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I am currently preparing for Entrance Examination for Engineering college , somehow I noticed that I don't even know which branch I want to take and what is the kind of Education I am opting for .I always wanted to make cool stuffs not like Robots in particular but like something worth usage like that, but I just know there are few branches for but which is the one which can lead me into getting the required knowledge needed to make devices maybe like TV or a phone things dealing with semiconductors , Transistors ?

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So what is the branch that can enable me to build gadgets like modern day use somehow maybe I want to relate with the creation of gadgets that can acts as an interface b/w user and the digital world Thats all what I want to know.

Note:

I couldn't find the required tag for the need so maybe it wont be good enough to rely on that.

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This question is leading. It leads people to see that you want to be a some sort of an electrical engineer. However, none of the answers actually answers you not knowing.

Making gadgets is not a engineering branch. Its a interdiciplinary branch combining many different fields. At the end of the day wether your a industrial designer or an engineer matters little. You get a suitable foundation studying mostly any of the engineering branches. Be it EE, Mechatronics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering etc.

What matters after this is doing the work. If you want to make innovative designs then by neccesity you will need to work with what you want to do on your own time, and sadly atleast partially with your own money.

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  • $\begingroup$ So say if opted for Computer science(was my 2nd interest) it is possible that with the knowledge gained I can make something like Raspberry Pi ?? $\endgroup$
    – TreaV
    Dec 28, 2017 at 8:16
  • $\begingroup$ Sure, designing a board to do digital stuff iis not complicated. Analog is another thing entirely, but given that i work with art students (who are definitely not engineers, hell some of them can not even do division without cursing), and they do it all the time even that may not be a problem. OTOH manufacturing at the price point of raspberry requires quite some work. No reason you couldnt do that today. @VersatileVasu however CS may be the worst general engibeering field, since its more concerned with mathematics than even programming. $\endgroup$
    – joojaa
    Dec 28, 2017 at 8:29
  • $\begingroup$ sounds like what was needed now just confused again over the branch I should be perusing over to get in college ,( I dont care enough for college or education I have a dream about making a gadget that would be enough to attain not the being into job thing , I dont know why i am writing this also anyway Thanks) $\endgroup$
    – TreaV
    Dec 28, 2017 at 8:36
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I think you would be interested in Electrical Engineering, more specifically in Electronics Engineering.
Do browse through these links.

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  • $\begingroup$ just a little Query will it take only its B.Tech or to whole PG the other sought of courses to be able to build @AakashGupta $\endgroup$
    – TreaV
    Dec 27, 2017 at 8:37
  • $\begingroup$ Depends, I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering but still can't repair a refrigerator. B.Tech, although helps you understand fundamental principles, but in my opinion, not enough for building things straightaway. Although, if you have a zeal for building things, you could do some industrial internships and projects are ask a professor about them. PG will be entirely different from what you are interested in right now. It's more of a research setting then Industrial one. $\endgroup$
    – Aakash Gupta
    Dec 27, 2017 at 8:42
  • $\begingroup$ i think it is more likely to be electronics engineering. :) $\endgroup$
    – Jem Eripol
    Dec 27, 2017 at 8:52
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, but here in India, most first tier colleges have only Electrical Engineering. I only recall Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Kharagpur offering Electronics Engineering, rest of the IITs offer only Electrical Engineering $\endgroup$
    – Aakash Gupta
    Dec 27, 2017 at 8:55
  • $\begingroup$ Just another one : Is it possible to learn by self or if you can understand it without having a degree?? $\endgroup$
    – TreaV
    Dec 27, 2017 at 9:12
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Consumer electronics are generally multi-disciplinary projects encompassing product design, UI design, electronic engineering and software engineering.

The design of automated machines with mechanical actuators and electronic control (robots if you like) tends to be classified as mechatronics

So it really depends which particular aspect you are interested in. Mechanical Engineering will give you a fairly broad base but may also include elements of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics which are less relevant.

Broadly speaking it sounds like you should be looking at courses which cover

  • Engineering/mechanical design (especially CAD)
  • Product design
  • manufacturing
  • Electrical and electronic engineering
  • Software and computer science
  • Control systems engineering

As well as the basic engineering staples like statics, kinematics, dynamics and materials.

Often engineering courses will have some sort of specialism and overall ethos. I would suggest that you look for course which have a practical, project based focus. You might find pure electrical or electronic engineering a bit narrow. And software design is a whole different thing.

It sounds like something with a product design focus would suit you. Of the standard courses maybe automotive engineering or a broad mechanical or general engineering course. In fact some of the biomedical engineering courses may be a good fit as these tend to focus on product development.

Up to undergraduate level the specific content probably doesn't matter that much as long as the course content is interesting and engaging, but it sounds like you would prefer something which take a practical, project based approach.

Typically an engineering degree indicates a reasonable level of understanding of the subject but isn't really a vocational qualification and professional engineers will generally need some additional level of industrial experience or higher level academic research based qualification to be useful.

Edit in response to comment by OP.

Whether or not formal education is the best path is somewhat subjective. Formal qualifications are certainly not essential but you will certainly need an alternative strategy for getting the sort of technical knowledge which definitely is essential.

Clearly there are also significant advantages in terms or a career and employment in having recognised qualifications.

To be honest unless you have a very clear idea of exactly what alternative route you have in mind then a structured course is probably a sensible option.

Also at this stage you aren't really committing yourself to a specific field and the base skills you will learn are eminently transferable.

However if you are unsure it is also a good idea to look in more detail into course syllabuses and get a better idea of the precise content.

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  • $\begingroup$ I agree with this analysis. $\endgroup$
    – joojaa
    Dec 28, 2017 at 15:51
  • $\begingroup$ Let me ask you a question : if you have a dream of creating a device that may require use of transistors , and other sought of stuffs (you know that as you are having an idea for it) then would you be doing this education thing that fits in the req education or something else ? Just a query @ChrisJohns $\endgroup$
    – TreaV
    Dec 29, 2017 at 7:43
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My degree in engineering crossed various fields as it was called Combined Engineering and you had a modular or “pick and mix” style so you may want to look at the degrees on offer carefully.

Our department had courses from digital signal processing, thermofluids, power plant analysis, stress and structures and many in between.

In fact I don’t remember anyone doing an identical set of subjects amongst my colleagues.

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To manufacture something like an elctronic device means you should have an interdisciplinary knowldege,You will need sensors which requires you to know instrumentation,If the sensor is electronic in nature you should know how to interface it thus you need knowledge of embedded systems,for embedded systems to work you need to program the chip,To program a chip efficently with proper resource managment then you should understand the arhitecture of chip which involves embedded and vlsi the list will go on so what I meant to say is you should first decide whether you should get a degree in either a hardware oriented or software oriented field then go on to specialize usually people with passion in this field take up course in Electrical and elcectronics if more hardware oriented or electronics and communication then take a masters in one of the fields in computer science.

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