New electrical engineering chat forum category now on ElectriciansForums.net

Dan · Sep 20, 2019

Thought that whilst we have a few actual electrical engineers on the forum, I thought I'd try and attract some more. Not sure if it's actually any different to an electrician at the end of the day. Perhaps you can inform me?

From a qualifications point of view, is an electrical engineer different to an electrician?

If so, perhaps was worth me setting up this forum category. If not, perhaps it wont get used and I'll remove it in time if it hasn't actually attracted any traffic for us.

telectrix · Sep 20, 2019

the title electrical engineer should only be used with the qualification of HND or degree. in that. you could say it was a higher qualification than electrician, but in real life, it's maybe more academic but less practical. if that makes sense.

Dan · Sep 20, 2019

That's exactly what I was thinking.

So the type of student aiming for HND these days, wont want to be messing around with distribution boards, and is more likely be messing with weaponry or robotics or autonomous related jiggery-pokery.

So I thought I'd try and test traffic for such a term and see what happens.

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ps. in no way am I trying to get weapon experts here, Your Majesty's services.

In fact, might be worth me delete that. PMSL. I meant drones.

Oh sod it, nothing can be really deleted these days..... can it?

Lucien Nunes · Sep 21, 2019

I'm an electrical engineer and I enjoy 'messing around with distribution boards' as you put it. Preferably big old ones with lots of brass bits.

Dan · Sep 21, 2019

Pictures. Or it didn't happen.

(Seems I've fixed the esteemed tag! that was doing my head in!)

static zap · Sep 21, 2019

Yep me thinking ,drones a nice innocent hobby .
( and they get used against planes and oil )
One day ,if I ever have money again may treat myself to a mini-lathe ..instead of torturing drills !
Telectrix..
Overly academic ?,saw a HND in Electrical\Electronic & Mechanical ,specialising later !

Spoon · Sep 21, 2019

I'm an Electrical Engineer and dont mess with domestic dist boards.
I do love this forum for the amount of info on the domestic side. I've learned a lot from it.

Dan · Sep 21, 2019

static zap said:
Yep me thinking ,drones a nice innocent hobby .
( and they get used against planes and oil )

Christ! Don't give motives too!

Your Majesty's services, I promise you, we don't want drones doing anything with oil or planes!

We just want electronics, electromechanical and electrical nerds to CHAT. Nothing more. Nothing less. lol

Lucien Nunes · Sep 21, 2019

Well no, not domestic ones unless they are historical.

Pictures. Or it didn't happen.

Tricky, because it's normally me taking the pictures. I can post a pic of myself haggling with a balloon seller on the streets of Mumbai this morning, or a nice busbar-and-switchfuse board at an arts college ten years ago, but there's not much overlap.

Will you settle for a video clip of me picking up a couple of old panels from the car park using my 52-year-old electric forklift?
Lucien & Nellie tidying up old switchgear from the yard

Dan · Sep 21, 2019

Lucien Nunes said:
Well no, not domestic ones unless they are historical.

Tricky, because it's normally me taking the pictures. I can post a pic of myself haggling with a balloon seller on the streets of Mumbai this morning, or a nice busbar-and-switchfuse board at an arts college ten years ago, but there's not much overlap.

Will you settle for a video clip of me picking up a couple of old panels from the car park using my 52-year-old electric forklift?
Lucien & Nellie tidying up old switchgear from the yard

I'm messing with you matey.

I totally believe you.

My method of testing skills on the forum is; if I don't understand what they're saying, they clearly know their stuff.

And not only have I found that to be the case, I'm then reading other electricians, who I know are good (because I've done the above test on them lol) and they too are saying they don't understand you.

So you're two levels above the layman. Fact. Therefore what you say, goes.

Lucien Nunes · Sep 21, 2019

Real 'Engineering' action shot FTW: This is what pics of me normally look like when 'messing around' with equipment. Picture credit: Steve Rock.

littlespark · Sep 21, 2019

I got an honours degree, but could only get a job meddling with dis boards at the time.

Mechatronics, they called it at Dundee. I was at abertay university, not the real one.
A little bit mechanical, a little electronic, a little computery.... I am very much a jack of all trades and master of ONE.
Any other uni teaching this would have been entering Robot Wars annually.

The lecturer who taught us thermodynamics ran the same joke every week:
“Come on, it’s not rocket science...... ok, it IS rocket science”

How we laughed

Dan · Sep 21, 2019

Lucien Nunes said:
Real 'Engineering' action shot FTW: This is what pics of me normally look like when 'messing around' with equipment. Picture credit: Steve Rock.

