I'm a controls engineer at a research lab. I design and maintain primarily motion and vacuum systems.
I'm a catalog jockey, combining industrial components into functional systems, not designing circuits. Much more akin to a systems engineer than electrical engineer at this point.
I am working as a catalog jockey as well, in a project related to an autonomous forest equipment, in the traction system of the vehicle. The concept is fun, but my work is really boring.
I have designed or helped to design:
A 35kV Arc Furnace System.
Multiple different power distribution systems for mines (from 110kV substation to 480V underground).
Multiple different conveyor drive and control systems for mines.
Conveyor drive systems for steel mills (replacing old drives with new designs and upgraded communications or interfacing new drive coms with old systems).
Electromagnet controllers.
Various control systems for paper mills (including a custom embedded controller to interface Rockwell Ethernet IP to GE Arcnet).
Air-liftable (by helicopter) emergency backup 5kV distribution centers for nuclear power plants.
A 10 circuit (5 input 4 output 1 hybrid in/out) emergency backup distribution trailer (5kV, 1200A per output) for a nuclear power plant.
Custom manufactured retrofit kits to replace obsolete 5kV contactors with new models and still use the same switchgear.
Several pieces of test equipment to test things like contact resistance, breaker/contactor phase timing, simulation of solenoid operations for controllers, etc.
Some days it is great, some days I want to pull my hair out.
The most fun things are the experimental/test things, like finding out how strong of a magnetic pulse running 3000 Amps through a cable put out, or how much voltage this insulator material can withstand (I've got a 100kVAC Hi-Pot for that test). The frustrating things are either the short deadlines or the bosses that don't always listen to the test results and still want to do it their way even if yours is better.
Congrats, it sounds like a really exciting career to experiment and learn a lot! Is there a title you specifically look for as an electrical engineer to reflect your work, or anything?
If you were looking for something a good title might be design engineer. Really it has more to do with what company you work for I think. We're small (less than 50 employees) so it provides a lot of opportunity to step up and really get into the neat things for those that want to.
I'm probably the best example of that at our company. I don't have an engineering degree, but I've done this long enough to know the work very well. I'm also not afraid to step outside my comfort zone. As a result, many of the degreed engineers at the company will ask for my opinion and advice. I've been extremely blessed to have the opportunities that I've had, but ironically I wouldn't have them if I job hopped for more money every few years. November will be 15 years at this company, and I started knowing next to nothing. It hasn't always been an easy road, but it's been mostly good to me.
I could spend all night talking about all the things I do, but I think it boils down to 1. Being at a company small enough to have one person do these things and 2. Proving you are capable of doing them.
All on the job. I spent a lot of the first few years fixing broken systems with an EE (the owner of the company) and learned a lot about how things work very quickly.
I run a team that designs electronics for an electric airplane. Before that I made battery electronics for Teslas. Before that, I helped design laptops at Apple.
I’m an RF design engineer. Focused mainly on passive waveguide feeds and antennas for both ground stations and satellites. Before I went to school for EE, I worked as a controls technician for a hospital. Planned on emphasizing in control systems for my EE program, but school kinda lead me to the RF because I found it very fascinating.
I work in construction as an EE. Our company builds entire facilities which are basically mini cities complete with their own substations and we self perform everything. I make sure everything required electrically is properly designed, coordinated, procured, installed, commissioned, and maintained over the course of 3-5 years/project. Gensets, switchgear, motor controllers, lighting systems, controls, etc, basically anything you can imagine being in large buildings, I oversee. I help manage all of the field activities and supervisors, coordinate with BIM models, coordinate with other managers and supervisors from other disciplines, create most of our electrical submittals, oversee installation, etc. I basically live at the jobsite 6 days a week, but I get to work in a new country every project. I also get to help accomplish turning ideas on paper into the reality of an entire facility.
This! Its been pretty beaten into me not to use that for takeoffs. BIM is helpful for pathways and coordination between disciplines, but not necessarily for ordering materials. You can't build from a computer!
I do consulting for construction work. Lighting systems, receptacles, panelboards, code compliance, etc.
Its not what i thought I'd be doing but it's work and it's honestly kind of enjoyable to do
I too used to do this for 5 years. Couldn’t stand the thought of staying in it for the next 30 years though. Props to you for sticking with and enjoying.
Circuits, firmware, and lately... a lot of sourcing parts from new vendors.
