Somewhat related to the topic, but as time passes, electrical engineering becomes more and more about choosing which software remedy to apply to what once were

Somewhat related to the topic, but as time passes, electrical engineering becomes more and more about choosing which software remedy to apply to what once were pure hardware solutions. And when that is not the case, when hardware is going to be built, the decisions about circuitry and methods are increasingly determined in advance with software. Here's an example -- in my career as an electrical engineer (30 years ago) I designed any number of phase locked loops in circuitry. Now I design them with a keyboard and a computer monitor, [using methods like this](http://arachnoid.com/phase_locked_loop/ http://arachnoid.com/phase_locked_loop/). The new PLLs work much, much better than the hardware-based ones, as well as requiring far less guesswork and effort. So my advice is not to abandon a software-based approach, it increases your employability compared to someone who only knows hardware.