Engineering Classes

A

ACortez

Master Electrician
Location
houston texas united states
Occupation
Master Electrician
Guys I need some guidance; I have been a Master Electrician since 2016 and I'm ready to take the next step and become an engineer class. I am not sure where or how to do it and also, I have had electrical classes which that gave me credits. Do I still have to the basics or can I go straight to the Engineer classes?
 
First, you'll need to find a school that's accredited through ABET. Be sure that the program you want is accredited through ABET; not all programs at an ABET school may be accredited through ABET.

Next, you'll need to discuss with the admissions folks the kind of program (power, electronics, etc.) you want to pursue and then see how much of your work experience they'll let you use for credit.

Following that, or sometime before, you need to decide if you're going full time or part time/nights. If you don't have credits to transfer from community college, there will be a lot of physics, chemistry, economics, etc. that will be part of your curriculum.

If I may ask, why are you considering a career switch? Engineering is not necessarily a step up. Depending on your location, you can probably make a lot more money as a sparky given your experience than as a newly minted BE. That said, there is no doubt that with your field experience you will be a kick-ass designer.

Is it your intention to eventually get your PE?
 
ACortez said:
Guys I need some guidance; I have been a Master Electrician since 2016 and I'm ready to take the next step and become an engineer class. I am not sure where or how to do it and also, I have had electrical classes which that gave me credits. Do I still have to the basics or can I go straight to the Engineer classes?
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I did this. I didn’t get licensed beyond journeyman. In the field age 18-38. Went to school at 32.
IME going from community college to university, good luck with credit. They want their lb. of flesh. But there’s plenty of lenders willing to give you money. A few grants too if you are willing to fill out an application and write a few essays.
Make sure you understand your degree program up front. I didn’t and got my associate degree. 67 credits and university accepted 30. Not necessarily wasted because it’s all experience but time and money that was not required.
Good luck. Took me 6.5 years to get my BSEET


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most times it is a lot cheaper to find a local community college where you can get most of the basic classes done and then transfer to another school to finish up. but do your homework and make sure that this is possible.

Here in rockford, the local JC has an arrangement with NIU so people can finish their engineering degrees here in Rockford after getting their first two years in at the JC.

For reasons that escape me, there are no online engineering degree classes. Seems odd to me that you can do nursing online but not engineering.
 
When I was looking Arizona state university was the only school offering an online EE and it was $$$$.
That’s why I went with EET. There were a few more to choose from at lesser cost.


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Shaneyj said:
When I was looking Arizona state university was the only school offering an online EE and it was $$$$.
That’s why I went with EET. There were a few more to choose from at lesser cost.


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If you are going to go to the trouble might as well get an ABET accredited degree so you can get a PE license. It really does not mean all that much most of the time but in a few fields the certificate on the wall does matter, so why limit your options.
 
petersonra said:
If you are going to go to the trouble might as well get an ABET accredited degree so you can get a PE license. It really does not mean all that much most of the time but in a few fields the certificate on the wall does matter, so why limit your options.
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Agreed. They exist. And mine is.
My state, Texas, allows EET to be eligible for a PE but they want more hours of experience. Not sure if that’s the case with all states.
OP, if you’re going to make the commitment, IMO ABET should be on your mandatory list.


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Shaneyj said:
Agreed. They exist. And mine is.
My state, Texas, allows EET to be eligible for a PE but they want more hours of experience. Not sure if that’s the case with all states.
OP, if you’re going to make the commitment, IMO ABET should be on your mandatory list.


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I don't know if they still do but it used to be that in CA you could become a lawyer just by taking and passing the bar exam without going to law school.

I don't think many states allow EET curriculums. Oddly, some allow math degrees in lieu of engineering degrees though, or at least did at one time.
 
ACortez said:
Guys I need some guidance; I have been a Master Electrician since 2016 and I'm ready to take the next step and become an engineer class. I am not sure where or how to do it and also, I have had electrical classes which that gave me credits. Do I still have to the basics or can I go straight to the Engineer classes?
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Do I still have to the basics or can I go straight to the Engineer classes? :ROFLMAO:

Typical 4 years University BSEE the first 2 years are 90% crap you wont care about unless you need or want Eng. Lit, some foreign language, some sociology crap, etc..... That was 60 years ago, probably worse now ??

Read what Gadfly said again......
 
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junkhound said:
Typical 4 years University BSEE the first 2 years are 90% crap you wont care about unless you need or want Eng. Lit, some foreign language, some sociology crap, etc..... That was 60 years ago, probably worse now ??
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I had an employee with an engineering degree from India, he needed to take three non engineering "humanities" courses before he could get his PE. I had a different guy, with a PhD, from China who never even tried to prove the courses he took met the requirements for a PE.

If you might want a PE someday, make sure what you take now qualifies later.
 
Just to re-emphasize what Jim mentioned directly above.... think about what your desired endpoint is... growing skills, changing responsibilities, more money etc. to prevent disappointment later.

I once worked at a company known for being persnickity on degrees... what degree, where from, and we hired a BSEET when they were sort of newish 30 years ago. He fell into a hole between the engineering career track and technician (2 year associate degree) track and was "encouraged" to take a bunch of missing courses to get a BSEE. He eventually left and was successful but I've seen way too many "I didn't realize my physics from community college wouldn't transfer because it wasn't calculus based" to "I can't sit for PE in my state with BSEET degree but I can in another state".

It is further confusing because BSEET degrees can be ABET-ETAC accredited so you may be lulled into the "ABET is good" when in fact in many states the degree has to be a BSEE degree that is ABET-EAC accredited (yes just a one letter difference) to qualify to sit for PE exam. There are efforts to "harmonize" the qualifications from state to state but they move at a snail's pace
 
ACortez said:
Guys I need some guidance; I have been a Master Electrician since 2016 and I'm ready to take the next step and become an engineer class. I am not sure where or how to do it and also, I have had electrical classes which that gave me credits. Do I still have to the basics or can I go straight to the Engineer classes?
Click to expand...
If you are talking about a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE), first you need to understand that you will need to be strong in Mathematics, including Calculus. All four years will have challenging coursework, and courses like Physics will be Calculus based. It is possible to save some money by attending a community college for the first year or so, but you need to be very careful that you choose courses that will transfer into the 4 year University program that you plan on entering. I will say that being a Master Electrician gives you some basic understanding of electrical concepts, but I don't believe it will give you the knowledge needed to skip even the first year circuits courses. I became a licensed Electrical Contractor later in life after being an Electrical Engineer, so basically the opposite of your path. The knowledge from both fields are complimentary, and there is not a lot of overlap. If you are good at math and have good study habits, I highly recommend you pursue Electrical Engineering, it will change how your mind works.
 
Some community colleges have arrangements with local university campuses for credit transfer so the CC already knows what'll be readily accepted.

Just doing a quick check, Cal State East Bay seems to accept quite a lot of credits from the local Laney College system in Oakland. They even link to use a site that has quite a lot of transfer equivalences (https://tes.collegesource.com/); other universities are likely to have something but asking the advisors at the CC is a good idea.
 
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