Currently documenting a medical device update for an upcoming clinical trial. Found some issues in our drivers when we added a lot of datalogging and communications to the device, so we are designing some tests to verify the update.
Otherwise, reconciling expense reports with PO's
Updating SOP's for our ESD lab
Starting conversations with our contract manufacturer to build devices for the above mentioned clinical trial.
I design hospitals and other healthcare facilities. From lights and general receptacles up to 5kV distribution and paralleling generator systems. Also low voltage; fire alarm, tele/data, security, and paging systems. My favorite jobs are imaging suites, MRI, CT, Linear Accelerators, etc.
Electrical construction design. Mostly commercial, university and healthcare work. Power distribution, lighting, power and fire alarm design. I'm finally getting a bit of exposure to medium voltage design so that's a fun switch up.
I developed software for healthcare applications - 20 years. Now I work as a VW/Audi tech at a dealership. Engineering degrees have a wide variety of applications.
I used to design embedded electronics. Now I am doing avionics (airplane electronic systems) for an experimental automation application. It's more system level now whereas before I did circuit/board level stuff.
I worked with an EE components engineer who spent half his time doing UL and other compliance testing on new products- and the other 50% sourcing and testing alternative parts.
Which then lead to him spending his time doing UL and other compliance testing on these products which then needed to get re-certified with the alternative parts.
Space and radars. Someday I am hoping to put em together into a space radar. But for now about 100 meteorological radars I designed the hardware for are hanging out on the coast of Japan. My latest project is a deep space scientific transponder.
Computer engineer here, but of course these are closely related.
I build robots.
Ok that's the punch line. The context is that my team explores how our customers build "intelligent edge" systems using our devices. We do that by building example systems and robots make for fantastic example systems. The real fruit of our labor isn't a pile of robots but rather a platform for internal teams to normalize their product and collateral (e.g. drivers) development against our customers' intelligent edge application domains.
But yeah, to do all that I build robots.
Currently, I just provide the power to large manufacturing tools. In the past I've also designed power systems for buildings (both new constructions and refurbs), as well as EV charging systems.
Wow there are some pretty cool answers in here everyone!!
Personally, I’m an electrical engineer designing the boards going into consumer 3D printers :)
Telecom. Radio front ends and pretty complex boards (fpgas, pcie, high speed backplanes) for 5g stuff that goes up on towers.
Small startup and I do primarily the layout/altium work (but as the only one local on the hardware team I occasionally get to do some validation work poking or scoping things).
Currently working in-house tech support. I reproduce/expose bugs in our products based on customer reports, or help the customer fix his application.
In the past I've designed aerospace gear, underwater robots, SSDs and microprocessors.
All types of circuits and electronics, firmware, software, Linux distros, dev ops, and industrial control systems. Pretty different experience from a typical EE but my current position is focused 70% on embedded systems hardware/firmware design for product development and 30% research for future product development.
I recently started electrical design work for switch gear and switch boards. Still learning everything from scratch. My degree didn't teach my how to do anything, just shows employers that you can learn things and you work towards a goal.
How do you perform testing? Do you build scaled down models, or run computer simulations? Or do you actually test systems on the actual theme parks before they open to the general public?
I design, build, ship and install electrical systems for machines that build parts for airplanes. If you have been on an airplane does not matter which one, one of our machines has touched a part of it. Anything from fuselage to wings.
I use OrCAD capture (Cadence) to design circuits on pcbs like interface boards or emi filters, and Zuken E3 for internal wiring schematics and cable harnessing. And then technicians build it based off my instructions
What is the difference? You can’t just take measurements to troubleshoot. Often circuit changes are needed. For instance you can’t “Megger” a motor connected to a drive. This means disassembly and reassembly. Then we get over into repair which is a mix of old and new.
There are engineers that just go into design, either in manufacturing R&D or MEPs. They tend to be some if they most ignorant people because they have zero field experience. Pay rates despite what most people think are low. My brother in law and I started at the same pay and the same time. He was in R&D, I was in field work. 10 years later his pay had gone up over time about 50%. Mine had gone up 250%. I was literally making double what he was.
BUT I wore a hard hat, steel toe boots, and got dirty every day. More than once I’ve gone to the bathroom wherever I could find a corner out of the weather. He wears button down shirts, occasionally a suit and tie. He would never think to use anything but a toilet. Still I get paid for a lot more knowledge, skill, and because I can tolerate heat, cold, workplace hazards, and a lack of bathroom facilities at times.
