THE ANNALS OF “DUNĂREA DE JOS” UNIVERSITY OF GALATI

FASCICLE III, 2014, VOL. 37, NO. 1, ISSN 2344-4738, ISSN-L 1221-454X
ELECTROTECHNICS, ELECTRONICS, AUTOMATIC CONTROL, INFORMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING GUIDE

Marinescu Cristina-Mihaela

PhD student at UPB

Abstract: This paper describes the steps required to form a future electrical engineer.
This guide informs what skills a future electrical engineer and what studies need to
follow to meet the needs of an employer. This paper explains what educational
programs must be completed in order to have a successful career in this field and a
salary to match. Engineering is the art of applying scientific and mathematical
principles ,experience, judgment, and common sense to make things that benefit people.
An electrical engineer is responsible for designing, developing, testing, and supervising
the production of electrical equipment and systems, in fields ranging from
transportation to lighting and wiring systems to power generation and transmission.

Keywords: electrical engineering, degree, industries, system , solutions, schools.

1. INTRODUCTION There is a huge range of careers in the field so

choosing to attend a specialist school is worth it.
Like any other kind of scientist, electrical engineers Electrical engineering schools offer a range of degree
must also know how to communicate their ideas to programs. Admissions requirements vary depending
others in their field. A successful electrical engineer on the nature of the program.
possesses not only an understanding of his area of Bachelor degrees require a high school diploma or
concentration, but also a broad grasp of engineering. GED whereas a master’s degree will require an
This is why most electrical engineering degree undergraduate degree in a relevant field.
programs begin with the fundamentals of engineering Each program prepares you to enter the workforce
itself. Once the student has mastered these with the skills and training necessary to obtain
fundamentals, she can start to focus on a specialty. employment. Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineers aren't just "techies." (B.S.): An entry-level undergraduate degree, the BS
While engineers often work in the technology focuses on providing students with a comprehensive
services arena, their tasks range from designing and introduction into the field of electrical engineering.
building medical equipment to working for the Usually combined with computer science and other
military or Department of Defense. forms of engineering, students have the opportunity
Contrary to popular belief, electrical engineers don't to gain a broad knowledge of the field.
just sit in their labs alone, tinkering with their latest This degree provides a strong foundation for more
invention. Electrical engineers often work in groups, advanced study in the future or for entry-level
so a great deal of teamwork is required from them. employment in the field.
Electrical engineering students learn through a Master of Electrical Engineering (M.S.): A master’s
combination of design and lab work. program is an advanced degree that promotes hands
This mix of theory and practical application allows on and practical learning as well as theoretical
students to think things through and then apply their education. Students can choose from a range of
ideas in a variety of real life situations. courses but are often provided with mentoring to
Students also learn to diagnose problems and develop enhance their employment prospects following
a variety of solutions. graduation. What’s unique about graduate-level
programs is the ability to choose from a variety of
2. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING SCHOOL specializations. Doctor of Electrical Engineering
(Ph.D.): Finally, the Ph.D. in electrical engineering is
Students may have an idea of what area of electrical designed to enhance research into the field and
engineering they want to go into. students are encouraged to formulate their own
However, you can expand your horizons when you theories and innovations.
enroll in an electrical engineering school.
This paper was recommended for publication by Adrian Filipescu
29
 THE ANNALS OF “DUNĂREA DE JOS” UNIVERSITY OF GALATI
FASCICLE III, 2014, VOL. 37, NO. 1, ISSN 2344-4738, ISSN-L 1221-454X
__________________________________________________________________________________________
There is a strong mentoring tradition with this degree e) Power grids, phone lines, and wireless
