Taking master electrician exam as an engineer?

[MattEng]

Hello, longtime lurker here especially for code questions that seem a gray area, but I think this might be my first actual post.

I recently became a professional engineer in Illinois. Passed the FE and PE tests on the first try each but dang did I have to study my butt off. My company now would like me to take the master electrician exam in WI and be their business license holder for that branch.

Does anyone have resources to help study for that? My googling abilities are coming up short, and the practice questions and practice exams for the FE and PE exams was what helped me the most. Company would reimburse me for any costs for material so no worries if it's paid for and not just a nice youtube channel.

Yeah I'm an electrical engineer, but I've never installed an outlet or pulled cable or anything so it seems dumb to think I could just easily pass it when it's a very different skill set on the daily basis. Does anyone have an estimate for how long of preparation would be needed to pass that exam on the first try so that I don't need to repeat and spend even more time?

 

[d0nut]

This doesn't answer your question at all, but is becoming a Master Electrician something you should be doing at this point? I see that Wisconsin does allow an electrical engineering degree holder to take the Master Electrician license examination. The supporting legislation for licensing of electricians states "No person who is not a master electrician may install, repair, or maintain electrical wiring unless a master electrician is at all times responsible for the person's work.". Do you feel comfortable being responsible for all the actual electrical work for the company in the entire state of Wisconsin when you state that you have never actually installed anything?

 

[MattEng]

This doesn't answer your question at all, but is becoming a Master Electrician something you should be doing at this point? I see that Wisconsin does allow an electrical engineering degree holder to take the Master Electrician license examination. The supporting legislation for licensing of electricians states "No person who is not a master electrician may install, repair, or maintain electrical wiring unless a master electrician is at all times responsible for the person's work.". Do you feel comfortable being responsible for all the actual electrical work for the company in the entire state of Wisconsin when you state that you have never actually installed anything?

I've been at the company for a decent chunk of time, and I'm comfortable with all of our journeymen and especially foremen. I've worked with them on job sites, but from a supervisor-type role with my designs. Not from a get my hands dirty myself (union rules). 90% of our work is in Illinois and attempting to spread into Wisconsin more. The master electrician who previously held that is retiring.

Really good question though and thank you for making me give it some thought, and I'll continue to give it thought and look into is and discuss with the company CEO that's asking this of me.

 

[texie]

Hello, longtime lurker here especially for code questions that seem a gray area, but I think this might be my first actual post.

I recently became a professional engineer in Illinois. Passed the FE and PE tests on the first try each but dang did I have to study my butt off. My company now would like me to take the master electrician exam in WI and be their business license holder for that branch.

Does anyone have resources to help study for that? My googling abilities are coming up short, and the practice questions and practice exams for the FE and PE exams was what helped me the most. Company would reimburse me for any costs for material so no worries if it's paid for and not just a nice youtube channel.

Yeah I'm an electrical engineer, but I've never installed an outlet or pulled cable or anything so it seems dumb to think I could just easily pass it when it's a very different skill set on the daily basis. Does anyone have an estimate for how long of preparation would be needed to pass that exam on the first try so that I don't need to repeat and spend even more time?

Since this is a state that allows an engineer to do this, go for it. As someone who has passed the FE and PE exams this will not likely be very difficult for you to pass the master exam, even without field experience. Plus you have the luxury of already working with electricians. Just get a copy of Mike Holt's exam prep for the NEC year they test on. His prep books are very good.

 

[jim dungar]

Wisconsin allows licensed master electricians to do design work without documented engineering experience, so why not allow licensed engineers to do the opposite?

Seriously, all licensing and insurance regulations say you shouldn't do any work which you are not actually qualified to do regardless of having a 'general use' license.

 

[texie]

Another route to prepare would be to consider a 5 day prep course at AETech in Rapid City, SD. Owned and operated by Steve Arne and his family, he has had thousands of students over the years. I've known him for years and he really runs a top flight school. He also uses Mike Holt curriculum.
See here: https://aetech.com/master-electrical-license-exam-prep/

 

[charlie b]

. . . and be their business license holder for that branch.

