Microelectronics or Comunications?

[antonantal]

Hello. I am in the second year of study as an electronic engineering student at a univesity in Bucharest and I have to decide upon a specialization to follow up. The options are: Microelectronics, Comunications, and Information Technology. What is your advice considering which will be the most demanded, the best payed and the most appreciated field in electronics in the years to come?

 

[berkeman]

Do you have a class list for each? Communications and IT are pretty broad terms.

 

[Ouabache]

Welcome antonantal to Physics Forums! Feel free to poke around the various topics, there are lots of useful discussions here.

With respect to your query:
Other useful criteria for chosing a direction to go, are things like aptitude and passion (how much you enjoy it)?

If I recommended Microelectronics on the basis that it is presently in demand and pays well; but you find out, you don't really enjoy it, or it is not your forte, then I would be giving you poor advice.

 

[chroot]

Communications engineers will be in much, much higher demand, at least over the next couple of decades. Microelectronics engineers will probably have no difficulty finding steady employment, but communications is a major hot topic these days.

- Warren

 

[antonantal]

Sorry for the late response but I didn't have access to the internet since I first posted. Also thank you for your replies.
Here is a list of classes for each specialisation (I hope I translated them properly into English):

Comunications:
Mobile Comunications and Satelites
Optical and Radio Comunications
Telephonic and Data Comunications
Switching, Traffic and Services
Numerical and Multimedia Comunications and HiFi Systems
Telecomunication Networks and Software

Microelectronics:
Microelectronic Systems Engineering
Optoelectronics
Microelectronic Computational Systems

Information Technology:
Images, Shapes and Artificial Intelligence
Information Engineering
Computational Systems Engeneering

Applied Electronics(I omitted this one first):
Industrial Electronics and Information Science
Medical Electronics and Information Science

I must say that I have passion for all the fields in electronics (a little more towards microelectronics) and aptitude for me equals work because I don't think I have any special talent, so the only major criteria remain how well will I be payed and how demanded will my profession be.

 

[chroot]

IT is becoming a commodity these days; there are a glut of network engineers and systems administrators. If you're top-notch in large-scale infrastructure design or information security, you will still enjoy a good career. If you're looking to be a database or systems administrator, however, your prospects are not bright.

There will be more jobs for comms engineers than for microelectronics engineers, but you should pursue what interests you. It is not difficult to get a job in microelectronics, though, admittedly, engineers who just know digital design don't get very far these days, either.

- Warren

 

[antonantal]

Thanks Warren. If you were to choose one subspecialization from Communications and one from Microelectronics, from the list I gave you, what would be those two?

 

[chroot]

Communications and microelectronics are specializations -- of electrical engineering.

- Warren

 

[antonantal]

No. What I was saying is: If you were to choose one subspecialization from the field of Communications, meaning one of these:

Mobile Comunications and Satelites
Optical and Radio Comunications
Telephonic and Data Comunications
Switching, Traffic and Services
Numerical and Multimedia Comunications and HiFi Systems
Telecomunication Networks and Software

and one subspecialization in the field of microelectronics, meaning one of these:

Microelectronic Systems Engineering
Optoelectronics
Microelectronic Computational Systems

which would be those two?

 

[chroot]

I'd pick Mobile Communications and Satellites from the comms list, and Optoelectronics from the microelectronics list.

- Warren

 

[antonantal]

Any other opinions?