The importance of electrical engineers
What Electrical Engineers do for society is very important. The main areas in which you will find electrical engineers are construction and manufacturing. Engineers are present in most of the things that are used on a day-to-day basis. Technology with Electrical Engineers would be equivalent to kitchens without chefs.
They attend a minimum 4-year ABET-accredited university and earn a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering or BSEE degree. Some will go on to earn a Master’s degree in engineering as well. After college, they can obtain a PE license to become registered professional engineers in different states of the United States. Often college graduates will become EITs or trainee engineers after passing an engineering fundamentals exam. After that, you need to achieve a certain amount of experience while working directly with another professional engineer or a PE. All of this will vary from state to state, but typically that is a student’s progression toward earning a physical education certification. It should be noted that not all engineering positions require PE certification and not all electrical engineers will have PE certifications.
After school, an engineer will get a position with industry-specific electrical work. For example, in manufacturing, the role of an engineer will differ from what an engineer in the power or microprocessor industry would do. The subcategories of an EE would be power, electronics, control systems, signal processing, and telecommunications. The work of an electrical engineer surrounds us. The design basis of cell phones, to computers, and even the electricity coming from the wall outlet that powers your computer all can be traced back to the work of electrical engineers.
An engineer can play the role of inventor and designer. As engineers improve or invent things, patent protection can be filed to protect the idea. Often things invented within the constraints of employment can become the property of the employer for the information of the employer only. Things that can be referred to as examples of this would be computers, light bulbs, and cell phones. An electrical engineer will design a circuit board with components such as resistors and capacitors so that it will work for its intended use.
In the construction industry, an engineer would design power supply circuits and devices to maintain power for the end user. For example, in a hospital setting, there are certain criteria for machines that need power and cannot afford to be interrupted. An example of this would be life support machines. A doctor wouldn’t want a patient to die from a power outage, so electrical engineers would design circuits, assess loads, and hook up an emergency generator, for example, to maintain constant power. These are just some of the ways engineers contribute to society. Through this article, I hope I have established the importance of electrical engineers to society.