What does that (i.e., license holder) actually mean? That is, what would it require of you? Here is why I ask:

For many years, I held a WA State Electrical Administrator license. Any electrical contracting company in WA had to have one (and only one) person assigned to that role (I never actually had such an assignment). The EA was responsible for assuring that the electricians followed safety rules and complied with code requirements. The EA did not personally oversee any technical aspects of electrical installation work. So the EA exam did not require you to know anything about means and methods.

Although I never read about this happening, I suspect that if an electrician had an accident resulting from an unsafe practice (e.g., fell off an improperly secured ladder), the EA would have to answer questions about safety training, proper supervision, and work culture.

So, if you take on a similar role in WI, that is if becoming your company's WI Master Electrician license holder would impose upon you a similar set of responsibilities, would you have confidence in your ability to live up to the role?

 

[zbang]

From here, it looks like the main questions are what WI expects of the licensed master and how much responsibility you would personally be taking on. A PE should already have O & E insurance, but would that cover acting as the master? After paying for the test and any relevant education, how much would you owe the company in non-monetary terms (e.g. work for them for two years, etc).

What are the additional duties, responsibilities, liabilities, and benefits?

 

[MattEng]

From here, it looks like the main questions are what WI expects of the licensed master and how much responsibility you would personally be taking on. A PE should already have O & E insurance, but would that cover acting as the master? After paying for the test and any relevant education, how much would you owe the company in non-monetary terms (e.g. work for them for two years, etc).

What are the additional duties, responsibilities, liabilities, and benefits?

Yeah, I'm going through my O&E insurance documents for what exactly it covers for this reason.

No they don't have anything owed back to them for paying for tests and stuff, they didn't even have that as a stipulation when I got my PE license (which surprised me)

 

[Frank DuVal]

1. Go for it. I did here in VA and it opened doors of work.
2. Do NOT do anything you are not comfortable doing with either license. It was stated better in above replies. Play in your wheelhouse of ability/knowledge. That of course will grow over the years.

 

[MattEng]

Update here. Unfortunately I was two questions shy of passing the test. Currently feeling dumb.

Test was almost all look up stuff, very little calculations at all (which would have been my strong suit), and of edge cases and I felt forced the test taker to make assumptions due to lack of information in the question. Felt more like a battle of understanding what the test makers were asking, than a battle of does the test taker have enough electrical knowledge.

Two questions stood out to me as examples of the whole. One question was "Which of the following statements is untrue". Option A was word for word from a passage in the code book. Options B, C, and D were paraphrases of the exceptions to that code rule. So is it A because that section of the book isn't true because exceptions exist? Or were there tiny wording changes of the exceptions that made them not not true? I re-read that question and the code section so many times.

The other was a question of "which method can be the sole method of grounding a hospital room outlet". All 4 answers were viable methods of grounding a hospital room outlet. Leaving me to wonder which one can be considered the "sole" method.

There were also a lot of questions on the differing shielded cable types and when the shield could be used as a ground or not, which isn't something I come across and I know I got a few of those wrong.

I used Snapz and RocketCert and I do not recommend those at all. The practice questions were far, far too easy compared to the actual exam. They helped for code book familiarity and speed, but that was about it. Purchased Mike Holts prep book and practice exam (don't feel like watching videos) and will use that for having to re-take a test I never even really wanted to take in the first place.

 

[zbang]

Thanks for the update.

IME many of these tests are more about the exact answers from the test prep questions and less about the actual knowledge. A prime example is on many driving tests- "What is the safe following distance behind a truck?" with answers 100', 200', 300', 500'; they may only accept 200' even though 300 & 500 are also safe. That sort of thing really frosts me.

It's also possible that the test is just flat wrong, often because the codes have changed but the test hasn't.