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Is electronic engineering dead?

cstanton

I saw this question on Reddit, and I figured it was a good one to ask the element14 Community as a thought provoking query that may be on new engineering students minds:

"If we consider only circuit design for PCBs, almost all the complexity is moving toward integrated circuits (chip and modules) and/or in code for FPGA or microcontrollers/microprocessors. The role of hardware engineers is still important, because of PCB layout and BOMs, but from the hardware design point of view is almost all already done, just pick a component, read the datasheet and copy the reference design. I’m simplifying, I know, finding the right component is not easy at all, but it seems the hardware engineer role is just reduced to searching and connecting modules. Only IC designers delve into the complexity of hardware design. Do you agree with me or can you explain why I’m wrong, please?

My question arises because I’m considering whether or not to move to hardware design from firmware. Currently, I’ve a master's in Electronic Engineering but I’m working as a firmware designer for microcontrollers."

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  • I don't think it's dead. I think that the popularity of Arduino and other platforms made electronics a lot more accessible, and this has created a huge market for "ready-made" modules and prototyping platforms that are either code-based or sometimes even "zero code". As you mention it's easy now to build stuff just connecting modules together, and if you use Arduino or Raspberry Pi you will probably also find example code and libraries on the internet, so it's just connecting stuff and modifying some lines of code.

    BUT, that's not how real products (i.e: devices expected to be mass produced, certified, and put on the shelves) are designed. Those are still built from the ground up.
    I use modules to prototype and test, but that's never how I intend to build things.


    And even if we were to move into a future where *everything* is just made of modules, someone has to design those modules : )

    Regarding "reading the datasheet and copying the reference design". That has always been the starting point of any application, in my experience, but never the whole final product.

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  • I don't think it's dead. I think that the popularity of Arduino and other platforms made electronics a lot more accessible, and this has created a huge market for "ready-made" modules and prototyping platforms that are either code-based or sometimes even "zero code". As you mention it's easy now to build stuff just connecting modules together, and if you use Arduino or Raspberry Pi you will probably also find example code and libraries on the internet, so it's just connecting stuff and modifying some lines of code.

    BUT, that's not how real products (i.e: devices expected to be mass produced, certified, and put on the shelves) are designed. Those are still built from the ground up.
    I use modules to prototype and test, but that's never how I intend to build things.


    And even if we were to move into a future where *everything* is just made of modules, someone has to design those modules : )

    Regarding "reading the datasheet and copying the reference design". That has always been the starting point of any application, in my experience, but never the whole final product.

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