Consider a Major in Wireless Communication

That College Life
3 min readDec 22, 2020
Photo by Michael Schiffer on Unsplash

Love may not be in the air for you, but radio waves are. In this article, we are going to look at the importance of studying wireless communication, how it affects the world, and how it can change your life. We’ll look at what you should know before pursuing an education in this field.

What’s the big deal?

Wireless communication a growing field and will offer you job security. With the increasing developments in wireless technologies, 5G, and increasing transfer rates, the wireless communication field has room for all kinds of electronics engineers. Many of these existing technologies are taught in college. When you start your career, you will be limited to your college education, but as you gain experience, you’ll learn more and achieve a successful career in wireless communications. A wireless communication major is great for those who have a background or interest in electronics engineering.

How easy is it?

First, you must know the radio wave fundamentals and have basic knowledge of high-frequency electronics. If you are looking for a career where you can design or implement wireless devices, you can choose VLSI as a major followed by research on radio communication-related devices.

This career path requires dedication and patience. You have to know calculus for understanding anything related to wireless communication. You’ll be dealing with mathematical physics, studying how high-frequency transistors work, and there will be a little mechanical information to it as well. If you can understand the fundamentals, you can become a full-fledged wireless communication engineer.

Pro-Tip

While you are pursuing this major, you will need to focus on subjects like digital signal processing, digital electronics, analog electronics, semiconductor physics, calculus, Z transform, laplace transform, and fourior series. For the software side, you should be able to run Matlab and Labview. Having a good grasp of these subjects will ensure that you graduate as an excellent wireless communication engineer.

What’s in it for me?

Jobs in this field have a wide salary range. In most cases, the starting salary will be low but will increase exponentially with the time and the role you choose. If your fundamentals are strong, you can easily increase your salary within 3 to 5 years after your career begins.

When you enter the field, you’ll gain more understanding of how the wireless world works. Working behind the scenes may even change your perception of how the technology works.

What are the career options?

While the field is open for any level of engineer experience, we will be highlighting some very important roles which drive the field toward innovation This information will help you pick a role that you are interested in.

  • System designer: System designers create the block or circuit diagram of a system which will function according to the client’s requirements
  • Project manager: The project manager is responsible for building a functional communication system dedicated to wireless capabilities. They may oversee a group or groups of people, such as programmers, mechanical engineers, electronics engineers, and more.
  • Semiconductor engineer: Semiconductor engineers are all about research and development. They focus on how the chip can be optimized for better data rate and power efficiency. They can be a part of management. Reaching this position requires a tremendous amount of knowledge, skills, and experience, and expertise.

Limitations

  • Difficult to explain what you do
  • Other people may perceive your job as boring
  • Might pay less at entry- level compared to other similar majors
  • Your role may be limited, limiting your career growth as well

Conclusion

The wireless communication field drives innovation and tech throughout the world. If you get excited about technology and design, you will enjoy studying it. When you enter this career field, you’ll gain knowledge and have a stable future.

References:

https://www.iit.edu/academics/... https://learn.org/articles/Wir... http://bulletin.auburn.edu/und...

Originally published at https://thatcollegelife.com.

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