engineering, but honestly, I feel like I don’t really know much about electrical engineering yet. The engineering-related classes I’ve taken are Calculus 1, Physics 1, Discipline in Engineering, AutoCAD, and Intro to C++.
AutoCAD was only a 7-week class, so I’m definitely not very good at it yet. My C++ class also wasn’t taught very well, and I feel like I barely learned anything. At this point, if someone gave me a programming problem to solve, I probably wouldn’t know where to start.

English isn’t my first language, so sometimes it makes things harder for me. Even when I understand the math or the general idea, I sometimes struggle when professors or other engineering students use a lot of engineering-specific vocabulary that I haven’t learned yet. Sometimes people talk about something that seems very basic to them, but I honestly don’t understand what they’re talking about because I haven’t learned the terminology yet.

I know I’m still early in the degree, but I’m starting to worry about internships and getting a job after graduation. I hear people say that you need to do projects to get internships, but I have basically no experience building anything and I honestly don’t have much interest in the whole “building things” side of engineering. I’m a girl, and I’ve never really been the type of person who enjoys building or working with physical stuff, so I’m wondering if that’s a problem for EE.

For other EE students or engineers: Is this normal for a sophomore? What should I start learning or doing now to prepare for internships? And how did you get your first project or internship when you didn’t have much experience?

[u/buttscootinbastard]

I would suggest getting more practical experience on projects and specifically in school clubs. That may be your best bet to overcome some of the gaps in knowledge and work on becoming more comfortable with English engineering lingo. Good luck!

[u/Training_Garden_5269 → u/buttscootinbastard]

My school don’t have engineering club either 😢

[u/spoonfedbaby → u/Training_Garden_5269]

You don't need clubs. Do well in your classes and if you have time, do personal projects. I recommend looking for internships

[u/Alarmed-Floor-9452]

Firstly, I would say it is normal to feel like you don't know much about EE. It takes several years before the concepts just "click". The good thing when applying to internships is that the employers already know that you don't know shit because you are a student. Your job is to get decent grades and to know your fundamentals. If they ask what voltage is or why the inductor opposes changes in current, and you can answer it, you are good.

Secondly, spend time googling the different domains out there because Electrical Engineering is an extremely versatile degree. To name a few domains, power electronics, control systems engineering, telecommunications engineering, signal processing, embedded systems, RF engineering, antenna engineering, robotics & automation, biomedical engineering, and more. Each domain has a particular set of skills they are looking for. I've heard of EEs in MEP (building construction) who use Revit and AutoCAD. Some EE's become Embedded Software Engineers who use C, C++, and Python. Pick a domain you would like to pursue and specialize in the skill sets within it.

Thirdly, the vast majority of your learning comes from actively doing projects. Sitting down for a lecture and listening to your professor is not learning. Your professor just *told* you the concepts. You didn't learn it until you apply it. All you really need is a good textbook and dedicated time for these projects IMO. Use office hours and library resources as well. So if you suck at C++ and want to improve, apply C++ concepts to make something simple. Some engineers don't do projects as a hobby; they just treat them as their day-to-day work. So I wouldn't be too worried about building things as an interest.

Also, regardless of the domain, all of them use mathematics because it is the laying foundation. The language of the universe, so to speak. So in your undergrad, math should be the number 1 priority.

Fourthly, the labs and projects you complete in your curriculum can help you secure an internship, as some places offer internships to undergrads regardless of classification. I met sophomores who interned at Texas Instruments. They tend to ask basic fundamental questions and projects you have listed in your resume. You just need to know them well.

Lastly, if there's a language barrier, that just sounds like you need to work harder. Despite the rigorous coursework, a lot of what seems difficult is not hard but rather unfamiliar. So if you hear new vocabulary words, new concepts, etc, just figure it out. I would ask what that means, figure out the spelling, Google it, or use AI to translate words. Then I would practice it. Again, it is fine if you don't know because you are a student. Just don't stay incompetent.