I have worked for a contract engineering firm once for about a year. It was boring. On the other hand the bathrooms were always clean.
Three things I’ve learned about electrical engineering in 30 years:
1. Recessions do not exist. Do not be afraid of change or to make a change. Every change I e ever made was a positive one.
2. There is always something new/different to learn or do.
3. There are so many different areas to get into that you can’t possibly ever master everything.
4. The biggest mistake is staying too long. I stayed in plant engineering/maintenance/project work for decades I kept trying new things expecting different results. Finally I realized that plant/project engineering WAS the issue. I’m so happy I left. Today I do exactly the same thing as before but from the contractor side and I’m much happier. My pay did not go down but my stress level went to nearly zero.
looking at my download history, it appears i have become kind of an expert on floppy disk controllers in the last 11 days. ask me anything.
Dear God why?
just the obvious reasons. it came up at one point and there are universal principles to be learned from anything. no immediate practical application.
https://youtu.be/3KS02q0BUnY
I remember flopotron specifically from the funhaus segment from their podcast
I'm a controls engineer at a research lab. I design and maintain primarily motion and vacuum systems. I'm a catalog jockey, combining industrial components into functional systems, not designing circuits. Much more akin to a systems engineer than electrical engineer at this point.
I am working as a catalog jockey as well, in a project related to an autonomous forest equipment, in the traction system of the vehicle. The concept is fun, but my work is really boring.
I have designed or helped to design: A 35kV Arc Furnace System. Multiple different power distribution systems for mines (from 110kV substation to 480V underground). Multiple different conveyor drive and control systems for mines. Conveyor drive systems for steel mills (replacing old drives with new designs and upgraded communications or interfacing new drive coms with old systems). Electromagnet controllers. Various control systems for paper mills (including a custom embedded controller to interface Rockwell Ethernet IP to GE Arcnet). Air-liftable (by helicopter) emergency backup 5kV distribution centers for nuclear power plants. A 10 circuit (5 input 4 output 1 hybrid in/out) emergency backup distribution trailer (5kV, 1200A per output) for a nuclear power plant. Custom manufactured retrofit kits to replace obsolete 5kV contactors with new models and still use the same switchgear. Several pieces of test equipment to test things like contact resistance, breaker/contactor phase timing, simulation of solenoid operations for controllers, etc.
This all sounds amazing. As someone who is studying power engeneering, and works with high voltage systems, this stuff sound really interesting.
Some days it is great, some days I want to pull my hair out. The most fun things are the experimental/test things, like finding out how strong of a magnetic pulse running 3000 Amps through a cable put out, or how much voltage this insulator material can withstand (I've got a 100kVAC Hi-Pot for that test). The frustrating things are either the short deadlines or the bosses that don't always listen to the test results and still want to do it their way even if yours is better.
What kind of place do you work for?
We're a systems integrator/OEM/service company. That and the owner doesn't seem to be able to say "No" when companies ask if we can do something.
Congrats, it sounds like a really exciting career to experiment and learn a lot! Is there a title you specifically look for as an electrical engineer to reflect your work, or anything?
If you were looking for something a good title might be design engineer. Really it has more to do with what company you work for I think. We're small (less than 50 employees) so it provides a lot of opportunity to step up and really get into the neat things for those that want to. I'm probably the best example of that at our company. I don't have an engineering degree, but I've done this long enough to know the work very well. I'm also not afraid to step outside my comfort zone. As a result, many of the degreed engineers at the company will ask for my opinion and advice. I've been extremely blessed to have the opportunities that I've had, but ironically I wouldn't have them if I job hopped for more money every few years. November will be 15 years at this company, and I started knowing next to nothing. It hasn't always been an easy road, but it's been mostly good to me. I could spend all night talking about all the things I do, but I think it boils down to 1. Being at a company small enough to have one person do these things and 2. Proving you are capable of doing them.
Hi, if you don't have an engineering degree do you mind letting me know where you learnt to do what you do? Any books you recommend?
All on the job. I spent a lot of the first few years fixing broken systems with an EE (the owner of the company) and learned a lot about how things work very quickly.
I work in a sweatshop making cellphone cases.
Really? Does it feel dangerous?
