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Coupling a Degree With Electrical License

6K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  dawgs 
#1 ·
I have four years of free education coming to me and was wondering how I could couple this with my electrical license. I don't want to major in chemistry or something that would be completely inapplicable. I was thinking more along the lines of Information Technology - possibly could help in getting into IT at a power plant or something. Electronics degree of some kind maybe?!?!?

Just wondering if anyone has ever been in this position of finding new ways to use your electrical license.

I suppose I could just abandon my license altogether. I could always come back to it if I got tired of making more money and working around women all day.

Just seems like a waste to not use a journeyman license as a stepping stone to something else. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I don't view my electrical license (that I am working towards) as a stepping stone towards my degree. Both of them pay well, together they will pay even better. What's better for a controls or electrical engineer than to have real world experience wiring up control systems?

Isn't a MAJOR complaint of electricians that many engineers don't have real world experience? I believe real world experience should be a precursor to any degree that deals with a trade, like many forms of engineering.
 
#10 ·
Company made engineers build machine

Isn't a MAJOR complaint of electricians that many engineers don't have real world experience? I believe real world experience should be a precursor to any degree that deals with a trade, like many forms of engineering.
We bought a machine once from a company that made the engineers build it after they designed it. It was amazing how many changes were made!!!
 
#6 ·
Like NC said above me, my suggestion would be something engineering-related. Even if you don't go full-blown engineering, there's engineering technology degrees (which I have), and your existing field experience would put give you a big head start. Something geared toward management would be my next choice.
 
#8 ·
When I was younger I might have told you that all education is valuable and follow your interest and aptitudes and blah blah blah. Now that I'm an old fool I'm a lot more practical about things. Even with someone picking up the tab, I wouldn't waste my time, effort, and opportunities.

It used to be that any four year college degree would open up a lot of doors. The education had little to do with your work in most cases. It was pretty much a hurdle to get from the labor class to the managing class. It really never was learning things you needed to do your job. Now, there are an awful lot of waiters with four year degrees, because four year degrees are a dime a dozen.

Your experience as an electrician will be very valuable in jobs that you regularly work with electricians. Obviously electrical engineering jobs in construction, automation, or power distribution. It could be a big advantage if you want to work in sales / marketing or product development for a manufacturer of electrical products. (Don't assume the degree will guarantee more money than working as an electrician though...)

As for IT, it might help you working in any data center / NOC - knowing your way around communications cabling, generators and transfer switches, UPS systems, and HVAC. You'd just need to find a nerd in charge that understands the value, it's not likely to be in the job requirements.

Me, I wouldn't rule out things that don't have anything to do with electrical work. If you want to be a CPA or an MD or any other set of letters that pays better, and you have the ability, and you're prepared to do the work, then go do it.
 
#15 ·
I agree. In and off itself I don't think a degree proves very much. The very well-off people I know, they certainly would've been programming, or crunching numbers, or succeeding at some other aspect in life whether they had the degree or not. The very successful people LOVE what they do and were doing it long before they were in college. They just see college as part of the game, breeze through it, and then hit the real world running.

I'm just saying, since it's free I fee like I might as well use it. I don't think it would be used against me in any hiring process if I had an electrical license as well. If I was looking at a resume I'd be impressed if I saw a trade license and a degree.

I may be in the minority here, but I don't know and haven't met many people with technical degrees that also have trades licenses.
 
#13 ·
Good luck getting an IT job at a power plant with some education. Education is poo-pooed by a lot of guys. Starting over from scratch without one (unless you're still very young) seems like a tough go. Find a tech school that doesn't waste your time on unnecessary classes, and they will likely have a good placement program with companies that have hired from them in the past.
 
#16 ·
If I had 2 applicants for a job in the trades, one with a college degree the other not, and they were equally qualified otherwise, I'd most likely pick the one without the degree.

I don't know what it is about college, but they seem to want to remove any sort of common sense from the student and replace it with the largest ego possible.

The guy with no degree knows that he needs to make it on his knowledge and work ethic. The guy with the degree may feel that he can buy his way in.

Of course there are tons of exceptions but how am I to know?
 
#17 ·
A few months ago I was driving north on I35 in Oklahoma not too far north of the Red River and where the interstate was cut through the rock there was a van from SMU parked just off the shoulder. There was at least a half dozen scantily clad young women either putting on climbing gear etc. or already starting up the shear face of the rock wall. Based on that scene, I recommend you get a degree in geology from SMU.
 
#27 ·
You need to first take a personal inventory of yourself. That could include career counselling. From there, you try to anticipate your value to the marketplace upon graduation. There's no sense investing in education if you can't find work.

Speaking for myself, I couldn't handle being stuck in an engineering office all day. I need to be out and about. I could handle doing inspections for an engineering firm.

I spent considerable time in the sales end of this business and enjoyed it. Many of those positions require a degree. One thing to keep in mind - many jobs require a degree. I think it's ridiculous but people with degrees like to hire people with degrees. Even mundane, dead end jobs require degrees. It doesn't even matter what degree you have; you simply need a degree in something.
 
#28 ·
Yes, for sure engineering is out of the question. I'm just not the personality type that would be good for an office and constant interaction with coworkers. As long as people are somewhat professional in their interactions with me I'm just content to be left alone.

I spent considerable time in the sales end of this business and enjoyed it. Many of those positions require a degree. One thing to keep in mind - many jobs require a degree. I think it's ridiculous but people with degrees like to hire people with degrees. Even mundane, dead end jobs require degrees. It doesn't even matter what degree you have; you simply need a degree in something.
Haha, I know it's hilarious. All the lowest level clerical jobs these days require degrees. Telemarketing jobs require degrees. It's really amazing that something that has nothing to do with the job description is an absolute cutoff point. Tell me how that's any different (in principle of course) than a caste system.
 
#30 ·
I have a BS in Finance and have been an EC for 21 years. The college experience helped with a few things like accounting. Most of what I learned in college was either wrong or outdated by the time I graduated. My time would have been better spent learning what I really needed and skipping the fluff. The biggest advantage to having a college degree is that you're not very impressed by college degrees.
 
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