so those wanting to take their education as far as networks all require the skills of a system engineer
possible gain significant benefits. for proper installation and maintenance.
Keen attention to detail is important for graduates
3. CAREERS FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING who enter this profession. Experienced system
GRADUATES engineers rely on their ability to think holistically
about the systems they create.
A degree in electrical engineering can qualify you to
pursue a job in almost any industry you can think of. f) Application engineers work with whatever
After all, nearly everyone uses electricity and resources are available, adapting existing equipment
electrical devices, so industries demand skilled and technologies to fulfill the needs of their
professionals to build, repair, and improve these employers. They need to be resourceful, while
devices. Electrical engineering majors enjoy many counting on their deep understanding of the
options, more than enough for any student to find a capabilities and the potential modifications of
job in a field he loves. The following job titles existing equipment.
represent only a handful of the choices available:
a) Research engineers work in the lab, testing and
inventing. This job requires a high level of creativity 4. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ONLINE
on the part of the engineer, as well as a great deal of
patience. Whether inventing a new optoelectronic Stony Brook University's Bachelor of Science in
device or simply designing a better electric can Electrical Engineering online (BSEEOL) degree
opener, research engineers are responsible for the program provides students with the flexibility and
discovery-stage technology behind any new convenience needed to complete a Bachelor of
electronic product. Once a new technology is Science degree in electrical engineering while
invented, it must be applied. working full-time. This program is ideal for
b) The design engineer uses computer professionals and qualified students who are seeking
simulations and models to turn innovations like an excellent education in electrical engineering and
wireless technology into the tiny parts that make up commensurate opportunities for career advancement.
an actual cell phone. The BSEEOL program is administered by Stony
Design engineers must visualize how the insides of a Brook University and courses are taught online by
future product could look, while inventing several faculty members at Stony Brook University,
possible scenarios for the applications of new University at Buffalo and Binghamton University.
technologies. This program offers upper-division undergraduate
courses, typically offered during the third and fourth
years of a four-year undergraduate program in
Electrical Engineering. The program is taught
completely online, asynchronously delivered for
flexible scheduling, and provides all courses,
materials, tests, labs, discussions, advising and
contact with faculty completely online over the
Internet. Note that, however, some prerequisite
admission requirements may require students attend
on-site courses. For example, a year of calculus-
Fig.1. The design engineer based Physics with laboratory is a required admission
requirement for the program.
c) The project engineer oversees many specialist
Some students satisfy this admission requirement by
engineers throughout the construction of a working
attending onsite courses in local universities /
prototype of a new product or technology.
community colleges. Furthermore, students are
The project engineer must have natural leadership
required to go to proctoring centers or other approved
ability, as well as a high proficiency in a variety of
venues to take exams in some courses.
electrical engineering disciplines.
A limited amount of synchronized sessions with
d) Test engineers design programs to check the
instructors may also be required in some courses with
functions of electronic devices and to troubleshoot
hands-on component. BSEE Online is a NY state
those devices when things go wrong. They keep
approved degree program in Electrical Engineering.
technology working properly, and understand which
This program is supported by the College of
elements to test and in what order. Successful test
Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook
engineers remain sharp, even after long hours on the
University.
job.

