OpenAI claims their new GPT 6 Astra model is good for PCB layouts. Thoughts from those who've done this manually?

Source: https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-astra/

I went back to school at 30 years old, and here I am 33 now, 4th year & down to my last 10 classes & just applied for graduation. Did it all while working full time as a maintenance worker and also a parent. Hell of a feeling to see it through. Also had an interview for a systems engineer position which is pending.

I’ 23 YO, and I recently graduated with a B.S. in Software Engineering and am considering an online MSEE/MSECE to pivot into electrical engineering.

I’m currently working a state government tech internship and will likely have the opportunity to continue remotely as a contractor. I’ve realized I don’t really want to pursue traditional software engineering long-term. I’d be interested in embedded/firmware, but I don’t want to limit myself to those areas either.

My main concern is: Would a B.S. in Software Engineering + M.S. in EE/ECE qualify me for traditional EE roles, or would not having a BSEE still be a major issue with employers?

A master’s is much more attractive to me than a second bachelor’s because it would be cheaper, faster (~2 years), and fully online, allowing me to continue working full-time while completing it.

The particular program I’m looking at is also interesting because the degree used to be an MSEE but was recently renamed to an MSECE. From what I understand, the curriculum is largely the same and is highly customizable depending on the area you want to pursue. Does the MSEE vs. MSECE title actually matter to employers if I tailor most of my coursework toward traditional EE subjects?

I know I’ll be missing some of the undergraduate EE foundation. Before starting, I’m planning to study circuits, electronics, signals and systems, digital logic, electromagnetics, and engineering math. I’d appreciate recommendations for other subjects/resources I should use to prepare.

I’m willing to put in the work to catch up and build relevant projects/experience. I mainly want to know whether BSSWE → MSEE/MSECE is a realistic path into the broader EE field, or whether the lack of a BSEE would make a second bachelor’s worth the extra time and cost.
Would especially appreciate input from EEs who have made a similar transition or have been involved in hiring.

tl;dr
Have a bachelor’s in software engineering, industry and job market cooked. Could i realistically transition into EE with a MSEE/ECE?

*Edit*

*I work afternoons, 3pm-11:30pm and make roughly $80k a year currently.

I’m sure this has been asked numerous times before but my situation isn’t entirely typical.

I’m 27, I have a decent paying full time job as an Electronics Tech. I don’t have any college level courses taken. I’ve been playing around with micro electronics for a while now and really want to go after an Electrical Engineering degree with a focus on microelectronics.

I don’t expect my current occupation to last forever (6-10 years from now we could downsize) and I’d like to progress from where I’ve been for the last 7-8 years, (which is in the industrial maintenance field).

My state offers to pay for the cost of community college and once I would transfer to a university they’ll pay up to $5,500 per year for me to continue into finishing a Bachelors.

I have to be full time student but I also cannot leave the job I have, I’ve worked too hard to be here and would have to be a full time worker and student to qualify for the grant from the state.

What’s the outlook for Electrical Engineers in the future? Will the market be able to sustain employing a new wave of graduates with the rise in AI? I’ve heard so many conflicting things it sounds like fear mongering and I don’t want to continue to be discouraged any longer. Does it seem to make sense to pursue this degree and how does the job market seem for those who are working in this field and whom are looking for current jobs?

What are the recommended sources (textbooks, application notes, etc.) where one can learn how to design EMC filter, sine filters, AC chokes, DC-Link chokes, etc. for Inverters and rectifiers with and without regenerative capacity?

I am looking for more than just matching current and power from inverter OEM list. I want to be able to fully understand the effect of these device in the circuit and determine their parameters like inductance per phase myself.

My goal is to be able to calculate them for special cases like multiple inverters sharing a DC Link or installations with particularly long DC-Link cables or AC-3phase cables.

Hey all. I saw a recent post asking about job hopping in the engineering career and I was curious what people perceived as job hopping. Is it less than 3 month, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years? Do most people factor in stuff like, risks the engineering took to take the job, pay raises, moving across country. Or do most just look at the pure numbers of time at companies?

Hi all! I am looking to learn more about EMI Shielding and EMI itself. Does anybody have any recs for articles or textbooks to dig into to get a better understanding? If it matters, I work in the Aerospace field so this would directly apply to components in aircraft.

I finally have an update on my instrument panel project. A lot has changed, and a lot still needs to be done. While I was able to mount (tape) the LCDs into the cardboard, the LED’s legs are too thin to put jumper wires on, so they’re just in the breadboard.

