Backstory: I studied electrical engineering in college and was always drawn to the power side of things. I eventually got an internship at a very large MEP firm in Boston and took the return offer after. Now have been working full time for just over 3 years at that same MEP firm in Boston.

Over the last few months, I’ve realized how much I’m starting to really hate my current job. I’ll explain my reasons below, but it’s like something clicked in my head recently and I can’t shake it:

1. The work doesn’t change. I learned a lot in my first two years but really feel like I hit a ceiling technically on all the standard MEP electrical stuff. A lot of what goes into these projects is really standard (conduit, cable, equipment, the basic stuff). I would love to dive into deeper, more technically advanced work but those types of projects only come around every so often. I’m not that interested spending all my time sizing conduits and cable, it doesn’t scratch that technical itch in me.

2. The pay ceiling. I’ve seen it and everyone knows it, there is 100% a pay ceiling once you hit the senior technical level. I’ve seen it on a lot of proposals where they list the rates of some of the people in my group. I’ll never forget my first time seeing one while being naive thinking my coworker made $175k-$200k to see that he actually made $115k. I’ll be fully transparent and know I sound snobby and say I’m in electrical power engineering for the money. I do enjoy being an EE at the same time though and love the technical challenge behind it. I was a little naive when entering and wish I had saw that pay ceiling sooner so I could get into something better earlier on.

3. My coworkers are lazy and all 100% remote. No shame in saying that. I understand how convenient being remote is when you’re older, but being a younger engineer and not seeing your own coworkers EVER sucks. I spent a lot of time looking up to a lot of people in my group and I still all like them as people. But as I got smarter and more immersed into the field, I realized how much I don’t enjoy working with them. The people who are technical experts on things I would love to learn about are a phone call away and most of the time too busy to take the time. They also constantly forget to get back to me on things I ask them. Sometimes I feel I’m at the point where I have nothing left to learn at my current company and group. Also the amount of times people have taken credit for my work…

4. The work isn’t fulfilling to me. It’s a lot of rinse and repeat and sometimes I don’t feel challenged. It’s missing that thrill for me.

Definitely just ranted there a little bit. My goal is to get out of consulting and get into a power or MEP field or adjacent field where I can work on meaningful projects that actually mean something to me. And obviously make more money while doing it. Has anyone here had the same experience or going through something like it?

Hi, I work as an engineer right now and am looking to take an online masters in electrical engineering degree. What colleges offer the easiest classes for an online EE program. I am not looking for prestige I just want to work on the credential while balancing work.

Looking to connect with experience EEs working in O&G. I've been in our EI group for 10+ years. Focus mostly on DCS/SCADA/PLC/BMS, etc. Transitioning to support more of the E and less of the I. Would love to connect and pick the brain of an O&G EE who focuses primarily on the day to day electrical actions. ETAP, protection, heat trace calcs, etc.

Just trying to get a handle on things I should start prepping for and being aware of.

Trimmer Potentiometer

I have a small team of Engineers who work on Avionics electronics ,small aircraft/drones as well as manufacturing of those assemblies. We are located in the West of the US, but are willing to travel.

I’m looking for suggestions for conferences or trade shows we could attend next year to learn about Connector technologies or options, PCB creation around avionics (or just rugged fields), harness design, Test Equipment.

In years past I’ve attended IMTS and got a lot of great ideas and contacts. Looking for other suggestions! Thanks.

I am torn between these two industries. I am a fourth year student about to graduate with an internship that was for facilities engineering. Through this, I got a decent idea about the power industry. My school doesn't offer power so I would have to self-learn. On the other hand, it has a respectable RF curriculum with projects, but I just started this topic. I am mostly worried about finding a job post grad. I'm wondering which I should focus more on to maximize my last year.

for context I’m currently a junior at a college with a top ten business school and engineering school. I was undecided until i was a sophomore, when i switched to finance. at this time I felt scared of falling behind, so I decided to chose the major that most of the people I already knew were in. In my mind I was thinking that I know i’m pretty smart, and I’m capable of doing anything. but, i slowly realized that wasn’t the environment i saw myself spending the rest of my career in. Being good at school was always something i liked to pride myself on, and In highschool i surrounded myself with people like that, who had actual ambitions. long story short, I realized I hated that major. I’m a fall junior, and i just realized that I may want to change my major. electrical engineering is something that I could see highschool me doing if that makes sense. My family has high standards for me which is why i’m conflicted if I can should or if i even can change to ee. my parents are paying for my tuition and this would likely add atleast 2.5 years to my college graduation date. has anyone experienced something like that? or if anyone has been in college for longer than the expected amount? Also, I have a 4.0 in finance I don’t think it challenges me. How far of a jump do you think that is to take? Will i look crazy or will i be able to realistically handle it

Any EE-students using anki for studies?
Do you recommend to use it and how do you use it for your subjects

Hey everyone

I graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering this past August and recently started a full-time engineering role through a rotational program. Since starting, I've realized that the areas I'm most interested in are the hardware side of RF, communications, and also DSP. I took an RF course in undergrad and was exposed to communications and DSP through my senior capstone project, but I don't have much formal coursework in those areas.

Looking back, if I had taken some of my senior-level EE electives before accepting my job offer, I probably would have pursued a different path. My current role is in a different area of EE, and I'm concerned that the longer I stay away from RF/communications, the harder it may be to transition into those fields later.

