[programmertote]

Before you go full in on mechanical (ME)/electrical engineering (EE), I'd suggest you to try taking a course or two on it. For me personally, EE was a challenge and although I aspired myself to be a conventional engineer (either aerospace or electrical engineer), I ended up doing software/programming because EE was simply a subject I cannot master during college courses. If I had enough time in college (I was working 20 hrs part time and taking four other courses--was a greedy mistake of mine), maybe I'd have enjoyed my EE courses a bit more? Who knows?!

Just my two cents as a mid-40 years old (maybe I'm jaded), and don't take it the wrong way. I just don't want you to go fully commit to ME or EE without having tried a tiny bit of the college courses. Sometimes, we have ideals that we want to do, but when we actually go and do them full time, we realize we don't enjoy that activity as much as dreaming about the idealized version of such activity...

[hndecision1234]

A great point that I've heard from a couple others by now. I would ideally try to get a feel of it without spending too much money on courses to see if it's really something I want to finish. Do you have any other recommendations for more cheaply figuring out if it's something I would actually enjoy?

[programmertote]

I unfortunately don't know much other than knowing that SOME community colleges [ like this: https://www.hccfl.edu/academics/subjects/engineering/electro... ] offer intro classes (you need to know some calculus and if you are into robotics, very likely need to use SOME of linear algebra) related to EE/ME.

You may find some YouTube channels that teaches you ways to play with breadboard, but again, like I said, it (playing around with "cool/fun" toys) is different than taking classes required to finish a four-year degree.

Best wishes for your learning journey!

[etrautmann]

Don't let others talk you out of pursuing EE if that's what you're curious and passionate about. I took a path similar to what you mentioned - pursuing mech-e and EE during undergrad with a focus on robotics. If you're curious and interested in something, then you can absolutely make it work. EE does tend to be math heavy, but you can explore a lot of that with hobby projects to see if you're interested. Try implementing an audio project by designing and audio amp and then using digital signal processing. You can get everything from Sparkfun or Adafruit and use online tutorials, then run your own numbers to customize the design.

[creer]

Taking a course or two in it is a good idea EXCEPT in either disciplines the foundational courses can be very un-exciting, mathematical, hard to be motivated for. Discouraging. I would suggest instead to look for a slightly more advanced (in the overall curriculum) course that would be more practical. That course may be on youtube. You will be missing some of the theory foundation - but you know what - the foundation may not be needed to get the gist of what the discipline does.

For example, most people who learn build their first programs in a programing language do so without the theoretical foundation of what even is a language, what are grammars, or the whole menagerie of basic data structures.

Less discouraging, more inspiring.

Yet another alternative, is hunting through youtube for presentations or documentaries which explain what a certain job title does all day, what their work feels like, what they feel they achieve. Or books (essential book for "selling" EE digital hardware design was The Soul of a New Machine).