What’s changed:

The power supply had to be rebuilt since someone didn’t notice a broken wire when testing. The demo code has been almost entirely replaced with actual functional tasks. I’ve put in all the logic shifter circuits on, currently only for the light switches. There are functional turn signal indicators and high and low beam indicators. The oil, temp, and fuel gauges are controlled by potentiometers that have a similar resistance to the factory sensors and have warning lights that change color depending on how close to the min and max values it is. The volts gauge is tied to Vin, which for now is not adjustable.

What still needs to be done:

The gauges need to be recalibrated, since through all the versions and testing the ranges are no longer accurate. Hazard lights still need to be wired up. Still need to build the power On/Off switch. The LCDs still need to be programed to display mileage readings but before that can be done, the speedometer needs to be programed which requires a separate test rig to generate a simulated VSS sensor signal. The tachometer also needs to be programmed, which also needs a separate test rig. Also need to setup the current sensors for the exterior bulb fault detection, but my current bench power supply does not put out enough current to drive all the exterior lights. And finally a speaker and amplifier to generate the turn signal clicks and warning tones for the gauges.

So there’s still a lot to do but there is progress. Soon I hope to actually start working the final version with custom gauge face, PCB, and housing. As with before here is a link to the GitHub if anyone wants it.

i'm pretty new to electronics and all that stuff but my question is why would i ever need to use a relay or a transistor with a switch instead of just directly wiring the switch to whatever i need

I’m troubleshooting a small 120VAC reversible conveyor motor that has started eating direction relays. The machine is around 20 years old and this only recently became a recurring problem.

The motor uses two windings with a 6uF capacitor between them. A SPDT relay switches the 120VAC feed between the two sides of the motor/capacitor circuit to change direction.

The relay is an Omron G2R-1-S with a 24VDC coil. The failure is consistently on the NO contact. I opened one of the failed relays and found obvious arcing/burning between the NO stationary contact and the movable contact. I also watched a replacement relay while the machine was cycling and actually saw it arc during operation.

Running current is only around 0.2A and is essentially the same in both directions. The motor runs normally once the relay makes contact.

I initially suspected the PLC/sensor was causing the direction relay to chatter, but after watching it cycle, that doesn’t appear to be happening. The motor power relay also drops out before the direction relay transfers so the motor is not being intentionally reversed while still connected to line voltage.

At this point I’m thinking the problem is transient/contact stress from switching the reactive motor circuit. Even with the line disconnected, there is still energy in the motor windings and capacitor, plus the motor is still physically spinning when the direction relay transfers.

Interestingly, Oriental Motor recommends an RC suppressor for their reversible motors specifically to protect the forward/reverse switching contacts. Their EPCR1201-2 is 120 ohm + 0.1uF. This machine does not have one installed.

My current plan is to replace the damaged relay, add the OEM RC suppressor, and increase the delay in the PLC before the motor power relay turns back on after a direction change by about 200ms.

What I’m trying to understand is why this setup apparently worked for roughly 20 years before suddenly starting to destroy relay contacts.

Could aging of the motor/capacitor or a change in motor coast-down/back EMF make the switching transient significantly worse even though running current still looks normal? Is there anything else you would measure or look at before calling the lack of suppression the likely cause?

Hello All,

I am doubt right now, as a manager is going on leave and company offer me to act on their behalf for 2 months,

Now question is should i be doing it ? is there any benefit of doing that in terms of career progression. As i know managing meaning going far off from Technical work.

Yes i have acted on their behalf for 3 weeks before.

I dont understand as there is few other good people out there internally for them to go with( although they are from diff department i would consider them way more qualified then me). Also the way they approached this time was bit suspected ( as no incentive was offered, last time it was offered). Few things about me started as electrical grad Eng, title changed after a year(same with company since last 2 year) small company. Please let me know your thoughts. TIA

Hi all, I came here to ask if getting a Masters degree next year would be something worth pursuing or if I’ll be fine without it based on my circumstances. If the pros outweigh the cons and will be beneficial, I will consider.

Im graduating next year (EE), I have a job offer signed and my starting salary is +2.5% above the city average and +3.7% above the state average for my role. I have 1.5-2 years of internship experience.

Some reasons why Im back and forth on pursuing a Masters:

Ive seen more value placed on passing the FE and PE, and hearing people say a Masters doesnt matter that much. I dont want to get into research roles, phd, etc., im more interested in utilities. I want to keep my debt low as well unless theres a higher ROI having a masters. Lastly, im an average student.. Im not a 4.0 student nor a mathematician, sometimes even struggling with the basics here and there. I just work really hard so I can have a better life and would not want to waste time and energy pursuing a masters degree that might not matter too much in the field. I thought about degrees outside of EE to pursue outside of graduation but idkkk.

