Ask HN: Cheapest way to get EE type degree or knowledge?

[StoicMonkey]

I just like to learn for fun and considering maybe moving my career into lower-level stuff within the next few years. I have a masters in comp sci and have been working professionally since 2015.

Can anyone recommend a learning path to become fairly good at EE type stuff? For example, Georgia Tech MS is $7k which is crazy cheap compared to what my schooling cost. Is there anything similar or some good end to end open courseware stuff for EE's?

[andrejandre]

I would sample a few universities. First, a typical state school like Arizona State University, or Penn State University. Take their curriculum and spreadsheet it out.

Then, take a look at some more higher-tier universities. Could be UC Berkeley, Stanford, or MIT. Note down their curriculum in your spreadsheet.

Then, try to sample a European university, or Turkish university (MET maybe). Note down their curriculum.

Between the 2-3 samples you have, look for non-negotiable courses you must take. This is typically the courses that are common among all of them. From there, you can filter for further electives that are available, or other courses that may be more "with the times" so to speak.

This way - you can start hammering away by selecting Textbooks, MOOCs, and other online coursework that could be open-source or paid, and work your way through it.

This would be my approach if I wanted to do it completely for free, without any paper or substantial evidence that I am educated at the end of the journey. Regardless, this approach will surely help you when it comes time to actually pay for the education - you can fly through it with ease.

Also, don't ignore hands-on soldering projects, FPGA projects, or other digital logic projects to supplement your theory. They're fun and can add a lot of context. Even something simple like overclocking computers and writing some C++ projects can be a great supplement.

Food for thought, hope it helps.

[StoicMonkey]

That's actually really good advice, thanks for the reply. I'll compare the moocs out there. I don't care about the piece of paper anymore, but the knowledge is fascinating. Cheers!

[landosaari]

A start https://github.com/Artoriuz/OSEE

[hnthrowaway0328]

Cannot recommend as I'm not working in the field. But I picked up a development board and started to write some programs for it. I think the most difficult parts are 1) How to bit bang a peripheral with only a datasheet available, and 2) All those analog stuffs (where and how to put resistances/capacitors/etc.)

[ynks366]

Im doing software engineering now, but did my undergraduate in ECE. ECE is quite broad. It covers signals & systems, electricity and magnetism, basic circuits, embedded devices, to name a few. What area are you interested in?

Its going to be hard to learn all without a degree, but pick a subarea. How low area are you considering? Embedded shouldn't be a giant transition. Fabricating transitors is a whole other level

[roland35]

My master's degree in electrical engineering cost me about $16k total, half of which was covered by my employer. I went to a local state university, it was about $500 per credit hour.

I would say that you could get most of the practical value in just taking the 300-400 level undergraduate classes and labs such as circuits, electronics, and controls, but then obviously you wouldn't have the degree!

[alephnerd]

CU Boulder's MSEE is around $20k total with a pretty decent Photonics and Embedded specialization - https://www.colorado.edu/ecee/academics/online-programs/mast...

[immigrantheart]

Following. I’m wondering what if I want to go more low level and build basic hardware like, building my own keyboard, or my own auto dosing pump, IoT stuffs. Is EE overkill for those?