Electrical engineers are expected to be able to calculate mathematically every element within their particular field. Unlike many other types of engineer, electrical engineers are trained to a minimum of a "higher education" grade. That is to say that every electrical engineer is a graduate. Let me elaborate on this and take a deeper look at the areas covered above.
These electrical engineers have duties ranging from assessing the maximum current demand of a new high rise block to calculating harmonics within switch mode power supplies. Typically these electrical engineers work on behalf of a contracting company or are "in house" in larger buildings.
The duties of these electrical engineers are possibly the most diverse of all. Not only do they have to design and calculate a prospective installation, they may well have to use software to design it, like autocad et cetera, work out the costings, schedule delivery dates for equipment and accommodate rapid changes in their designs as requested by the clients and other contractors.
In house electrical engineers are based in a high rise or similar building complex and are available throughout the day for consultation and emergency situations. Depending on the style and purpose of the building, the in house electrical engineer will have a number of electricians to undertake the daily tasks.
Electrical engineers within this field are typically experts in a particular field but that is by no means the only type. For example he may be a lighting specialist and work solely in the street and space lighting field. Another example is an electrical engineer that oversees public works projects, such as shopping centres, cinemas and theatres et cetera.
Although many of these electrical engineers are employed directly by the public utilities, a growing number are contractors. Public works electrical engineers frequently find themselves in a consultation role whereby they mediate between works contractors and the higher echelons of government bodies.
electrical engineers that work in educational institutes are by genre the allrounders that are experts in only the direct subjects relating to electrical engineering. For example an electrical engineer in the building and construction trade will readily know the difference between a high quality power transformer and a low quality one that may just be poorly constructed and yet have an identical specification. As you can see this clearly falls outside the realms of electrical engineering and pertains perhaps more to manufacturing engineering.
These electrical engineers are, however, expected to be exceptionally resourceful and be of a standard that is at the cutting edge of technology.
military
electrical engineers within the confines of the military are an entirely different kind of engineer to the rest. They are expected to be able to deal with emergency and disaster situations at any time of the day. These electrical engineers have to be considerably resourceful in a different way to the educational electrical engineer. Frequently they find themselves in situations where acquisition resources are poor and have to overcome the challenge with their mind and knowledge.
The greatest demand for military electrical engineers is possibly the ability to construct makeshift or temporary installations without compromising safety. This is a generalisation and it should be noted that much military engineering is restricted information and not publishable on this webpage.
design house
Design house electrical engineers cover a wide range of responsibilities. Duties can be as diverse as designing hydro-electric power generators to programming software for electrical engineering uses, such as cable sizing programs. These electrical engineers are almost all multi skilled engineers and noted for their flexibility within accompanying engineering environments.
This article was written by makrobicz associate member of the institution of electrical engineers and web developer for:
A-K strategic business solutions - web design
The work of makrobicz can be seen at http://engineers-international.com possibly his largest project to date where he and another developer, the lovely Aninkita, used Microsoft FrontPage, Allaire Homesite 4.5, macromedia flash 5 on a Microsoft NT server.
makrobicz can be reached direct via email at
Other excerpts from these articles can be viewed at
Electrical engineering and electrical engineers- Makrobicz began college, studying to become an electrician in the UK. He enrolled in evening classes whilst maintaining a 7 day week at work in the city of London. makrobicz vision was to progress to the level of electrical engineer, by using the "dead time " on the train to enhance his studies. having reached , academically, the highest level possible for an electrician, electrical engineering was the next logical step. With permission from work, but not actively supported, nor funded, he undertook the studies of electrical engineering. These times were trying for makrobicz as the day off from his 7 day week that was required for electrical engineering studies, was viewed as a favour by his director and he found himself the subject of managerial bullying. At one time he was even asked to work late by that same director, having explained that his evenings had to be spent in the study of electrical engineering, the director questioned his position in the company. The victimisation served only to strengthen his resolve, against the odds he eventually passed his exams, knowing he only had one shot at it. Mistakenly, he thought the "witch-hunt" was finally over. Being a popular character with both colleagues and clients, he was unerringly forewarned to expect any amount of trouble from the director well in advance. The last straw was possibly when a new apprentice was taken on by the company and offered the position of engineer after his studies. From there on, makrobicz, now well accustomed to up hill struggles, channelled his efforts in a new direction of electrical engineering and now travels the world promoting the development of engineering based websites and lectures in the studies of complex numbers, electrical engineering, harmonics analysis and engineering careers guidance. Writing this has illustrated to me that the good guys can make it big too. I guess there is a moral to this story, no matter the odds, stick with what you know is right.
S. Ekenen (makrobicz fan)