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Engineers and Electricians

4K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  JoeCool612 
#1 ·
Happy Friday
I am a 5th year union apprentice working for a large electrical contractor. I take my state test in 3 months. My company has shown interest in training me to do estimating and project managing. I was approached today by management about taking advantage of tuition reimbursement. They will pay up to $6,000 a year towards me finishing my electrical engineering license. I started 2 years of my bachelors of engineering. How often do you find engineers that were previously electricians? Would that be an advantageous position to be an engineer with electrician background? I do tend you prefer working in the office but I still enjoy the electrical industry. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
I would stay with electrical work. I would last about 3 minutes as an engineer with all the idiocy I would have to endure. Remember that as a building wiring engineer you'll be working with people that have no formal training as an electrician. You'll have a leg up in that regard, but you'll be working with utterly clueless idiots the majority of the time.
 
#4 ·
First stop and think "what do I want to do". Your last 10 or more posts you started have something to do with changing positions.


As to your OP, yes the better engineers have some field experience no mater what field they are in. Watch out for tuition reimbursement. They will have something in there that says you will stay with them for X amount of time or you will need to refund them. That is how they cover there expense of sending you to school, no one is going to give a free ride. How do you mix school and work, they are not paying you to go to school. If you need 2 more years, how long will that be doing nights?


I could go on and on but this is enough to think on for now.


Cowboy
 
#13 ·
Lol......Yes, of course, most of you know that my opinion of educated idiot engineers is about as low as you can go, maybe even a negative number.......

But seriously, I have worked with a very few engineers who were journeymen (or at least had a ton of actual hands-on experience) and found every one of them to be infinitely better than your average run-of-the-mill imbecile who has an entire office wall plastered with useless degrees and no actual brains or experience.

I wonder if some of these fools think they'll buy their way in and avoid all that hard physical labor.........

As far as pay goes, I think the tide is turning a bit; people who are not afraid to put their hands to the work and get stuff done are becoming more valuable than people who feel that because they have a fancy paper they shouldn't have to stoop to actual labor.

I don't know about anywhere else and have no actual facts but from what I can gather, your average everyday electrical engineer brings home a bit less than a union journeyman and even less than an open-shop guy who is paid above scale.

I'm not trying to deter anyone from pursuing a degree, just know that it might not be the pot of gold that it seems to be and don't ever let yourself think that a degree in anything is a ticket to easy street.

Ok, rant over and opinion stated.........lol.
 
#8 ·
any schooling you get is great, but a bachelor's in EE doesn't mean squat unless you follow through to get your PE. that's tough to do if you are working as an ordinary electrician. look up the requirements to get your PE and see if it fits in your plans. If it does, go for it. maybe it will open some doors or avenues anyway.
 
#10 ·
Definitely don't get sidetracked from your license even if you plan to pursue this in the future!

Definitely look at the terms of the tuition reimbursement! This used to really be a free lunch but very few places run it that way any more. Not saying it's not unreasonable for the employer to ask that you stay on a while after so they get their money's worth but still something to be cautious about.

It's true that a BS in EE is not nearly the value that the PE license is. Look into exactly what that entails in your state (and others if it's an issue.) Also make sure the program you will be in is not all electronics oriented, far far more of the EE programs are electronics oriented these days.

All said and done, it can't

make you a worse electrician
make you earn less money
close options that are currently available to you

It might

make you a better electrician / open the door to other types of work as an electrician
make you more valuable to your current company
make you more profitable if you ever strike out with your own electrical contracting company
let you switch to a career you like better now
let you switch to something you like better when your body isn't fit for electrical construction

So if the cost isn't too bad, do it now.
 
#11 ·
I happen to think having been an electrician gives me an advantage over other EEs, but then again, I'm biased...


In reality though, sometimes it has hurt me career wise because I look at things that others have done and get myself worked up with wanting to redesign it based on how I KNOW it is going to be perceived by the poor EC that gets the job. When you have some project manager breathing down your neck to get something out on time, and you tell them "I had to redesign it to be more installer-friendly", it can cause you to end up at the unemployment office. But I have to say though, every time I have been fired from a job like that, it has always worked out better for me in the long run.


$6k/year is nothing to sneeze at. It's not enough to pay for it all though, so you will likely have to take on some student loans and that means carrying a debt load when you get out. Keep that in mind when considering it. I got by without a debt load by going on "the 8 year plan" for a BSEET degree. That choice precluded my being able to get a PE (in the State where I got my degree) and although I could probably have made more if I had one, it's not an absolute; I make a very comfortable living working for someone else, I have no complaints. It's not all about the money...
 
