Want to become an electrical engineer but have a few questions about hiring

[lsu1993]

I enjoy computer gadgets like smart phones, ipods, computers etc. I would like to be part of the team that helps to design these devices, so i guess that would fall under a hardware design job title? also what's a good company to start at after college for this type of thing? i have found out that it is extremely hard to get hired at places like apple, microsoft, etc. all the jobs i have seen have been related to the oil industry which I am not interested in. where should i look?

 

[yungman]

There are so many smaller companies. I personally do not even want to work for big companies like that. Thing change very quick in this industry, worry about what class to enroll to get the knowledge first.

 

[bwinter]

Look at places to be educated first and where you would like to be. Your opinions on what you would like to do in these industries may and probably will change as you receive your education, and each institution has it's own educational atmosphere. Where I studied, for instance, at UMD College Park, is within the geographical area of a multi-billion dollar defense and science industry. Most EE majors are recruited by local companies (BIG companies) like Lockheed, NASA, Boeing, and DeWalt. I just received a recruiter email the other day in fact from Apple looking for an intern for their Wireless System Development Team. This is rare however.

While yungman is right that things do change, larger companies like these have the advantage of sticking around for a long time and they are in constant need of engineers, thus there is a modicum of job security associated with them, which is nice. Your interests will evolve from simply enjoying gadgets to enjoying E&M, or signal processing, or linear controls, etc. You may not find the job you wanted when you enrolled but chances are you'll be looking for something different anyway.