| Electrophony |
Education
Electrical engineers typically possess an
academic degree with a major in electrical engineering. The length of study
for such a degree is usually four or five years and the completed degree may be
designated as a
Bachelor of Engineering,
Bachelor of Science,
Bachelor of Technology or
Bachelor of Applied Science depending upon the university. The degree
generally includes units covering
physics,
mathematics,
computer science,
project management and
specific topics in electrical engineering. Initially such topics cover most,
if not all, of the sub-disciplines of electrical engineering. Students then
choose to specialize in one or more sub-disciplines towards the end of the
degree.
Some electrical engineers also choose to pursue a postgraduate degree such as
a
Master of Engineering/Master
of Science (MEng/MSc), a Master of
Engineering Management, a
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Engineering, an
Engineering Doctorate (EngD), or an
Engineer's degree. The Master and Engineer's degree may consist of either
research,
coursework
or a mixture of the two. The Doctor of Philosophy and Engineering Doctorate
degrees consist of a significant research component and are often viewed as the
entry point to
academia. In the United Kingdom and various other European countries, the
Master of Engineering is often considered an undergraduate degree of
slightly longer duration than the
Bachelor of Engineering.
Practicing engineers
In most countries, a Bachelor's degree in engineering represents the first
step towards
professional certification and the degree program itself is certified by a
professional body. After completing a certified degree program the engineer
must satisfy a range of requirements (including work experience requirements)
before being certified. Once certified the engineer is designated the title of
Professional Engineer (in the United States, Canada and
South
Africa ),
Chartered Engineer (in
India, the
United Kingdom,
Ireland and
Zimbabwe),
Chartered Professional Engineer (in
Australia
and New
Zealand) or
European Engineer (in much of the
European Union).
The advantages of certification vary depending upon location. For example, in
the United States and Canada "only a licensed engineer may seal engineering work
for public and private clients".
This requirement is enforced by state and provincial legislation such as
Quebec's
Engineers Act.
In other countries, such as Australia, no such legislation exists. Practically
all certifying bodies maintain a
code of ethics that they expect all members to abide by or risk expulsion.
In this way these organizations play an important role in maintaining ethical
standards for the profession. Even in jurisdictions where certification has
little or no legal bearing on work, engineers are subject to
contract law. In cases where an engineer's work fails he or she may be
subject to the
tort of
negligence and, in extreme cases, the charge of
criminal negligence. An engineer's work must also comply with numerous other
rules and regulations such as
building codes and legislation pertaining to
environmental law.
Professional bodies of note for electrical engineers include the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the
Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (which was formed by the
merging of the
Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and the
Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE). The IEEE claims to produce 30%
of the world's literature in electrical engineering, has over 360,000 members
worldwide and holds over 3,000 conferences annually.
The IET publishes 21 journals, has a worldwide membership of over 150,000, and
claims to be the largest professional engineering society in Europe.
Obsolescence of technical skills is a serious concern for electrical engineers.
Membership and participation in technical societies, regular reviews of
periodicals in the field and a habit of continued learning are therefore
essential to maintaining proficiency.
In countries such as
Australia,
Canada and the
United States electrical engineers make up around 0.25% of the labor force
.
Outside of these countries, it is difficult to gauge the demographics of the
profession due to less meticulous reporting on labour statistics. However, in
terms of electrical engineering graduates per-capita, electrical engineering
graduates would probably be most numerous in countries such as
Taiwan,
Japan,
India and
South
Korea.
Tools and work
From the
Global Positioning System to
electric power generation, electrical engineers have contributed to the
development of a wide range of technologies. They design, develop, test and
supervise the deployment of electrical systems and electronic devices. For
example, they may work on the design of
telecommunication systems, the operation of
electric power stations, the
lighting
and
wiring of
buildings, the design of
household
appliances or the electrical
control of industrial machinery.
Fundamental to the discipline are the sciences of
physics and
mathematics as these help to obtain both a
qualitative and
quantitative description of how such systems will work. Today most
engineering work involves the use of
computers and it is commonplace to use
computer-aided design programs when designing electrical systems.
Nevertheless, the ability to sketch ideas is still invaluable for quickly
communicating with others.
Although most electrical engineers will understand basic
circuit theory (that is the interactions of elements such as
resistors,
capacitors,
diodes,
transistors and
inductors in a circuit), the theories employed by engineers generally depend
upon the work they do. For example,
quantum mechanics and
solid state physics might be relevant to an engineer working on
VLSI (the design of integrated circuits), but are largely irrelevant to
engineers working with macroscopic electrical systems. Even
circuit theory may not be relevant to a person designing telecommunication
systems that use
off-the-shelf components. Perhaps the most important technical skills for
electrical engineers are reflected in university programs, which emphasize
strong
numerical skills,
computer literacy and the ability to understand the
technical language and concepts that relate to electrical engineering.
For many engineers, technical work accounts for only a fraction of the work
they do. A lot of time may also be spent on tasks such as discussing proposals
with clients, preparing
budgets and
determining
project schedules.
Many senior engineers manage a team of
technicians
or other engineers and for this reason
project management skills are important. Most engineering projects involve
some form of documentation and
strong written communication skills are therefore very important.
The workplaces
of electrical engineers are just as varied as the types of work they do.
Electrical engineers may be found in the pristine lab environment of a
fabrication plant, the offices of a
consulting firm or on site at a
mine. During
their working life, electrical engineers may find themselves supervising a wide
range of individuals including
scientists,
electricians,
computer programmers and other engineers.
Sub-disciplines
Electrical engineering has many sub-disciplines, the most popular of which
are listed below. Although there are electrical engineers who focus exclusively
on one of these sub-disciplines, many deal with a combination of them. Sometimes
certain fields, such as electronic engineering and computer engineering, are
considered separate disciplines in their own right.
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