The modern age has brought us many exciting choices when it comes to our work lives and careers. From finance, to medicine, computers, planning and invention our career options are nearly endless. For those with strong analytical skills and a desire to work independently on projects from planning to completion, jobs in electronics offer many exciting career options.
Modern electronics truly started in the late 1800s with the invention of the incandescent light bulb. Thomas Edison used electricity as the basis for multiple modern inventions-from the telegraph to the electric motor-that have enabled the world to advance and our standard of living to greatly increase. By the light of the burning bulb, Electrical/Electronics engineering was born. Engineers have built upon Mr. Edison’s legacy and over the past 100 years turned the simplicity of electricity into the complexity of modern electronics. The eventual creation of the semiconductor chip brought electronics to the next level with the advent of the home computer and our increasing portable lives and electronics. There are many different avenues which jobs in electronics can be pursued. Here are three of the major branches with brief descriptions.
o Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Depending on the focus of education, engineers apply scientific and mathematical theories and principles to solve technical problems from the transmission of power to low power applications such as telecommunications and various media. This specialty nearly always requires advanced degrees and thorough on the job training.
o Electronic-Component Processors
This specialty varies widely from the preparation of materials to the operation and repair of electronically controlled equipment in factories and other industries. Many of these positions can be obtained with a high school diploma and solid work history.
o Electronics Repairers
Modify or repair various industrial equipment which requires electronics to operate. From the assembly line to testing circuitry and equipment. Due to the need for advanced knowledge of electrical theory a formal degree or training program is usually the required first step.
Many find that jobs in electronics bring the opportunity to use both their intellect and their hands. The work can vary from the very clean, in that you are working mainly in planning offices or in “clean rooms” in manufacturing facilities, to the very hands-on, where you are working in an industrial location, out in the field or even under a machine to repair them dealing with the potential of heat, humidity and dirt.
Advancement opportunities can be found for electronics specialists if they pursue advanced education and show outstanding leadership potential. Electronics may not be one of the most pursued occupations currently, but this fact could actually lead to greater opportunities for those with the interest in electricity and electronics and the desire to better themselves through formal training and education.
Growth in jobs in electronics is predicted throughout the next few decades as many of our current experts retire and more of our lives become automated.