Certifications and Licensure.

August 17th, 2011

What is the Certification and Licensure given to an Electrical Engineering job?

  • In order to offer the services of electrical engineering directly to the public, one needs to acquire a licensure and certification from the state. Electrical engineers who attain licensure are known as Professional Engineers (PE).
  • To attain a licensure, a candidate requires a complete degrees in electronics from any ABET accredited college combined with four years of work experience and a successful completion of a state examination.
  • Once the candidate clears the examination, he is certified as a Certified Electrical engineers and stands legal to perform his duties to the public.
  • To obtain license, one must pass the examination which comprises of two stages. The initial stage can be completed by candidates who have completed their bachelor’s education as it involves the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE). Students who pass this examination are entitled as Training Engineers (EIT).
  • After acquiring a considerate amount of experience in the field, the EIT’s stand eligible for appearing for the second examination which focuses on the Practice and Principles of Engineering. Majority of the states have imposed compulsory education for re-licensure.

Salary and Remuneration.

August 17th, 2011

What is the remuneration package for an electrical engineer?

It is seen that the salary of an Electrical engineers is high keeping in mind the amount of knowledge and risk involved in the profession. However, salary varies with experience, educational qualifications, geographical locations and also area of employment.

The average salary of an electric engineer is estimated to be around $48,558 – $96,163 annually. These professionals also receive bonus for any extraordinary outbreak which ranges around $612 – $9,883 annually thus, increasing their national average salary range around $46,162 – $98,591 per year.

Experience also plays an important factor in determining the salary range of these professional. It is observed that electric engineers with experience less than one year earn a salary ranging around $40,102 – $68,102 for a year while on the other hand, professional with experience of one to five years earn salary $46,338 – $75,993 per annum.

Geographical location is a crucial determinant in quoting a salary range for electric engineers. Professionals employed in the state of California receive salary ranging around $50,220 – $106,132 for a year and comparatively on the other hand professionals in the state of Florida earn an amount of $45,158 – $91,361 as salary for a year.

Electrical engineers are also given incentives like health and life insurance policies, educational fee reimbursement, paid sick leaves etc. in order to encourage the professionals to give their best in the field.

Skill Set Needed for the Job

August 17th, 2011

What are the skills required by an electrical engineer?

Apart from educational qualifications, Electrical engineers need additional skills to perform and grow in the profession. Following are some of the skills and abilities required by an Electrical engineers:

Skill Set:

  • Ability to act as a leader: An Electrical engineers works with a number of electrical staff and other subordinates for the preparation of an electrical product. As he is occupies the highest place in this sector, an Electrical engineers is expected to have leadership qualities which would prove helpful to assign and evaluate the work of other professionals in his department. He must portray an authoritative attitude yet being friendly with his subordinates.
  • Ability to solve problems: A number of problems may crop up during the design or implementation process of an electrical product. As such this professional must have a focused attitude and solve problems with an analytical approach. He is also responsible for solving the internal disputes in his department.
  • Effective Communication Skills: This professional requires excellent oral and written communications skills which would help him excel in the profession. Written skills are required as they are given the duty to prepare specification reports and oral skills are needed as they communicate to coordinate the activities of the electrical department.
  • Organizational Skills: This position demands great organizational skills as the desk of the Electrical engineers is filled with documents at any given time, he must utilize the time at its best by proper organization of his work. He needs to prioritize his work according to its importance.
  • Management Skills: This job also includes the professional to perform certain management and supervisory duties. As such, an Electrical engineers must have considerate amount of management skills to run the electrical engineering field.

What are the important duties and responsibilities?

August 17th, 2011

An Electrical engineers is vested with a wide number of duties and responsibilities to perform as part of his profession.

Following are some of the duties of an Electrical engineers:

Duties:

  • The primary duty of an Electrical engineers is to provide technical assistance and support to when any electrical problem arises during, before or after the construction of the product.
  • The duty of assembling all the electrical systems and prototypes according to the engineering data and principle lies with the Electrical engineers. He puts together all the tools and instruments according to the measurement required.
  • They are involved in the operation of computer assisted designing and engineering of software’s and equipment which helps in the engineering tasks.
  • It forms the duty of the Electrical engineers to direct and coordinate the manufacturing, maintenance, installation, documentation and testing activities of the product by ensuring its specifications, customer requirements and codes.
  • Another important duty of an Electrical engineers is to plan the electrical layout of the power plants, stations and all the distribution line by assisting in the capital projects undertaken for the development of major repairs.
  • It is their duty to plan and implement the various kinds of research methodologies and procedures which helps them to apply the principles of electrical engineering into practice.
  • They are involved in the preparation and canalization of technical drawings related to the electrical systems which would help in the installation and operation controls of the product.

