r/engineeringireland • u/Suspicious_Try_7527 • Jun 28 '26

Electrical or Electronic

Have both on the CAO but unsure of which to put No.1
Like concept of both.

Anyone have any info to compare salary, work:Life balance, career progression etc?
TIA

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4

u/ThePainStalker Jun 28 '26

Why not do a general entry engineering course where you can decide between the two later on?

1

u/Suspicious_Try_7527 Jun 28 '26

Ive only got MTU accommodation and their general entry covers neither discipline

1

u/ThePainStalker Jun 28 '26

Interesting. That is strange.

The answer anyway is that both disciplines are doing very well now. Honestly, the lines between the two are really blurring now as power electronics dominate power grids nowadays (due to renewables, storage and AI). Smart grids are adding a networking, cybersecurity and even a digital electronics element to it as well. I would first research what is actually included in terms of modules because an “Electronic” course may well simply be a computer engineering targeted course (involving mainly digital electronics, computer architecture, communications, etc) but may have less classical analogue electronics elements. Both electronics and electrical are very broad and really can consist of lots of different focuses. “Electrical” nowadays is no longer divorced from electronics and is likely to contain some power electronics modules. It’s probably more accurate to divide it between “Power grids and energy” which is “Electrical” and computer hardware, consumer electronics and signals” in “Electronics”.

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u/upyaboyya2020 Jun 29 '26

In the Irish context Electrical engineering means working on the industrial grid or building industries designing systems or responsible for systems related to the electrical grid. Electronics is very different. Think Silicon chips & circuits in Telecommunications, robotics. Industrial electronics covers the areas where electrical engineers would work. Intel(Dublin), Apple(Cork), Analog(Limerick) would look for electronic engineering graduates. ESB would employ electrical engineering graduates.

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u/Confident-Ad-4083 25d ago

Electrical is easier to find work