time for engineering?

[syritis]

ok i hate my job.
i'm looking into a completely new careers but i'm a little hesitant. i'm thinking of electrical engineering mostly b/c it's been in the back of my head since grade 4. i believe i'm fairly talented but the thought of spending years into schooling just to get out and hate that job too is over whelming.

i'm wondering if there is anyway to get insight into the typical day of an electrical engineer without hunting one down and stalking him/her from the tree outside the window?!?!?!

[Pahnda]

It really depends on what kind of work you get into.

I got my BSc in Electrical Engineering and work for a SCADA company, plus doing random on-the-side consulting and one-off jobs in totally unrelated areas. Pretty much spend the majority of my time on the computer programming, reading/researching, testing, using CAD/CAE software, writing, getting annoyed by IT refusing to do anything useful due to idiotic policy (90% of the people are nice though), etc... When I'm not doing that, generally in a meeting or talking with clients/co-workers to flesh out requirements and the like.

That's pretty vague, but it really does depend on what's going on in a particular month, week, or even day.

[Phenix]

ya it depends. I work with a bunch of them and they can sometimes be doing all sorts of things. just really depends what company you get on with. you could be working anywhere from in the field somewhere to working in a shop or a office

[Super_Geo]

everyday life of
elec eng dull, more time spent
haikuing than work

[syritis]

well i'm far more coherent with vehicle electrical systems in fact i could probably completely wire a car in a day or too. all straight forward to me.

but i know very little about building codes.

so does does any electrical engineering degree cover all the industry. or does it specialize further into mobile, building and/or machinery?


dull isn't so bad. right now i'm working 50-60 hour weeks just to run home and continue working on the house or car.

[kaput]

.

[rinny]

Disagree with the SAIT comment. If you are really feeling a degree dont go to SAIT first and then University Bridge. From experience, though SAIT provides good hands on practical work, I feel I should have started in University. But hey, its good to know what the field is like and to get the experience you would coming out of a tech program.

[rc2002]

I got my first degree (BSc) in electrical engineering.

It can be a pretty difficult program depending on the person because some of the concepts are very abstract. It's mainly theoretical knowledge so when you start working you'll probably find that SAIT grads seem to have more useful (hands on) knowledge than you do.

[broken_legs]

i used to work as a 'Product Specialist'

I bridged the gap between sales guys who would sell solutions to customers and the actual production facility that built them

A lot of time we'd get a quote, and then we;d have to design a panel for that quote, spec out all the parts, etc

If the client accepted the drawings then it would be my job to get the drawings to the manufacturing guys and sort of watch over the process as they were putting things together.

Too much paper work... Didnt like how the stack of paper kept getting bigger no matter what I did... Quit went to oilfield for more money :D

[syritis]

i thought it was a lot of sketching electrical diagrams. including wire gauges, connectors, and product solutions.


drawing a panel box doesn't sounds like it requires an engineer.

what kind of salary range would i be looking at?

[HuMz]

Originally posted by syritis
i thought it was a lot of sketching electrical diagrams. including wire gauges, connectors, and product solutions.


drawing a panel box doesn't sounds like it requires an engineer.

what kind of salary range would i be looking at?

Like mentioned above it all depends on what kind of field you get into. If your doing field work or got involved with construction you'd could easily be doing alot of print work and designing power systems and layouts.

And yes there are prints and specifications for just about all power systems and panels. Alot of load and sizing calculations and electrical codes that must be followed. And on top of that a whole whack or other building and structural codes you gotta take into account.

Im a j-man electrician not an engineer but I deal with engineers from time to time but use there prints on a daily basis to install what they design and layout.

[syritis]

Originally posted by syritis
what kind of salary range would i be looking at? [/B]

or somewhere in the ball park. no point in spending 2 years in school just to make an extra 10k or 20k per year.

[denise]

i don't know if this is where im suppose to be... earlier i was reading a discussion board that was talking about power engineer courses at nait and sait. I found this very interesting and registered... hoping i would be able to find this discussion board again. Could somebody help me?

[dirtsniffer]

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/130396/power-engineer-plant-operator/

welcome to beyond

[mazdavirgin]

Ok well the first thing to know is that you shouldn't be going into EE if all you want to do is wire buildings or wire a car system. EE as a degree has nothing to do with either. It is mostly a theoretical degree which looks at how electricity behaves. You will learn things like how to design the tiny little parts of various circuits and how electricity works on the atomic level. Unless you want to go into R&D type fields it is not really for you... I mean yes you are going to need to know these things to design systems but the vast majority of people don't need to know these things.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by syritis


or somewhere in the ball park. no point in spending 2 years in school just to make an extra 10k or 20k per year.

Any education doesn't instantly make you a baller. I'm getting paid less than I ever have since I graduated high school 5 years ago (instrumentation technologist). When you graduate you are now at the bottom of the totem pole (a different totem pole, but still the bottom).

The nice thing (for myself) is I get 4 paid weeks off per year to start, full benefits, don't do hard physical labor in -30*C weather, and work 8:30 to 4:30 mon-fri. My salary ceiling is much higher now though, all I have to do is pay my dues for a couple of years :D

Edit-
And, just to keep this focused, I've met plenty of electrical engineers who earn the same money as I do out the gate. Again, its just that their salary ceiling is even higher than mine!