My name is Myleene, and I’m in my final year of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering BEng at Queen Mary. As I near the end of my degree, I’d like to share a few insights that might help future EEE students navigate the path a little easier.
1. It’s okay not to understand everything right away — EEE is a marathon, not a sprint. EEE covers a huge range of topics, from circuits to coding, signals to systems, and more. At first, it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed. What helped me was breaking everything down into smaller, manageable chunks and watching a lot of videos to understand concepts. Use office hours, study groups, and online resources. Everyone is learning at their own pace, so don’t compare your progress to others’.
2. You’re not just learning theory — you’re learning how to think EEE isn't just equations and circuit diagrams. It teaches you how to approach problems logically, troubleshoot under pressure, and stay calm when something explodes (literally or mentally). At the start, it may seem like you are juggling lots of tasks, but your brain will slowly want to relate these tasks. What may seem like unrelated concepts will have more things in common than you think. That’s the actual degree.
3. Your path doesn’t have to be linear EEE gives you options. Some of my course mates are heading into robotics, some into finance, others into tech startups or further research. Don’t box yourself in early. Try everything — internships, side projects, hackathons, even random YouTube tutorials. Personally, for me, I felt the automotive and aviation industry was the way to go, but now I feel drawn to a more specific side of both, and that is control systems. So don’t be afraid to try something outside your comfort zone, you may enjoy it. EEE is a launchpad, not a tunnel.
4. The hardware doesn’t always cooperate — and that’s okay You’ll spend hours debugging a circuit only to find a loose wire or dead battery. It’s frustrating, sure, but it’s part of the process. Don’t let failed experiments knock your confidence — most of us learned more from the broken stuff than the things that worked the first time. In the first year, modules that teach about the troubleshooting of a circuit are critical – I suggest you listen! Those tips and tricks to debug a circuit are worth it. Electronics is by far difficult, as we can’t see electrons physically and what they are doing in our circuit, but learning how circuits work will go a long way.
5. Not all learning happens in the lab or classroom Some of the most valuable lessons came from things like side projects, internships, and even fixing random electronics at home. University gives you a foundation, but real confidence comes from doing stuff on your own. Mess around with Arduino kits, build something useless but fun, break it, fix it — that’s where you build confidence. In addition, take care of yourself. There were days I had hours to study but zero mental bandwidth. I wish I’d known to pay more attention to sleep, exercise, and taking proper breaks. Burnout sneaks up on you — protect your brain.