awdyson

I'll be graduating with an electrical engineering degree this winter, and I'm interested in working in a more hands-on environment.
I've looked into a few companies that plan commercial electrical systems.
My tentative plan for the future is to get a MS in solar power technology.

I guess I have three major questions:

• Would I have any value as an electrician's apprentice?
• Are there any related occupations you'd suggest I look at?
• A little more difficult to answer - would working with an electrician be beneficial to my engineering career?

Projects I have worked on:

• Switches, outlets, and ceiling lights/fans
• Centrally controlled surround sound, indoor, and outdoor speakers
• Makeshift, hydroponic, greenhouse-refrigerator w/ automatic watering, lighting, and venting
• A few computer home theater systems
• Control circuitry for servomotors, a high intensity, and an infrared LED array
• Motion sensor toy

Admittedly, I figured out how to do most of the above as I worked.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Cheers Guys
Alex

BryanMD

When you first conceived of being an EE what did you envision it being?

If it didn't include working 50 hour weeks in the mud, cold, rain, snow and heat attempting to decipher what the incoherent instruction from a semi-literate foreman is really supposed to mean all for little more than minimum wage...

you should probably look into a Graduate program and hide out in school for a few more years while the economy sorts itself out.

__________________
March 2010: On the road with my RV. California is first primary destination then it is off to Eastern OR, Northern ID and Western MT for drycamping and fly fishing until Labor Day.

mikeh32

look into field engineering.

you will like it a lot

nitro71

I don't see your schooling helping with being a electrical apprentice. You have a college degree and you're considering working for appretice wages for people that don't care about your degree. Only how fast you can work and how much bull**** you can put up with. If you want to be a electrician go for it but if you want to be a engineer stick to being a engineer.

cdnelectrician

I think an engineering degree will help you...if you can stick out the apprenticeship to get your licence you could go into field services for larger companies that service HV equipment, drives, building automation and process controls. A lot of jobs I tried to apply to in the past required a C of Q in the trade and post secondary schooling as an engineering technologist.

Added: I know engineers that work for less money than I do, and they still put up with the same sh!t I have to. If he want's to work with his hands then go for it. Just be prepared to work hard.

cdnelectrician

You are wrong. And you have a bad attitude. Sorry!

wildleg

there are a lot of exciting fields in electrical engineering. You need to spend a lot of time looking around for possibilities.

__________________
Chuck Norris sleeps with a night light. Not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris.

micromind

The EEs that have actual apprentice/journeyman field experience are in WAY higher demand around here. They're also far more respected by us 'dumb ol' electricians',

Because of their hands-on experience, their jobs go much smoother; a field foreman can make an engineers life easy, or we can make it pretty rough. This is where the respect factor comes in.

Around here, EEs are generally not required for anything, a contractor or journeyman can design just about any electrical installation. There's still a lot of comm'l/industrial work going on, but there are a lot of very hungry EEs. If you were once a journeyman, you can always go back.

Rob

Frasbee

I read that electrical engineering jobs are one of the top 10 needed jobs, especially due to the whole "green energy", stuff.

__________________

Vintage Sounds

In Ontario an EE is eligible to write the Master Electrician exam.

John Valdes

I saw the same thing. No mention of green energy. Just that EE's are in the top 10 professions where their is more work than people to fill the jobs.

nitro71

You can think whatever you want. Trying to give the OP a kick in the hiney to do something smart. Guy almost has a EE degree. If he's smart he'll pursue what it takes to turn that into a career. If the path where he lives is to get a EE degree then take 5 years getting a journeyman license then go back into engineering then he should do it. But if the path is to graduate from EE school then goto work as a engineer that's what he should do unless he wants to be a electrician.