30
 THE ANNALS OF “DUNĂREA DE JOS” UNIVERSITY OF GALATI
FASCICLE III, 2014, VOL. 37, NO. 1, ISSN 2344-4738, ISSN-L 1221-454X
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. OPPORTUNITIES Throughout your career, you can be sure you'll work
in teams, and the skills you develop in school will
Electrical engineering is a very practical field. help prepare you to lead teams when you graduate.
You'll be able to use what you learn to create and fix 6) Seek informal leadership roles. You're always a
things on your own time. leader, whether you're officially in charge of a team
Additionally, as an engineer, you'll learn how to or not. Sounds counterintuitive, but you can lead
solve problems--the ultimate transferable skill. from any position in an organization by influencing
Along with problem solving, you'll exercise your how people work together and how they make
creativity and gain practical skills like writing and decisions. Usually people think that the leader is the
programming. president or the manager, but if you learn how to
If you opt for a late life career change, a background recognize and deal with various leadership styles
as an engineer will prepare you well for a variety of from any position in a team, you'll be seen as a leader
fields. This field doesn't require you to have an when you take on your first job or internship.
advanced degree in order to find work. 7) Find your flaws and fix them. As with any skill,
With a bachelor's degree you will be able to enter the leadership needs constant improvement.
workforce and start earning money faster. When you are part of a team, try to create a way to
That means less student loan debt and more hands-on get feedback from team members, group leaders, and
experience. Unlike becoming a doctor or professor, professors. When you have concrete feedback on
engineers are able to earn high salaries without how people view you, you can work to improve your
putting in years of extra schooling. skills, including communication and leadership.
Plus, you'll learn how to accept and give constructive
criticism. That's absolutely necessary for your future
6. TIPS FOR SUCCESS
career.
1) Identify the people who inspire you, and find out 8) Take a business class. As an engineer, it's not
what makes them tick. If you love Apple products, enough for you to be technically proficient; you need
Steve Jobs may be your idol, or perhaps you love the to have business savvy. If you're going to be a leader,
Segway and its creator, Dean Kamen. you need to understand what a P&L is (also known
You can easily find out a lot of information about as an income statement), read organization charts,
Jobs and Kamen or just about any other prominent know how to negotiate contracts, and be familiar
person in technology so use it to look into what's with the myriad other functions that every top
helped these people and their companies become so engineer needs to know. Otherwise, you won't
successful. Then emulate their good traits in your understand what to do when an accountant, lawyer,
personal, scholastic, and professional life. or middle manager gets in the way.
2) Develop a portfolio of projects. Participate in A business course or two can take you a long way,
every hands-on, experiential learning opportunity and these classes are often easier to pass than your
that a balanced schedule allows. calculus course!
This way, you'll have something unique to show a 9) Take design and other humanities classes.
prospective employer (or venture capitalist) when There's a wide world out there beyond problem sets,
you graduate, while other students will only be able laboratories, and theory. Take a visual design course
to list their courses. applying it and, in the process, so you'll learn to represent ideas graphically.
boosting your communication and interpersonal Take a cognitive science course to learn how people
skills. interpret the world and understand it.
3) Learn the value of networking. When it comes to Take a literature course to develop your knowledge
being a leader, whom you know is almost as and appreciation of the classic books, which will help
important as what you know. Attend lectures on your you write and communicate more effectively.
campus and introduce yourself to the speakers. 10) Make your summers productive. Employers place
Check with your school's alumni association to get a tremendous value on practical experience.
list of alumni from your program who want to Seek out internship opportunities actively and early
connect with undergraduates. in your academic career. Try to demonstrate through
4) Star Tip. In addition to E-mail, you can use your internships a series of evolving leadership
LinkedIn or other social media tools to connect experiences, and use the internships to build your
online. But remember: There's no substitute for a portfolio of actual projects/products.
traditional, face-to-face meeting, so if you can find a New graduates who can show a commitment to using
way to meet in person, that's always the best. their summer to continue to learn are always viewed
5) Work in teams as much as you can. more seriously by a prospective employer.
Whether it's creating a solar-powered car, 11) Recruit and develop your personal board of
participating in a sport, or writing for the school directors. As an undergraduate, you might feel alone
paper, get involved with an organization that requires when confronted with hard decisions about the
a team effort to produce great results. courses to take, jobs to apply for, or even balancing
school work and your personal life.

