Forever learning

Read the datasheet, the app note, and the errata for every part you use. Fill gaps with free university courses, and join your IEEE student branch. Take the FE exam near graduation if you might want a PE license. Once you work, ask whether your employer pays for classes. Keep building, and write down what you learn. The graduate study page covers when a master's or PhD pays off, and the professional societies page covers what each society costs and gives you.

Read the part's documents

An application note shows how to use a part in a circuit. Alex's buck converter is a good match for TI's app note on buck converter power stage math (opens in a new tab). It gives the formulas for a buck converter with an integrated switch in continuous conduction mode. Work those formulas by hand before you trust a simulation.

An errata sheet lists where the silicon does not match the datasheet. The MSP430F5529 errata sheet (opens in a new tab) describes the chip's known exceptions to its functional specifications, one advisory at a time. Check the errata before you debug firmware that looks right and still fails. Match the advisories to your chip's revision marking.

Take free courses

MIT OpenCourseWare (opens in a new tab) publishes materials from more than 2,500 MIT courses for free. Three of them cover the core of an EE degree:

• 6.002 Circuits and Electronics (opens in a new tab) is, as taught in 2007, a first course in an undergraduate EE or EECS curriculum.
• 6.003 Signals and Systems (opens in a new tab) covers Fourier, Laplace, and Z transforms, sampling, and linear time-invariant systems.
• 6.004 Computation Structures (opens in a new tab) covers gates, instruction set design, and pipelined systems.

MIT has renumbered these courses since. 6.002 is now 6.2000, 6.003 is now 6.3000, and 6.004 is now 6.1910 (opens in a new tab). OCW says MIT does not offer credit or certification to users of OCW (opens in a new tab), so use the courses to fill gaps.

Pick the course behind the part of your job or project you understand least. Work the problem sets as well as the lectures.

If you are getting ready for a master's or PhD, follow the getting into graduate study page. It points back here for these courses.

Be careful with lists of "free Harvard courses" and the like. Most such courses are free to audit, and the certificate costs money. CS50 is the exception (opens in a new tab), with a free certificate from CS50 itself and a paid one from edX. Before a course goes on your resume, check who made it and finish it. List it under education, never under certifications, and keep the list short. One commenter on an Ask a Manager open thread (opens in a new tab) suggests not filling a resume with a long list of little trainings and certificates. If a list of courses carries links that earn the author a commission, the FTC says "paid link" right next to the link is an adequate disclosure (opens in a new tab). A list with no disclosure and a sales pitch is an ad.

Join IEEE

IEEE offers student membership (opens in a new tab) and supports student branches at many schools. If your school has a branch, go to its meetings and talks. The professional societies page covers which ones to join, the honor societies, and the convention career fairs.

The FE exam and the PE license

A professional engineer (PE) license lets you sign and seal engineering drawings. NCEES says only a licensed engineer can prepare, sign, seal, and submit them (opens in a new tab).

NCEES lists the usual path (opens in a new tab). The license figure on this page shows it in the order you do it.

The usual path to a PE license

Four steps in order. One, a bachelor's degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program. Two, the FE exam, taken early, close to finishing the degree or as a recent graduate. Three, about four years of work experience, as most states require. Four, the PE exam. A PE license lets you sign and seal engineering drawings.

1. 1

   Bachelor's degree

   From an ABET-accredited engineering program.

2. 2

   FE exam

   Take it early, close to finishing your degree or as a recent graduate.

3. 3

   Work experience

   About four years, as most states require.

4. 4

   PE exam

   A PE license lets you sign and seal engineering drawings.

Your state board sets the final rules. Sources: NCEES on licensure (opens in a new tab) and NCEES on the FE exam (opens in a new tab).

The BLS says licensure is not required for entry-level electrical and electronics engineer positions (opens in a new tab), and that several states require continuing education to keep a license. Read this section if you might want a PE license.

If you might want a PE, take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam early. NCEES designs the FE exam (opens in a new tab) for recent graduates and for students close to finishing an ABET-accredited degree. It is a computer-based exam of 110 questions, offered year-round at Pearson test centers.

The PE Electrical and Computer exam (opens in a new tab) comes in three versions: Computer Engineering, Electronics, Controls, and Communications (ECC), and Power. NCEES gives Computer Engineering and ECC once a year, and Power year-round. NCEES designs the exam for engineers with at least four years of work experience after college. Your state board sets the final rules, so check its requirements before you register.

Employer tuition help

Ask about tuition help before you accept an offer, and again once you start. IRS Publication 15-B (opens in a new tab) lets an employer pay up to $5,250 a year of an employee's education costs tax-free, but only under an educational assistance program, which is a separate written plan. Graduate courses count, and so do student-loan payments. Above $5,250 the pay is taxable unless it counts as a working condition benefit. The section on how students pay on the graduate study page has what large engineering employers pay above that line.

Keep building and keep notes

Build a project that pushes on what you learned least in school.

Keep a notebook for every build. Write down the part number, the measurement, the instrument, and what broke. Alex writes the date and the board revision on every page, so each number traces back to a test. Those notes become your resume lines and your interview answers. The section on your projects, line by line on the how to interview page lists the questions they answer.