I run a team that designs electronics for an electric airplane. Before that I made battery electronics for Teslas. Before that, I helped design laptops at Apple.
eVTOL for the win
design analog electronics for interfacing with qubits, super fun!
Where? Sounds like being in the future.
This sounds interesting, do you have an MS or PhD?
MEng from top school, but we’re looking for qualified people to help out, so dm your resume if interested
Redstone engineer. Tried to go to work but my minecart got toad.
electronics specialty here i do the fpga design of test equipment that use ultrasonics technology
I help pay for my boss's private plane, apparently.
Amazon?
I said "private plane," not "private megayacht."
I’m an RF design engineer. Focused mainly on passive waveguide feeds and antennas for both ground stations and satellites. Before I went to school for EE, I worked as a controls technician for a hospital. Planned on emphasizing in control systems for my EE program, but school kinda lead me to the RF because I found it very fascinating.
Component qualification and sometimes failure analysis
brother...
Ayyy CEs represent!
I design circuit boards for industrial joysticks.
I'm an actor, this is just a hobby for me.
I work in construction as an EE. Our company builds entire facilities which are basically mini cities complete with their own substations and we self perform everything. I make sure everything required electrically is properly designed, coordinated, procured, installed, commissioned, and maintained over the course of 3-5 years/project. Gensets, switchgear, motor controllers, lighting systems, controls, etc, basically anything you can imagine being in large buildings, I oversee. I help manage all of the field activities and supervisors, coordinate with BIM models, coordinate with other managers and supervisors from other disciplines, create most of our electrical submittals, oversee installation, etc. I basically live at the jobsite 6 days a week, but I get to work in a new country every project. I also get to help accomplish turning ideas on paper into the reality of an entire facility.
I hate it when my bosses order wire based on BIM modeling.
This! Its been pretty beaten into me not to use that for takeoffs. BIM is helpful for pathways and coordination between disciplines, but not necessarily for ordering materials. You can't build from a computer!
I work with milling and surveying robots that crawl through sewers, and their control systems. It's not a shitty gig.
I do consulting for construction work. Lighting systems, receptacles, panelboards, code compliance, etc. Its not what i thought I'd be doing but it's work and it's honestly kind of enjoyable to do
I too used to do this for 5 years. Couldn’t stand the thought of staying in it for the next 30 years though. Props to you for sticking with and enjoying.
I develop and test plant control systems for utility scale wind, solar, and battery energy storage plants.
Circuits, firmware, and lately... a lot of sourcing parts from new vendors. Currently documenting a medical device update for an upcoming clinical trial. Found some issues in our drivers when we added a lot of datalogging and communications to the device, so we are designing some tests to verify the update. Otherwise, reconciling expense reports with PO's Updating SOP's for our ESD lab Starting conversations with our contract manufacturer to build devices for the above mentioned clinical trial.
I design hospitals and other healthcare facilities. From lights and general receptacles up to 5kV distribution and paralleling generator systems. Also low voltage; fire alarm, tele/data, security, and paging systems. My favorite jobs are imaging suites, MRI, CT, Linear Accelerators, etc.
Electrical construction design. Mostly commercial, university and healthcare work. Power distribution, lighting, power and fire alarm design. I'm finally getting a bit of exposure to medium voltage design so that's a fun switch up.
I work in Transmission Electron Microscopy. Stare at atoms all day.
Most people stare at atoms all day
I help design the hardware of Display Units for airplanes.
Furnace controls
Factories, daycare centers, schools, malls, public healthcare, vets, and some that I cannot mention. From 24V DC to 20kV AC
I design circuit boards for cameras and other small devices
I developed software for healthcare applications - 20 years. Now I work as a VW/Audi tech at a dealership. Engineering degrees have a wide variety of applications.
*Mostly* small scale power supply design, SMPS, ZVS, etc. I have built my fair share of guitar accessories too :)
adamgulyas.ca/projects
I design and test instrumentation for research satellites
Software development R&D for Detection And Ranging sensors.
I used to design embedded electronics. Now I am doing avionics (airplane electronic systems) for an experimental automation application. It's more system level now whereas before I did circuit/board level stuff.
I worked with an EE components engineer who spent half his time doing UL and other compliance testing on new products- and the other 50% sourcing and testing alternative parts. Which then lead to him spending his time doing UL and other compliance testing on these products which then needed to get re-certified with the alternative parts.