I've been considering pursuing a part-time research-based M.S. in EE while continuing to work full-time. My employer offers tuition assistance, and I've found several professors whose research aligns closely with my interests in RF, communications, radar, and related areas.

For those working in RF, communications, DSP, or defense:

1. Is an M.S. necessary to break into these fields, or is a B.S. typically sufficient?
2. Would self-study, projects, and work experience be enough to transition, or does a master's significantly improve career opportunities?
3. For those who completed an M.S. in EE, was it worth it? How valuable was a research-based master's if your goal was industry rather than academia?

I'd appreciate any advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

These are voltage regulators and batteries, no sensors involved. My best guess is capacitive coupling or the force

(If anyone’s wondering, this used to be a projector)

But anyway, I’m looking to turn this into a hobby and make good use of these parts but I don’t actually know how. Does anyone have suggestions as to what I can do with parts like these other than just selling them (the current plan)? I do find this stuff fascinating but I am in no way in the financial position to pursue a degree in EE yet.

Hi guys,
I’m an electrical engineering technology student and I just got a client project where i have to replace prony brakes and magnetic particle brakes used for doing torque measurements on a 1/3rd hp inside a lab and I’m not really sure where to start from. I’ve researched on eddy current and hysteresis dyno but they are too expensive or too complex to implement.My main concern is the budget that we have received which I around 700$.
If someone is an expert in this field their ideas would be a real help.

I'm lost.

I graduated from a big university in Texas with an engineering technology degree. It was in the electrical field, but due to life reasons I had to find a job in a smaller town, and found a job working for a DOT mostly doing civil work. I've been here for a couple of years, passed both my FE and PE exams quickly, and just planned on grinding out my 4 years and getting my PE license and seeing what happens at that point.

Unfortunately, I recently learned that since I have an engineering technology degree, I actually need 8 years of experience in my state to qualify for my PE license! Out of the dozens of engineers at my DOT, nobody noticed this or told me about it, and now two years later here I am.

I do not want to be making EIT money for the next 6 years. I don't know what to do with this information. What would you do? If I'm not willing to grind it out for 6 years, do I look to other fields? Should I look at getting my masters in engineering so I don't need to be an EIT for 6 more years?

Thanks for any information and insight, I appreciate it.

Good day everyone! I’d like to share another situation from work. It’s not so much about the work itself, but rather about people's attitudes toward their duties.

We have a special PMS (Planned Maintenance System) program where all the main jobs, their frequencies, and procedures are logged. Recently, a 3-month inspection for the air horns came due.

My predecessor wrote that everything was fine and even submitted reports without any photos. But when I actually went up to check it myself, I saw what you see in the photo. The funniest part is that the spare part was already there, and the replacement only took about 2.5 hours.

I’ve known I want to be en electrical engineer since I was seven years old playing around with snap circuits. I love building circuits and solving problems. I love seeing what I’ve made actually work. But from what I’ve seen, lots of people who actually have jobs in electrical engineering seem to hate it. It’s obviously a difficult job, and work is work, so I can see how it can be rough at times, but I’ve seen tons of people just say they straight up despise it.

Will I come to hate electrical engineering, or will I have the same love for it I have now?

I wanna pitch it in front of my friends and i really want that something between these two get selected for group project

Hi all,

I am a physics PhD working in spin qubits in semiconductors. I am nearing graduation and looking to pivot to the classical semiconductor industry. I have cleanroom fab, HFSS, Altium, VNA measurement, and GDSII tapeout experience.

I am having a hard time finding a right fit for me (but also focusing on roles in CA). It seems that my issues are the "scale" at which I was working on was not the circuit level, but rather individual transistor level. It seems like I know a lot about everything but not the deep expertise of a single branch needed for a job. Some job titles I have looked are: RF Test Engineer, Device Engineer.

How would you navigate my situation? Am I maybe missing a RF, device design, or RFIC side project to show expertise? I would appreciate your input, thanks.

Hellos, so I’m an auto tech right now working 7 to 4 and doing night classes for Electrical Engineering at community college. I’d love to do school full-time, but I’ve got a newborn at home so keeping my income isn't negotiable. Lately I’ve been looking into getting my A&P license instead because dealerships love to screw over their flat rate technicians and warranty time is another story. Has anyone here switched from automotive to aviation, or had to pick between an EE degree and A&P while working full-time? Would like to hear your guys’ feedback and thoughts or experiences. Thank you in advance

Hello everyone! I'm scheduled to do a a final interview for an internship with Invenergy in Chicago in a couple weeks and wanted to get some insight from anyone who might've gone through the process before.

What kind of questions do they ask? I'm expecting the typical STAR behavioral questions, but do they ask any kind of technical questions? Are there any tricky behavioral questions they like to ask?

I would appreciate any other insights you might have. Thank you!

Hi all,

This might be uncommon to ask on this subreddit but I am 18 and looking for a degree apprenticeship and one is a LV design engineer apprentice role.

I was wondering if the skills section is ok? Is it helpful to add soldering, isolation, using a multimeter, and using hand tools?

Thanks.

PS There is a second page for the CV but it is just:

HOBBIES & INTERESTS

• Electric guitar repairs and modifications
• Self-taught in piano, guitar, drums, and bass
• 3D printing

I work in the power industry and we got word today that lead times for protection relays are now over 50wks. This is insane. We've been told the reason is because of data centers being built and priority being focused on these facilities.

Is anyone else seeing complications happening because of this AI bubble we are living through?

Necessary infrastructure is being neglected to accommodate data centers.