Any thoughts/ideas are welcome

As titled states.....

Could be USA / Canada based.

I made this diy air purifier. The filter is from MI and fan is AC motor with metal body.

I want to know how to control the fan speed? which controller or regulator is right for this fan. Want to make sure it does not overheat or something when running for long hours using a speed controller.

fan link https://www.hicoolfans.com/products/compact-fans-ac.htm Adding pics for reference.

So hey everyone recently i decide to learn pcb design so i enrolled in a masterclass and when he start to explain i can't understand anything .

Considering that i graduated from high school this year sooo tell me how to start should i start by learning Electronics basics or what ?

I had to retake my basic programming in C course and now I’ve moved onto a more complicated assembly based microcontrollers class.

I feel like I underestimated how much of this major is just coding, and I still feel like I understand essentially nothing. It’s the only subject that makes me feel completely stupid and I’ve been to dozens of office hours. Thinking about how difficult this class is going to be to even pass let alone actually memorize any of the information for my career is overwhelming.

Hello, this is my first 4 layer pcb so i wanted someone to review it
1 image shows the pcb without any copper planes, 2 is pcb woth copper planes, 3-6 shows each of the layers on their own. I have signal traces and gnd on top and bottom layer, middle layers are only 5v plane and 12v plane and no signals.

I’m currently a senior going to graduate in May. I’ve done 3 internships and the first one I did at a small firm that’s owned/managed by a family friend. Since I’ve interned there the firm has rapidly expanded (30->~100 employees) after the owner was able to score several multi-year, multi-million dollar projects with companies building data centers. The guy who owns the company is begging me to come back and work for him full time on graduation because he has so much work that needs to be done. I’ve had two large corporate internships since I worked there and honestly they kinda made me not look forward to being an engineer on the flip side of that the guy who owned the small firm was genuinely the best boss/manager I’ve ever had. Is it worth jumping into a company early while it’s still growing or just joining a large firm and working until retirement?

https://github.com/Tech-athirst/electronics/tree/main/New_flappy_bird the design

so i was revising transformers i cant seem to understand what flux is can someone please explain it to me

Context: In my project I need microcontroller to read battery voltage and for that I need a voltage divider.

Is there an optimal resistance for voltage dividers? Addind resistance would lower the power consumption, so that's a plus, but I guess that at some point readings would be unreliable. Let's say, I want to divide voltage by 4. should entire ladder be 40k, maybe 40M?

I’m a high schooler wanting to major in electrical but like holy voltage and current are genuinely so weird. Wdym you can “pull current”. Like is current not the same across the whole circuit or likeee. And I can understand a constant voltage source but how tf does a constant current source even work. Like genuinely you guys have to be larping bc wtf is even happening

Is it just gg for me in college 😭😭😭

I'm currently ~60 credits into my BSE in EE, with goals of going into a music technology career building interfaces, synthesizers, mixers, etcetera. Although I'm technically halfway through my degree, I'm a returning student and had to go through the math gauntlet again, meaning I still have another 4-5 semesters left. My college (ASU) offers a "4+1" program where you can take both undergrad and grad classes simultaneously, leaving your MSE to only be a year long.

Does anyone have any advice on whether this would be beneficial for my prospective career? Especially since the field I want to go into is kind of "niche." I just don't know anyone with a Master's in EE, and I don't have any contacts to people in this field just yet. I also plan on going the PE route once I graduate, unless that's also an uninformed decision.

If you have any other advice, please leave it below. Thanks!

Hello all,

Just thought I’d ask your guys’ opinion on two offers I have received (sorry, I enjoy SWE quite a bit; and some digital design!):

Offer 1
- F500 Defense Company (~25k employees)
- $90k w/ industry-standard benefits
- Direct Hire
- Full-Time SWE (React, JavaScript)
- Public Trust Clearance

Offer 2
- Small Defense Company (~100 Employees)
- Contracted for $125k via staffing company lacking benefits
- 12-month contract, but could convert to Full-Time for ~$100k w/ above average benefits afterwards, only if company would like to keep me
- Electrical Engineer (Time potentially split between Embedded C, DevOps, WebDev, FPGA)
- Secret Clearance

Previously i had internships doing Front-End dev and FPGA work at defense companies.

What is the better opportunity for me, as someone who can still work while living at home and cares about job stability? The contract position or the Full-Time position? As far as the near future, does the brand name matter? As much as I may like staying at either company, I do anticipate that I will want to leave within a few years to jump to “tech giants” doing some form of software or embedded development (assuming I prepare enough)