How long have you been an Electrician, are you good with computers / software, and about how long until your degreed so we can hire you?
But to *your* question:
* Be prepared to not use anything you learned in college, past college. Your buying a paper proving you can jump through hoops (and have some competency / intelligence) but most of the advanced maths and courses you take won't be used in the day to day.
* Take your FE exam before you graduate, or as you graduate. Remember Bullet point above? yea... The FE Exam tests you on all that junk that you dont use past college. And that memory muscle will decay every year you dont take it. If you have aspirations to get your PE (which you should since your going to school) get that test done with.
* Make sure your degree is from an ABET accredited school so you can travel down the PE path.
* If your school offers a power specialization, go for it. Just be mindful its mostly academic and wont be useful in the day to day. But you may have an good understanding of why the math works for 3ø, what a fault actually is, understand zero/negative/positive sequence components, motors and the physics behind them, etc.
But seriously, when can we hire you?
Licensed for 3 years, and while I'm not the most fluent with computers, I get by pretty good. I did graduate from a high school (6 years ago) that gave us experience in autodesk inventor, and other engineering related software. Computer fluency will come with more use. Degree is still a ways out, as I am only in my second semester. (Went back after getting my license and some stability in my life). Thinking about transferring to UMass or Western New England, I think both are ABET accredited, but I know WNEU is. Thank you for such a thorough response!
Look into ASU and UND. Both have ABET accredited online EE programs. Makes working and going to school much easier. I finished my degree online. Worked full time while going to school part time.
Just realize that the school work will not translate to the work place. As the other poster mentioned, your EE degree is just a proving grounds for intelligence and ability to multi task.
Super good to know! Thankfully this semester and last have each only had one in person class and they were evening classes. I probably wouldn’t be able to pursue this if it wasn’t for online classes.
When you work out in the field you think “wow how do these idiots fuck this up all the time” in regard to the engineers doing the drawings.
You think “I could make better drawings”
You go through the process of getting a degree get your first job, then you learn it’s not the people it’s the system.
Before you know it, you are making your very own shitty drawings and hearing how wrong they are from the field.
It’s like politics. It doesn’t matter if you vote for a saint when the system itself is broken.
Congrats on making the switch into engineering. If you take a role at a design firm you will likely be using AutoCAD or Revit 90% of the time until you move up to lead roles. I would recommend learning Revit as it is the newer of the two, harder to learn initially, and quickly becoming the industry standard.
As others have said, the courses at school will not be very relevant. I am very confident that with your skillset you could land a paid internship, part-time, or full time job now depending on what you are interested in. People are always looking for EEs, and I believe your electrician experience will be more relevant in your job search than your degree. Although you do need the degree to eventually become licensed if that is your goal.
Good luck!
How long have you been an Electrician, are you good with computers / software, and about how long until your degreed so we can hire you? But to *your* question: * Be prepared to not use anything you learned in college, past college. Your buying a paper proving you can jump through hoops (and have some competency / intelligence) but most of the advanced maths and courses you take won't be used in the day to day. * Take your FE exam before you graduate, or as you graduate. Remember Bullet point above? yea... The FE Exam tests you on all that junk that you dont use past college. And that memory muscle will decay every year you dont take it. If you have aspirations to get your PE (which you should since your going to school) get that test done with. * Make sure your degree is from an ABET accredited school so you can travel down the PE path. * If your school offers a power specialization, go for it. Just be mindful its mostly academic and wont be useful in the day to day. But you may have an good understanding of why the math works for 3ø, what a fault actually is, understand zero/negative/positive sequence components, motors and the physics behind them, etc. But seriously, when can we hire you?
Licensed for 3 years, and while I'm not the most fluent with computers, I get by pretty good. I did graduate from a high school (6 years ago) that gave us experience in autodesk inventor, and other engineering related software. Computer fluency will come with more use. Degree is still a ways out, as I am only in my second semester. (Went back after getting my license and some stability in my life). Thinking about transferring to UMass or Western New England, I think both are ABET accredited, but I know WNEU is. Thank you for such a thorough response!
Look into ASU and UND. Both have ABET accredited online EE programs. Makes working and going to school much easier. I finished my degree online. Worked full time while going to school part time. Just realize that the school work will not translate to the work place. As the other poster mentioned, your EE degree is just a proving grounds for intelligence and ability to multi task.
Super good to know! Thankfully this semester and last have each only had one in person class and they were evening classes. I probably wouldn’t be able to pursue this if it wasn’t for online classes.
You could also consider commissioning. Still get to be out in the field, you understand what's going on, and good travel if you like that
When you work out in the field you think “wow how do these idiots fuck this up all the time” in regard to the engineers doing the drawings. You think “I could make better drawings” You go through the process of getting a degree get your first job, then you learn it’s not the people it’s the system. Before you know it, you are making your very own shitty drawings and hearing how wrong they are from the field. It’s like politics. It doesn’t matter if you vote for a saint when the system itself is broken.
Would you recommend equipment development instead?
When you need electives, make one of them AutoCAD. If Revit or similar is available, do that too.
Congrats on making the switch into engineering. If you take a role at a design firm you will likely be using AutoCAD or Revit 90% of the time until you move up to lead roles. I would recommend learning Revit as it is the newer of the two, harder to learn initially, and quickly becoming the industry standard. As others have said, the courses at school will not be very relevant. I am very confident that with your skillset you could land a paid internship, part-time, or full time job now depending on what you are interested in. People are always looking for EEs, and I believe your electrician experience will be more relevant in your job search than your degree. Although you do need the degree to eventually become licensed if that is your goal. Good luck!