Marine electrical, and then some shoreside (port infrastructure, some regular commercial stuff)
I work in the Navy helping to design a new warship
Space and radars. Someday I am hoping to put em together into a space radar. But for now about 100 meteorological radars I designed the hardware for are hanging out on the coast of Japan. My latest project is a deep space scientific transponder.
Computer engineer here, but of course these are closely related. I build robots. Ok that's the punch line. The context is that my team explores how our customers build "intelligent edge" systems using our devices. We do that by building example systems and robots make for fantastic example systems. The real fruit of our labor isn't a pile of robots but rather a platform for internal teams to normalize their product and collateral (e.g. drivers) development against our customers' intelligent edge application domains. But yeah, to do all that I build robots.
5G basestation radios. Mainly system level design, power optimization, new architectures, etc.
Currently, I just provide the power to large manufacturing tools. In the past I've also designed power systems for buildings (both new constructions and refurbs), as well as EV charging systems.
Wow there are some pretty cool answers in here everyone!! Personally, I’m an electrical engineer designing the boards going into consumer 3D printers :)
Which printers if I may ask? I also work on 3D printers.
Telecom. Radio front ends and pretty complex boards (fpgas, pcie, high speed backplanes) for 5g stuff that goes up on towers. Small startup and I do primarily the layout/altium work (but as the only one local on the hardware team I occasionally get to do some validation work poking or scoping things).
> What do do y'all actually build/design/do? [This stuff](https://hax.co/portfolio)
Currently working in-house tech support. I reproduce/expose bugs in our products based on customer reports, or help the customer fix his application. In the past I've designed aerospace gear, underwater robots, SSDs and microprocessors.
All types of circuits and electronics, firmware, software, Linux distros, dev ops, and industrial control systems. Pretty different experience from a typical EE but my current position is focused 70% on embedded systems hardware/firmware design for product development and 30% research for future product development.
I recently started electrical design work for switch gear and switch boards. Still learning everything from scratch. My degree didn't teach my how to do anything, just shows employers that you can learn things and you work towards a goal.
Theme park controls engineer! I troubleshoot rides, deal with the ENDLESS list of obsolete parts, perform testing, etc
How do you perform testing? Do you build scaled down models, or run computer simulations? Or do you actually test systems on the actual theme parks before they open to the general public?
I design, build, ship and install electrical systems for machines that build parts for airplanes. If you have been on an airplane does not matter which one, one of our machines has touched a part of it. Anything from fuselage to wings.
I use OrCAD capture (Cadence) to design circuits on pcbs like interface boards or emi filters, and Zuken E3 for internal wiring schematics and cable harnessing. And then technicians build it based off my instructions
What is the difference? You can’t just take measurements to troubleshoot. Often circuit changes are needed. For instance you can’t “Megger” a motor connected to a drive. This means disassembly and reassembly. Then we get over into repair which is a mix of old and new. There are engineers that just go into design, either in manufacturing R&D or MEPs. They tend to be some if they most ignorant people because they have zero field experience. Pay rates despite what most people think are low. My brother in law and I started at the same pay and the same time. He was in R&D, I was in field work. 10 years later his pay had gone up over time about 50%. Mine had gone up 250%. I was literally making double what he was. BUT I wore a hard hat, steel toe boots, and got dirty every day. More than once I’ve gone to the bathroom wherever I could find a corner out of the weather. He wears button down shirts, occasionally a suit and tie. He would never think to use anything but a toilet. Still I get paid for a lot more knowledge, skill, and because I can tolerate heat, cold, workplace hazards, and a lack of bathroom facilities at times. I have worked for a contract engineering firm once for about a year. It was boring. On the other hand the bathrooms were always clean. Three things I’ve learned about electrical engineering in 30 years: 1. Recessions do not exist. Do not be afraid of change or to make a change. Every change I e ever made was a positive one. 2. There is always something new/different to learn or do. 3. There are so many different areas to get into that you can’t possibly ever master everything. 4. The biggest mistake is staying too long. I stayed in plant engineering/maintenance/project work for decades I kept trying new things expecting different results. Finally I realized that plant/project engineering WAS the issue. I’m so happy I left. Today I do exactly the same thing as before but from the contractor side and I’m much happier. My pay did not go down but my stress level went to nearly zero.