Responsibilities:

  • It is the responsibility of an Electrical engineers to collect all the necessary data related to the residential and commercial development of the electrical system. This information would be helpful in determining the efficiency of electrical systems.
  • They are responsible for preparing budget plans for the development of the electronic product by specifying the estimated labor costs, material and all the other construction expenses.
  • It is the primary responsibility of the Electrical engineers to compile information and write reports related to the existing engineering projects and studies.
  • These professionals shoulder the responsibility of investigating the customer queries and problems listing out the nature and extent of the problem and suggesting suitable remedial measures to overcome the problem.
  • They are also responsible to perform supervisory duties as part of their profession which includes working of daily assignments of subordinates, approving leaves and completing review oriented performance evaluation reports.
  • They are responsible for visiting the construction sites while electrical engineering duties are taking place which would help them to identify solutions if any technical problem arises and also to observe the conditions of the impact of the electric design.
  • Electrical engineers are responsible for overseeing the efforts of the projects as they should be completed satisfactorily on time and within the limited budget resources.
  • An important responsibility of Electrical engineers is to hire and train candidates to the profession. They are responsible for conducting performance evaluation programs and training programs to the subordinate Electrical engineers. They act as mentors to train the engineering staff and design.

What are the Educational Requirements?

August 17th, 2011

Educational Requirements:

The position of an Electrical engineers is complex as it deals with the operation of complex oriented circuits and electrical aspects. Not everyone would be able to handle this job as it requires a considerate amount of educational qualifications. Following are the educational requirements of an Electrical engineers.

The educational requirement for an Electrical engineers varies with the level of position in the field. However, Electrical engineers require a minimum four-year bachelor’s degree in the field of electrical engineering from any college or university accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET). Candidate who apply for a bachelor’s degree get to choose their major which may be as power system or microwave engineering.

The curriculum pattern is set in such a way that the first two years of the electrical engineering study consists of mathematics, introduction to engineering, sciences and social sciences. The next two years would the students are given classes on the general engineering subjects combined with their specialty chosen in the field of electrical engineering. Acquiring a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering would qualify the professionals to all the entry-level positions of this career.

As the field of electrical engineering fast growing with many technological advances, in order to keep up to the pace a master’s education in electrical engineering would prove very beneficial for the professional. For candidate who would want to get into teaching or research jobs an electrical engineering master’s and doctoral degree would be desirable. This degree also leaves scope for further promotions in an organization.

Additional training and courses in the field of computer training, economics, and thermodynamics would be helpful to these professionals. Also, internship programs taken up at college level would help the student to understand the work environment and it stands as a platform for the candidate to showcase his theoretical skills that we has enhanced in all his years of college education.

What is the job about?

August 17th, 2011

An overview of the job of an Electrical Engineer:

An Electrical engineers is a professional who deals with the design, maintenance and implementation of electrical systems and equipment. This is a profession that deals with the study and application of electronics and electricity. It covers subjects such as electronics, power, telecommunications etc. Electrical engineers are involved in the analyzing the technical manuals of articles, publications and journals by testing, assembling the products and recording them for future purposes. They are given the responsibility of working with a wide range of electronics from fuel cells to computer circuit systems. Most of the Electrical engineers are specialized in one particular career of this field be it automotive or the computer industry.

An Electrical engineers plays an important role in dealing with the basic electrical repairs of a household such as installing a fuse while changing a bulb. More complex electrical activities include repairing a highly complex electronic product. All these activities cannot be performed by all and requires an educated and specialized Electrical engineers. These professionals create and supervise the production of electronic items by typically focusing on the power supplies while preparing the devise using electricity. Electrical engineers usually follow one particular work path which offers great amount of scope for growth within the industry. Candidates usually start working in the field they specialize from which may be telecommunications, power of microelectronics but once they have experience at hand they can change their directions and find themselves working in an entirely new field. The job prospects for Electrical engineers are quite high because of the growing demand for Electrical engineers in all kinds of industries. As such even their salary is bright. Entry-level salary may be a little dull but once you gain experience and a firm hand over the industry gaining confidence in the profession, the career for a Electrical engineers is prove beneficial.