How to become an Electrical Design Engineer?

[Cassells Spark]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently an Electrician and have been for 10 years now. Going to cut straight to the point...

I am wanting to look down the route of becoming an Electrical Design Engineer. I am aware of the City & Guilds 2396 Course but I am not naïve enough to know that once I get this course under my belt it does not make me a fully fledged Design Engineer.

A lot of jobs out there for Design Engineers require (usually) 5 years experience of doing the design side of things.

Really I am just looking for help and curious as to what the correct approach would be to go down this avenue? Is it best to get the course done and go from there or do places take on a 'Junior' Electrical Design Engineer?
I am 27 years old so plenty time yet!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[SheffSimon]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently an Electrician and have been for 10 years now. Going to cut straight to the point...

I am wanting to look down the route of becoming an Electrical Design Engineer. I am aware of the City & Guilds 2396 Course but I am not naïve enough to know that once I get this course under my belt it does not make me a fully fledged Design Engineer.

A lot of jobs out there for Design Engineers require (usually) 5 years experience of doing the design side of things.

Really I am just looking for help and curious as to what the correct approach would be to go down this avenue? Is it best to get the course done and go from there or do places take on a 'Junior' Electrical Design Engineer?
I am 27 years old so plenty time yet!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

What area of electrical engineering are you aiming for? Cos it's a very broad field.

Automation software
Control panel design
Building services

To name a few....what sort of electrician are you? Domestic? Industrial?

My own field is automation, specifically SCADA, DCS and PLC software. I got into it by getting a job as a control systems engineer, after a electrical engineering degree, at a steelmaking plant builder, and did loads of PLC and SCADA software coding and site commissioning.

So a degree is one route.

I know others who started as panel wiremen and electricians at another machine builder I worked at, showed a bit of interest and moved into design.

 

[Marvo]

The traditional route would be to complete a bachelor degree BSc(Eng) in electrical engineering. This can be done via HND first then the bachelors degree, the advantage being the HND can be done at night school over several years.

There may be other options nowadays but you'll only be considered a true engineer after completing your degree.

 

[Spoon]

you'll only be considered a true engineer after completing your degree.

A very pompous opinion. Good to know that you don't class me as an Engineer, solely on that I don't have a degree.. ?

 

[Cassells Spark]

What area of electrical engineering are you aiming for? Cos it's a very broad field.

Automation software
Control panel design
Building services

To name a few....what sort of electrician are you? Domestic? Industrial?

My own field is automation, specifically SCADA, DCS and PLC software. I got into it by getting a job as a control systems engineer, after a electrical engineering degree, at a steelmaking plant builder, and did loads of PLC and SCADA software coding and site commissioning.

So a degree is one route.

I know others who started as panel wiremen and electricians at another machine builder I worked at, showed a bit of interest and moved into design.

I am looking more to get into the Building Services side of things. I currently work as an Electrician in Commercial but fortunately have a lot of experience in Domestic and Industrial environments.

Getting a degree is ultimately the aim in years to come but my only concern is how to make that leap into the design field. Nobody would hire an inexperienced engineer. I appreciate having a degree would be very appealing for employers though!

It's that initial jump from installing/maintenance into design. That is the part which there doesn't seem to be an easy path.

 

[Zerax]

A very pompous opinion. Good to know that you don't class me as an Engineer, solely on that I don't have a degree.. ?

Don't forget that in some countries the title 'engineer' is protected in law. In the UK anybody can call themselves an engineer...

 

[Spoon]

Don't forget that in some countries the title 'engineer' is protected in law. In the UK anybody can call themselves an engineer...

But the OP is from the UK.

 

[Marvo]

I know 'Engineer' isn't a protected title in the UK but I think the problem is that a practising Electrical Engineer of any kind would need to register in order to get trade insurance and would be required to complete a BScEng in order to prove competence.

 

[Kdavis1995]

Hi, if you aren’t fussed about what industry you work in, then have a look at your local DNO engineer training scheme. They’ll offer to train you in the HV & power sector, and one of the options should be a design engineer (others being maintenance, operations, commissioning etc). It’ll be a lot different to say a designer for commercial installations - and you’ll be designing new HV&LV connections to the distribution system.

They pay is normally good and it’s aimed at training people with electrical experience installation and/or maintenance such as yourself.

Best of luck.

 

[Pete999]

The traditional route would be to complete a bachelor degree BSc(Eng) in electrical engineering. This can be done via HND first then the bachelors degree, the advantage being the HND can be done at night school over several years.

There may be other options nowadays but you'll only be considered a true engineer after completing your degree.

Well said that man, far to many people with a tool kit calling themselves "Engineers"

 

[7029 dave]

Don't worry I know my place.

 

[danbobnix]

I am looking more to get into the Building Services side of things. I currently work as an Electrician in Commercial but fortunately have a lot of experience in Domestic and Industrial environments.

Getting a degree is ultimately the aim in years to come but my only concern is how to make that leap into the design field. Nobody would hire an inexperienced engineer. I appreciate having a degree would be very appealing for employers though!

It's that initial jump from installing/maintenance into design. That is the part which there doesn't seem to be an easy path.

As others have said, the degree will give you the tick in the box for a desired level of education that most job postings will require.

I joined a large-ish M&E contractor in a design office as a Junior CAD technician, took a heavy pay-cut which I guess is to be expected, and pushed to be given more design-oriented tasks once I had the drawing side nailed down. Soon after they sponsored the university course.

Always worth sending emails to enquire and express what you're doing and where you want to be, and depending on the organisation, they may welcome someone to mould and almost "institutionalise", from the ground up as it were

Best of luck - you'll have to report back!

Well said that man, far to many people with a tool kit calling themselves "Engineers"

Sadly I doubt 'Engineer' will ever be a protected and professional title here like elsewhere around the world

 

[pc1966]

Having a BEng or similar degree is usually considered the starting point, but what counts most of all a few years down the line is experience. Even for recent graduates, they hardly ever get asked questions about the exams they took, it is almost always about their final year project.

Plus the usual pointless crap questions from HR, of course.