31
 THE ANNALS OF “DUNĂREA DE JOS” UNIVERSITY OF GALATI
FASCICLE III, 2014, VOL. 37, NO. 1, ISSN 2344-4738, ISSN-L 1221-454X
__________________________________________________________________________________________
You won't feel alone if you develop a personal board As Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the 1992
of directors just for you. United Nations Conference on Environment and
Just as a company has a board that guides the Development, said, "Sustainable development will be
organization, you can stock your board with impossible without the full input by the engineering
professionals from organizations and companies, as profession." For that to occur, engineers must adopt
well as former teachers and knowledgeable family a completely different attitude toward natural and
friends. cultural systems and reconsider interactions between
engineering disciplines and nontechnical fields.
For the past 150 years, engineering practice has been
based on a paradigm of controlling nature rather than
7. ENGINEERING FOR THE DEVELOPING cooperating with nature.
WORLD In the control-of-nature paradigm, humans and the
natural world are divided, and humans adopt an
The world is becoming a place in which the human
oppositional, manipulative stance toward nature.
population (which now numbers more than six
Despite this reductionistic view of natural systems,
billion) is becoming more crowded, more consuming,
this approach led to remarkable engineering
more polluting, more connected, and in many ways
achievements during the nineteenth and especially
less diverse than at any time in history.
twentieth centuries.
There is a growing recognition that humans are
For instance, civil and environmental engineers have
altering the Earth’s natural systems at all scales, from
played a critical role in improving the condition of
local to global, at an unprecedented rate, changes that
humankind on Earth by improving sanitation,
can only be compared to events that marked the great
developing water resources, and developing
transitions in the geobiological eras of Earth’s history
transportation systems.
(Berry, 1988).
Ironically, these successes have unintentionally
The question now arises whether it is possible to
contributed to current problems by enabling
satisfy the needs of a population that is growing
population growth (Roberts, 1997).
exponentially while preserving the carrying capacity
Most engineering achievements of the past were
of our ecosystems and biological and cultural
developed without consideration for their social,
diversity. A related question is what should be done
economic, and environmental impacts on natural
now and in the near future to ensure that the basic
systems. Not much attention was paid to minimizing
needs for water, sanitation, nutrition, health, safety,
the risk and scale of unplanned or undesirable
and meaningful work are fulfilled for all humans.
perturbations in natural systems associated with
These commitments were defined as the "Millennium
engineering systems.
Development Goals" by the United Nations General
As we enter the twenty-first century, we must embark
Assembly on September 18, 2000.
on a worldwide transition to a more holistic approach
In the next two decades, almost two billion additional
to engineering.
people are expected to populate the Earth, 95 percent
This will require: (1) a major paradigm shift from
of them in developing or underdeveloped countries
control of nature to participation with nature; (2) an
(Bartlett, 1998). This growth will create
awareness of ecosystems, ecosystems services, and
unprecedented demands for energy, food, land,
the preservation and restoration of natural capital;
water, transportation, materials, waste disposal, earth
and (3) a new mindset of the mutual enhancement of
moving, health care, environmental cleanup,
nature and humans that embraces the principles of
telecommunication, and infrastructure.
sustainable development, renewable resources
The role of engineers will be critical in fulfilling
management, appropriate technology, natural
those demands at various scales, ranging from remote
capitalism (Hawken et al., 1999), biomimicry
small communities to large urban areas (megacities),
(Benyus, 1997), biosoma (Bugliarello, 2000), and
mostly in the developing world (United Nations,
systems thinking (Meadows, 1997).
1998). If engineers are not ready to fulfill such
In addition, engineering educators must take a closer
demands, who will? As George Bugliarello (1999)
look at how engineering students are being prepared
has stated, the emergence of large urban areas is
to enter the "real world."
likely to affect the future prosperity and stability of
Current graduates will be called upon to make
the entire world. Today, it is estimated that between
decisions in a socio-geo-political environment quite
835 million and 2 billion people live in some type of
different from that of today.
city slum and that the urban share of the world’s
In their lifetimes, engineering students now attending
extreme poverty is about 25 percent (United Nations,
college can expect to see an increase in world
2001). Considering the problems facing our planet
population from 6 to 9 or 10 billion people, major
today and the problems expected to arise in the first
global warming phenomena, and major losses in
half of the twenty-first century, the engineering
biological and cultural .diversity on Earth.
profession must revisit its mindset and adopt a new
Whether colleges and universities are doing enough
mission statement - to contribute to the building of a
proactively to teach students what they need to know
more sustainable, stable, and equitable world.