View attachment 52422

That's a cracking picture.

(I'll get me coat)
[automerge]1569093406[/automerge]

littlespark said:
I got an honours degree, but could only get a job meddling with dis boards at the time.

Mechatronics, they called it at Dundee. I was at abertay university, not the real one.
A little bit mechanical, a little electronic, a little computery.... I am very much a jack of all trades and master of ONE.
Any other uni teaching this would have been entering Robot Wars annually.

The lecturer who taught us thermodynamics ran the same joke every week:
“Come on, it’s not rocket science...... ok, it IS rocket science”

How we laughed

It's all coding now. The future is definitely programming. Whatever we buy or install in homes in the future, will end up being coded in some sense.

The bits you did in that classroom, would now be you guys programming robots to do that, and your degree would be for the programming, and nothing to do with the actual physical outcome.

Lucien Nunes · Sep 22, 2019

I'm not sure about all those threads transferred into the section simply on account of contaning the word 'engineer'! Many of them refer to 'heating engineer' or some other use of the word and have little to do with electrical engineering. This just goes to show how many meanings the word has in English, and therefore how much it can be misunderstood.

A typical symptom of this is the way engineers are often portrayed in the media and advertising as people who wear hard hats. Because many people who are not engineers also wear hard hats, personally I can't see the relevance. Hard hats imply working in environments with high residual risks to personal safety, which is the exact opposite of what most engineers strive for. There's a 'Hard Hat Index' that uses this phenomenon to quantify the inappropriate depiction of engineers that could be contributing to the profession's uninviting image and low takeup rate amongst students:

Hard hat index and the media

Silly, or a clear indication of the distorted impression that many people have of what an engineer does?

Dan · Sep 22, 2019

Lucien Nunes said:
I'm not sure about all those threads transferred into the section simply on account of contaning the word 'engineer'! Many of them refer to 'heating engineer' or some other use of the word and have little to do with electrical engineering. This just goes to show how many meanings the word has in English, and therefore how much it can be misunderstood.

A typical symptom of this is the way engineers are often portrayed in the media and advertising as people who wear hard hats. Because many people who are not engineers also wear hard hats, personally I can't see the relevance. Hard hats imply working in environments with high residual risks to personal safety, which is the exact opposite of what most engineers strive for. There's a 'Hard Hat Index' that uses this phenomenon to quantify the inappropriate depiction of engineers that could be contributing to the profession's uninviting image and low takeup rate amongst students:

Hard hat index and the media

Silly, or a clear indication of the distorted impression that many people have of what an engineer does?

You're bang on there mate. I haven't read a single one.

That was just the first step. When you read one of those threads you will notice at the top, certainly on a desktop (perhaps not always a small screen device) there is a link to the forum category it's self.

And I needed some of those. To help index it in search engines and the forum Search.

Once that's done, hopefully people will create their own threads and I can pick off the odd heating engineer thread and move it to the heating forum. Where it probably came from.

Baby steps.

We didn't have many actual engineer threads by the looks of it. Hence me wanting to attract some more heads over here to it.

Edit: Lucien Nunes I think we have enough actual electrical engineer threads to move the gas engineer threads back over to the central heating forum. Lou is working on this now while I crack on with other things.

Lister1987 · Sep 22, 2019

Electrical Engineers are just sparks with degrees opens bag of pigeons, throws in cat, closes bag ?

That being said I don't believe "electricial engineer" is a protected job title as such?

Dan · Sep 22, 2019

Neh maybe not. But those searching the web for such topics weren't finding us before and they are now it seems, even if not quite posting yet, or even registering in some cases.

Also, we can section off the alien-like species that is the 'Electrical Engineer' type such as Lucien. Hopefully breed them....? And make the human race a bit more knowledgeable.

littlespark · Sep 22, 2019

I'm an engineer by qualification, but not profession. I am not breeding with Lucien!

Dan · Sep 22, 2019

littlespark said:
I'm an engineer by qualification, but not profession. I am not breeding with Lucien!

I think our breeding process doesn't include meeting each other personally!

(going too far with this one now pmsl)

JBW175 · Oct 23, 2019

Here’s an action phot of me in my younger days as a 2nd Engineer, taken for a recruitment magazine. Back when I was the poster boy for Army Marine Engineers?

At the switchboard pretending to parallel the generators; they weren’t even running, we were on shore supply. ?