#15 ·
Having a background as an electrician is very valuable as an electrical engineer.

When you goto school for electrical engineering....you are not trained in NEC code, building wiring methods ETC ETC. So this is where your electrician background makes you more valuable in a company.

IF you studied in Power Systems as I did.....its pretty much education background to become an engineer in a utility nothing to do with the building wiring that we all do.

In the building design industry as far as pay goes...you will most likely make more money as a electrician than a PE.....pretty much why I ended up becoming an contractor.

Friends of mine from college who went the utility route do well but moved out of engineering departments into the management end.
 
#18 · (Edited)
6k a year reimbursement isn't much, you can make that in a few weeks, if they tie strings to that money i wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, some companies try to find ways to own people. but if you want to do engineering go for it on your own, wouldn't hurt to spend more time in the field if you're in a good situation though, i would think you could study the material now at your own leisure and it would make the part time schooling easier on you. estimating and project management would also give you some insight into the different firms you might work for to get your PE license, engineer alone doesn't mean much on paper without that. there's a lot of bad firms. does the contracting company you work for do design build or un-engineered work? do they have a PE?
 
#21 ·
I have 20 years experience as an electrician. I'm 4 months into my first electrical engineering position and I love it.
My company does a fair amount of research and development so I spend about 30% of my time hands on, building my team's designs, troubleshooting, etc.
The other 70% is designing and learning about/how to design.
It's a whole other world. Not good/bad, better/worse, but different.
I enjoy wearing a polo to work now, instead of a uniform.
I started school at 32, and it took me 6.5 years to finish my degree, and about 40k in debt.
But it was worth it to me.
Find purpose and focus on it. Doesn't matter much what it is. Just do it well.
Also, usually always, education is a worthwhile pursuit that pays dividends in many ways. Not just monetary.



Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
I have 20 years experience as an electrician. I'm 4 months into my first electrical engineering position and I love it.
My company does a fair amount of research and development so I spend about 30% of my time hands on, building my team's designs, troubleshooting, etc.
The other 70% is designing and learning about/how to design.
It's a whole other world. Not good/bad, better/worse, but different.
I enjoy wearing a polo to work now, instead of a uniform.
I started school at 32, and it took me 6.5 years to finish my degree, and about 40k in debt.
But it was worth it to me.
Find purpose and focus on it. Doesn't matter much what it is. Just do it well.
Also, usually always, education is a worthwhile pursuit that pays dividends in many ways. Not just monetary.
Nice to hear a success story now and again. Good work and good luck in your bright future.
 
#26 ·
Pass as many tests as you can. Get your Master's license, and finish your engineering degree. Take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) test in your senior year, then take your Professional Engineering test as soon as you qualify with the required number of hours under a PE, then keep all of your licenses active. This will make you marketable in whichever area you're interested in.


I'm an NFPA-Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professional (CESCP), a registered Master electrician and a PE specializing in Power Studies and Electrical Safety training and I really like what I do. I just turned 60 years old and the money's good and the work is interesting. I'll probably stop coming in and out of an office in 5-6 years, but I'll always make money doing Power Studies and 70E training classes.


SO my advice is to keep taking tests!


Good luck.


John M
 
#27 ·
Happy Friday
I am a 5th year union apprentice working for a large electrical contractor. I take my state test in 3 months. My company has shown interest in training me to do estimating and project managing. I was approached today by management about taking advantage of tuition reimbursement. They will pay up to $6,000 a year towards me finishing my electrical engineering license. I started 2 years of my bachelors of engineering. How often do you find engineers that were previously electricians? Would that be an advantageous position to be an engineer with electrician background? I do tend you prefer working in the office but I still enjoy the electrical industry. Thanks.
Pass as many tests as you can. Get your Master's license, and finish your engineering degree. Take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) test in your senior year, then take your Professional Engineering test as soon as you qualify with the required number of hours under a PE, then keep all of your licenses active. This will make you marketable in whichever area you're interested in.


I'm an NFPA-Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professional (CESCP), a registered Master electrician and a PE specializing in Power Studies and Electrical Safety training and I really like what I do. I just turned 60 years old and the money's good and the work is interesting. I'll probably stop coming in and out of an office in 5-6 years, but I'll always make money doing Power Studies and 70E training classes.


SO my advice is to keep taking tests!


Good luck.


John M
Yeah, that’s the direction I’m headed. I really enjoy all the opportunities and I love the electrical field.
 
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