Certifications

[TriednTrue]

Hello,

I am a 34 year old Master Electrician in Texas. I'm wanting to learn more and have been thinking about going back to school for electrical engineering. On the other hand, I've thought maybe it would be even more beneficial to just earn certifications and build my knowledge that way. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions? If you think the 2nd route is best, can you recommend which certifications and/or workshops would be worthwhile?

Thanks in advance,

 

[mayanees]

I'd never discourage anyone from getting an engineering degree, but the process is long, and it sounds like you're established. If money's not an object and you've got the desire, then more power to you. I'm a big fan of arc flash studies, and there's often a requirement that it be done by an engineer, but not always.
As far as certifications, I'd recommend NFPA's CESCP which requires that you're a registered Master, since you have that already. You can get all the info at NFPA.org. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[TriednTrue]

I'd never discourage anyone from getting an engineering degree, but the process is long, and it sounds like you're established. If money's not an object and you've got the desire, then more power to you. I'm a big fan of arc flash studies, and there's often a requirement that it be done by an engineer, but not always.
As far as certifications, I'd recommend NFPA's CESCP which requires that you're a registered Master, since you have that already. You can get all the info at NFPA.org. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Thanks for the input. Being both a Master Electrician and an EE, yourself, do you see any added benefit from being both or would you have been just as well served being only one or the other?

 

[suemarkp]

What do you want to learn -- theory or how to do specific things? When I was in middle school, I was building things with discrete electronic components. I had a hard time when I took EE classes in college because everything was "ideal". They dealt with current sources whereas we typically deal with voltage sources in the real world. And after you get a BS degree in EE, you still can't design things very well because you got more "ideal" than "real" in the courses. Transistor specs can be misleading, or you may not realize you need a huge heat sink to push that much current through it. Voltage spikes can take things out if you don't use high enough PIV ratings on semiconductors (or clamp things somewhere).

That being said, I never really understood exactly how the things I built worked back when I was making them in 8th grade. I wasn't able to pick a transistor or know why a specific resistor value was chosen, I just built what the schematic showed in the book. I know that much better now after just a few EE classes, but I still know only enough to be dangerous.

If you want to learn more about things like how to do solar, low voltage or wireless controls, detailed generator installs, etc, you'd be better off taking a class specific to that. Many may be focused on a specific vendor, so you may need to take a few if you want to be a well rounded installer or designer.

 

[mayanees]

Thanks for the input. Being both a Master Electrician and an EE, yourself, do you see any added benefit from being both or would you have been just as well served being only one or the other?

... loaded question
I'm 64 years old, so I've become somewhat philosophical when it comes to life's choices...
I'd say the drive in life is to "make mo money", but the desire is to find something you like doing so work is fun, or close to that.
I've landed on Power Studies (Arc Flash) and doing 70E training, and I actually enjoy that. The Master's license gives me a connection to the group when doing the training classes. I'm proficient at SKM Power Systems software and I use that to show arc flash calcs in the training classes.
So in my opinion it comes down to what's important to you, and how you can make the most money. Good luck