5 Things to Know Before Becoming an Electrical Engineer

“Should I become an electrical engineer?” It’s a question many people interested in an engineering career ask themselves.

There are approximately 188,000 electrical engineers in the United States and the industry is expected to grow substantially through 2026. Many engineering students believe that all their experience acquired during college or vocational school will help them get a great job in the field. Yet that is not always guaranteed.

You have to know some essential skills to become an electrical engineer. Want to know what those essential skills are? Read on to learn about five things you need to know.

1. Table of Contents

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   Get the Right Credentials

The minimum requirement to become an electrical engineer is to go to college and get a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering or electronic engineering technology. You do not necessarily need a master’s degree, but it will help you out if you want to present yourself as a top candidate seeking a high-level position.

2. Consider Getting a Certification

In some states, a bachelor’s or master’s degree may not be enough. While it is fine for any entry-level position, you may need to have a certification to demonstrate you would be able to supervise other employees or offer individual services to the public.

The most popular option is to take and pass the National Society of Professional Engineers Fundamentals of Engineering exam after graduating from an ABET-accredited bachelor’s program.

3. Have a Good Sense of the Fundamentals

Before you can move on to mastering more advanced engineering techniques, you need to know you have enough knowledge on the basics of electrical engineering to succeed. When it comes to items like motor & lighting control (which you can learn more about here), you want to know how any project can be affected by other aspects of a project.

4. Designing the Hardware is Not the Whole Job

Many engineers dream about designing their own hardware for a project, but it is not the only thing that happens during a job.

When you only focus on designing, you don’t catch a lot of the issues that could affect its usability. You need to first make a prototype and test that version and other ones beyond it. After you’ve finished testing, you have to validate that it works.

Once you do that, it will help you in other future projects.

5. How to Manage Your Career

Not everything in an electrical engineering career is about having mechanical and technical skills. Working as an electrical engineer also greatly depends on your business and career management skills. You need to know how to open yourself up to new opportunities and be at the headfront of new projects.

Your career will work out well in the end if you strive toward a goal.

Ask Yourself Whether You Want to Be an Electrical Engineer

If you become an electrical engineer, you open yourself open to a lot of job opportunities that cannot easily be replicated in the other industries. While having the technical skills like mechanical designing under your belt are important, it is just as important to know how to be a team player that works well. If you know these five skills, you will be successful for years to come.

We hope you enjoyed this intriguing article about starting an electrical engineering career. For more cool articles like this, check out the other posts on our site.