32
 THE ANNALS OF “DUNĂREA DE JOS” UNIVERSITY OF GALATI
FASCICLE III, 2014, VOL. 37, NO. 1, ISSN 2344-4738, ISSN-L 1221-454X
__________________________________________________________________________________________
to operate in a future environment is an open of the U.S. engineering profession as we enter the
question (Orr, 1998). Clearly, engineers must twenty-first century.
complement their technical and analytical capabilities
with a broad understanding of so-called "soft" issues
that are nontechnical. Experience has shown that 8. CONCLUSION
social, environmental, economic, cultural, and ethical
Creating a sustainable world that provides a safe,
aspects of a project are often more important than the
secure, healthy, productive, and sustainable life for
technical aspects.
all peoples should be a priority for the engineering
An issue of equal importance is the education of
profession. Engineers have an obligation to meet the
engineers interested in addressing problems specific
basic needs of all humans for water, sanitation, food,
to developing communities.
health, and energy, as well as to protect cultural and
These include water provisioning and purification,
natural diversity. Improving the lives of the five
sanitation, power production, shelter, site planning,
billion people whose main concern is staying alive
infrastructure, food production and distribution, and
each day is no longer an option; it is an obligation.
communication, among many others.
Educating engineers to become facilitators of
Such problems are not usually addressed in
sustainable development, appropriate technology,
engineering curricula in the United States, however.
and social and economic changes represents one of
Thus, our engineers are not educated to address the
the greatest challenges faced by the engineering
needs of the most destitute people on our planet,
profession today. You might be in full-time
many of them living in industrialized countries.
employment for the next 40 or 50 years so it is
This is unfortunate, because an estimated 20 percent
important that you choose a career that gives you
of the world’s population lacks clean water, 40
plenty of enjoyment and satisfaction.
percent lacks adequate sanitation, and 20 percent
If you need futher convincing that a career in
lacks adequate housing.
engineering is right for you, then read on!
Furthermore, engineers will be critical to addressing
a) Never a dull moment
the complex problems associated with refugees,
displaced populations, and the large-scale movement b) Benefit Society
of populations worldwide resulting from political c) Explore the world
conflicts, famine, shortages of land, and natural d) Professional Environment
hazards. Some of these problems have been brought e) Challenging Work
back to our awareness since the tragedy of September f) Prestige
11, 2001. The engineers role is critical to the relief
g) Technological and Scientific Discovery
work provided by host governments and
humanitarian organizations. h) Financial Security
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), i) Variety of Career Opportunities
1.8 billion people (30 percent of the world’s j) Greater understanding of how things
population) currently live in conflict zones, in work
transition, or in situations of permanent instability.
It is clear that engineering education needs to be
changed (or even reinvented) to address the 9. REFERENCES
challenges associated with these global problems.
There is still a large disconnect between what is
expected of young engineers in engineering firms, Garrison, R. D., & Kanuka, H. (2004). Uncovering
the magnitude of the problems in our global its transformative potential in higher education.
economy, ABET 2000 engineering criteria (Criteria3 The Internet and Higher Education, 7, 95-105.
and 4 for instance), and the limited skills and tools http://www.jobguide.thegoodguides.com.au/occupati
traditionally taught in engineering programs in U.S. on/Electrical-Engineer
universities. Engineers of the future must be trained Pivic, M. (2007). Play and learn: Potentials of game-
to make intelligent decisions that protect and enhance based learning. British Journal of Educational
the quality of life on Earth rather than endangering it. Technology, 38(3), 387–393.
They must also make decisions in a professional Allenby, B. (1998). Earth systems engineering: the
environment in which they will have to interact with role of industrial ecology in an engineered
people from both technical and nontechnical world. Journal of Industrial Ecology ,2:
disciplines. Preparing engineers to become 73- 93.
facilitators of sustainable development, appropriate Berry, T. (1988 ). The Dream of the Earth. San
technology, and social and economic changes is one Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
of the greatest challenges faced by the engineering Bugliarello, G. (1999). Megacities and the
profession today. Meeting that challenge may developing world. The Bridge 29(4): 19-26.
provide a unique opportunity for renewing leadership

33