Electrician or Engineer?

[e57]

I'm sure there a bazilion posts like this - I got this as a PM on another forum - I stripped the personal id's off it, and I'm going to post this here to illicit more responces that i can link this guy to.

Hello. Sorry to bother you. But I was just wondering are you a electrician? I am thinking about becoming one but not certain. I don't know where to post that topic in the forum to get others feedback. ~ I am currently attending college but can't decide on my major. I had accounting in mind but now thinking about being a electrician or electrical engineer. Any suggestions for a newbie?

 

[480sparky]

My suggestion would be to arrange an on-site visit to a job where electricians are working. Let him/her ask questions, look at what they are doing, see what's involved.
Other than that, there's little you can suggest. Accounting to banking I can see. But accounting to electrician is a pretty big jump.

 

[mdshunk]

I think that a person stands an equal chance of success with either route. It sometimes comes down to what your body will tolerate.

 

[ITO]

Engineers should not be allowed to draw a single thing until they spend two years in the field and get their hands dirty and then they should be made to take off plans for a year after that.

(Make sure you don?t strip off my name if you copy this.)

 

[jaylectricity]

I'm not going to vote because the multiple choice streamlines the answer too much for my liking.

I am considering going back to college to learn electrical engineering. Everyone that knows me says one of two things:

1. Electrician? Great trade to get into, and fall back on if you decide to do something else.
2. You're smart enough to go to school and get a degree so you don't have to do physical labor the rest of your life.

 

[macmikeman]

How many electricians end up members of country clubs? Or own yachts. Trophy wives, ect. Take a poll from both electricians and engineers about that and I bet I know which bunch comes out on top and the hint is it isn't the electricians.... But we are all such good hearted rubes we don't even know what we are missing out on. (myself included):roll:

 

[e57]

Ya know, I should've put in an option for "Both" and "Neither" :smile:

 

[e57]

How many electricians end up members of country clubs? Or own yachts. Trophy wives, ect. ~ :roll:

The only Engineers I have met in any Yacht Club type settings were Mining Engineers and they had wifes that were hard to look at...

 

[busman]

I'm both and don't regret either. I am currently working both jobs.

There are days when the office politics suck, and I wish I was holding my nines. There are other days like last Saturday (101 in the shade) that I love my cushy desk job. The bottom line is - it's all work. Sometimes it's good, but if it was all good they wouldn't have to pay me.

Mark

 

[iwire]

Mark,

The bottom line is - it's all work. Sometimes it's good, but if it was all good they wouldn't have to pay me.

Very well put.

 

[khixxx]

My suggestion would be to arrange an on-site visit to a job where electricians are working. Let him/her ask questions, look at what they are doing, see what's involved.
Other than that, there's little you can suggest. Accounting to banking I can see. But accounting to electrician is a pretty big jump.

I 100% agree with this poster.

The words Electrician and Engineer can really mean lots of things. I was also looking at going back to college for a EE but the cost of tuition and not really working for 4 years didn't really seem to desirable. I know guys with a EE that are unemployed, most make around $60k-$80k very few make $100k or more. My friend is a sales engineer take a 2 week vacation in Italy. I take a vacation to chop fire wood. I know electricians that do monkey see monkey do work making $38/hr. I guess it's what you want. I can't stand desk work and work politics. Instrumentation and process management are fields I would be looking into. You can obtain those jobs without a EE but you do need a degree. I know some automations engineers that have a computer science degree. Then you can be a superintendent or a CEO of a company if you have an engineering degree. It's all in what you put into it.

What is up with the HB1 (I think that is what it is called) pass for foreigners to work at engineers in this country?