Take your skills to the next level with expert-led courses and Coursera Coach, your AI-powered guide.
Save money and learn in-demand skills from top companies and organizations at your own pace.
Electrical engineering is a relatively recent field to emerge from the larger discipline of engineering, but it has become nearly as important to modern life as the structures of the buildings in which we live and work. In the same way that a structural engineer ensures that buildings are constructed in a way that ensures safety, functionality, and durability, electrical engineers design the architecture of electrical systems to ensure they perform properly.
Unlike other forms of structural and civil engineering whose development dates back to ancient times, the history of electrical engineering begins in the 19th century with the work of famous inventors such as Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse. They pioneered systems that wove together electric generators and transmission lines with the circuits and batteries that powered early appliances like light bulbs, radios, and motors. And, while we have come to depend on electricity to power more numerous and more complex appliances than even these early geniuses of the field could have imagined, the underlying systems are still largely the same.
The principles of electrical engineering may not have changed much over the past century, but the demand for expertise in this field has skyrocketed alongside the exponential growth in electricity use. Today electricity is used to power everything from the microelectronics of your cell phone to the massive server farms responsible for storing all of the data of the internet, and it is even beginning to replace fossil fuel combustion in applications such as hybrid cars, electric cars, and electric heating pumps.
Thus, if you want to help build our electrified, increasingly-digital world, electrical engineering can be a terrific career path that is only becoming more important over time.
Electrical engineering jobs are everywhere. All of the devices and appliances you depend on that use electricity were designed and tested by electrical engineers. Whether in research and development, engineering services, manufacturing, telecommunications, or even the government, employees with electrical engineering skills are critical to creating fit-for-purpose equipment, supervising production, and ensuring they perform properly.
Another popular career in this field is electronics engineering. Electronics engineers are a specialized type of electrical engineer who focuses on the design of circuitry and other components used in computers, telecommunications systems, and other types of digital and consumer electronics. As our world becomes more and more dependent on these devices, and as their size continues to shrink, skills in electronics and microelectronics is also in high demand.
Electricians play a more familiar role in our daily lives - especially if you’re a homeowner - but it’s important to note that becoming a electrical engineer or electronics engineer requires a higher level of education. While these fields are related, electricians are only responsible for installing and connecting electrical systems and fixing any problems that occur in their operation. This is a critically important job, but it is not as demanding as engineers who are responsible for designing the equipment and systems in the first place.
Thus, electrical engineers and electronics engineers require at least a bachelor’s degree, whereas electricians often only have technical degrees. This translates into significantly higher pay, of course. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage electrical engineers is $96,640, and the median annual wage for electronics engineers is $102,700, compared to a median annual wage of $55,190 for electricians.
If you want to pursue a career in electrical engineering, Coursera offers online learning options ranging from individual courses to Specializations to Master of Science degrees. Whether you want to study the basics of power electronics and circuits or dive into more specialized topics like telecommunications and the internet of things (IOT), Coursera lets you learn on a flexible schedule and at a significantly lower cost than on-campus students.
Just because you’re learning online doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice on the quality of your education in electrical engineering, either. All of the courses (and Specializations, MSEs, etc.) offered through Coursera’s platform are taught by faculty at top-ranked institutions around the world. For a much lower price, you can get access to the education on-campus students get at schools like University of Colorado Boulder, Georgia Institute of Technology, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Learning, and many more.
Electrical engineering courses on Coursera provide comprehensive insights into the field, covering a variety of foundational and specialized topics:
Electrical engineering courses on Coursera cater to learners with varying levels of expertise:
Coursera collaborates with leading universities and engineering institutions to offer a range of educational credentials:
Acquiring skills in electrical engineering through Coursera can open up various career paths across multiple industries:
Online Electrical Engineering courses offer a convenient and flexible way to enhance your existing knowledge or learn new Electrical Engineering skills. With a wide range of Electrical Engineering classes, you can conveniently learn at your own pace to advance your Electrical Engineering career.
When looking to enhance your workforce's skills in Electrical Engineering, it's crucial to select a course that aligns with their current abilities and learning objectives. Our Skills Dashboard is an invaluable tool for identifying skill gaps and choosing the most appropriate course for effective upskilling. For a comprehensive understanding of how our courses can benefit your employees, explore the enterprise solutions we offer. Discover more about our tailored programs at Coursera for Business here.
Learning program | Description |
---|---|
Guided Project | Learn a job-relevant skill that you can use today in under 2 hours through an interactive experience guided by a subject matter expert. Access everything you need right in your browser and complete your project confidently with step-by-step instructions. |
Project | Learn a new tool or skill in an interactive, hands-on environment. |
Course | Take courses from the world's best instructors and universities. Courses include recorded auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, video lectures, and community discussion forums. When you complete a course, you’ll be eligible to receive a shareable electronic Course Certificate for a small fee. |
Specialization | Enroll in a Specialization to master a specific career skill. You’ll complete a series of rigorous courses, tackle hands-on projects, and earn a Specialization Certificate to share with your professional network and potential employers. |
Professional Certificate | Whether you’re looking to start a new career or change your current one, Professional Certificates on Coursera help you become job ready. Learn at your own pace from top companies and universities, apply your new skills to hands-on projects that showcase your expertise to potential employers, and earn a career credential to kickstart your new career. |
MasterTrack® Certificate | With MasterTrack® Certificates, portions of Master’s programs have been split into online modules, so you can earn a high quality university-issued career credential at a breakthrough price in a flexible, interactive format. Benefit from a deeply engaging learning experience with real-world projects and live, expert instruction. If you are accepted to the full Master's program, your MasterTrack coursework counts towards your degree. |
Degree | Transform your resume with a degree from a top university for a breakthrough price. Our modular degree learning experience gives you the ability to study online anytime and earn credit as you complete your course assignments. You'll receive the same credential as students who attend class on campus. Coursera degrees cost much less than comparable on-campus programs. |
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.