What is Electronics Engineering?

Electronics Engineering, [1] also referred to as Electronic Engineering[2][3] is an engineering discipline which uses the scientific knowledge of the behavior and effects of electrons to develop components, devices, systems, or equipment (as in electron tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, and printed circuit boards) that uses electrictity as part of its driving force. Both terms denote a broad engineering field that encompasses many subfields including those that deal with power, instrumentation engineering, telecommunications, and semiconductor circuit design amongst many others.[4]

The term also covers a large part of electrical engineering degree courses as studied at most European universities. In the U.S., however, electrical engineering implies all the wide electrical disciplines including electronics. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is one of the most important and influential organizations for electronic engineers. Indian universities have separate department for "Electronics Engineering".

Electronics Engineering is one of the largest and fastest growing industries. It covers a wide range of applications we use daily and which make our life easier and enjoyable such as Television, Radio, computers, telecommunication etc. They helps us to see, hear and communicate over vast distances and do things faster. Electronics has a major role in improving productivity in industries like oil, energy, agriculture and so many other important sectors of economy. In steel, petroleum and chemical industries it is the electronic devices that direct, control and test production processes. Health care industry depend on electronic instruments to perform chemical tests and to check body functions. The safety in transportation, factories and mines and in homes rely heavily on electronics. The uses are endless.

An Electronics engineer must find new solutions to the practical problems affecting our daily lives. An electronics engineer will work in team with other specialists to design, fabricate, produce, test and supervise the manufacture of complex products and systems i.e electronic equipments and components for a number of industries including hospitals, computer industry, electronic data processing systems for communication and in defense etc. They supervise production and manufacturing processes and oversee installation and maintenance. Electronics engineers work with devices that use extremely small amounts of power. They work with microprocessors, fibre optics, and in telecommunication, television, radio etc.

Electronics engineering is a constantly changing and widening branch of the engineering profession. Electronics industry being a labour intensive industry provides many job opportunities for the skilled job seekers. Increased production and demand by government and businesses for communication equipment, computers and military electronics along with consumer demand and increased research and development on robots and other types of automation contributes to the growth of employment opportunities in the field. Candidates having a creative and inventive mind and also are good at physics and mathematics will probably find electronics engineering a challenging and lucrative career.