power guy to other?

What are the chances of a power guy ever getting into controls, embedded, signals, communications, etc? After a certain amount of time in one field, will the other areas just consider you entry level again, not taking into account your work force expierience?

Are you considering getting out of power?

As someone trying to go in that direction, your post is a bit troubling..

I've been in power nearly 4 years (a very small time compared to others on this board), and I'm continually frustrated with the direction the utilities in the upper midwest are headed. And they all seem to have the same philosphy. My wife and I both grew up in state here and prefer to stay nearby (ND, MT, SD, MN) area. That being said, the field is very interesting (in my opinion) and I feel has a lot of "engineering potential" but around here nothing is based on engineering, all financials. We all learn in Engineering Econ that the cost always weighs on a project, design, whatever. But when design is constantly thrown out by managment in favor of "Do it the cheapest"" that is a little bit disheartening to an engineer who wants his system and designs to survive and be working well for the next 30-50 years. pretty hard to pay off a distribution substation in 5-7 years like the financial guys want to, but on the long term a new substation gets you a lot farther than pushing the system to the nuts.

Just my opinion. Perhaps thats the prevailing attitude in every corner of the engineering universe. I sure hope not.

djohnson.ee said:

I've been in power nearly 4 years (a very small time compared to others on this board), and I'm continually frustrated with the direction the utilities in the upper midwest are headed. And they all seem to have the same philosphy. My wife and I both grew up in state here and prefer to stay nearby (ND, MT, SD, MN) area. That being said, the field is very interesting (in my opinion) and I feel has a lot of "engineering potential" but around here nothing is based on engineering, all financials. We all learn in Engineering Econ that the cost always weighs on a project, design, whatever. But when design is constantly thrown out by managment in favor of "Do it the cheapest"" that is a little bit disheartening to an engineer who wants his system and designs to survive and be working well for the next 30-50 years. pretty hard to pay off a distribution substation in 5-7 years like the financial guys want to, but on the long term a new substation gets you a lot farther than pushing the system to the nuts.
Just my opinion. Perhaps thats the prevailing attitude in every corner of the engineering universe. I sure hope not.

Click to expand...

I guess I should add to you that the power area is a good one to get into, especially if you are interested in it. But me being interested in other areas of EE as well, and seeing those other areas much more progressive (as engineers and in wages) makes me a little bummed. And least in my area. Other areas of the country may be far different. I've talked to others in the utility industry (other parts of the country) that work for more progressive companies and love the utility work. I know I'd like it more if I wasn't constantly beating my head against a wall with my chain of command. I think life's too short to just sit around and wait for management to change. If you can't change people, change yourself. If you can't change your surrounding situation, change your surroundings.

I'm a power company man, and I used to think I could change the world. Being ground down by the corporate gears after a number of years changes your attitude though. lol.

I used to work for an Investor Owned, we had big dollar budgets, and could pretty much get any project we wanted. Until the mergers, downsizings, and doing anything to make the stock holders happy - instead of keeping the employees and projects "happy". Then it turned in to a political BS mess, who was managing who, building little kingdoms of who worked where - instead of working for the company. I left voluntarily, and was happy to get out. I miss the people, but not the company.

I now work for a large G&T co-op. The effort is to be as frugal as you possibly can, while still getting as much bang for your buck. We spend less than 1/10 of what my IOU spent (for example, SCADA systems). Yet we get the same job done. That just becomes part of the engineering challenge - doing what you can with what you're given. I wish I had a big budget, but I don't, so I have found ways around it. So the machine has ground me down, but I try to work with it now instead of against it. I like my current (frugal) company.

djohnson.ee said:

I've been in power nearly 4 years (a very small time compared to others on this board), and I'm continually frustrated with the direction the utilities in the upper midwest are headed. And they all seem to have the same philosphy. My wife and I both grew up in state here and prefer to stay nearby (ND, MT, SD, MN) area. That being said, the field is very interesting (in my opinion) and I feel has a lot of "engineering potential" but around here nothing is based on engineering, all financials. We all learn in Engineering Econ that the cost always weighs on a project, design, whatever. But when design is constantly thrown out by managment in favor of "Do it the cheapest"" that is a little bit disheartening to an engineer who wants his system and designs to survive and be working well for the next 30-50 years. pretty hard to pay off a distribution substation in 5-7 years like the financial guys want to, but on the long term a new substation gets you a lot farther than pushing the system to the nuts.
Just my opinion. Perhaps thats the prevailing attitude in every corner of the engineering universe. I sure hope not.

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Sounds like you're pretty dissatisified where you are, which says to me you may be working for the wrong company or in the wrong department. Suggest you polish up your resume and go looking a better fit. Sucks not liking your job.
Where I work, I enjoy the challenge of balancing the economics with the engineering - I will always look for the least expensive solution, but then we're also willing & able to drop some fatty cash on a project if the long term economic analysis proves it's the best decision. For that, I like my utility sector job.

The problem these days is that with the economy slow and the future of Gub'ment regulation creating uncertainty, smart financial decisions become critical to the long term health of the company. I'm looking forward to a time when the cash is flowing again for non-critical-but-needed system improvements, but for now things are indeed tight across the industry (exception: the Gubment and Quasi-Gubment agencies seem to have plenty of cash).

As an addendum to what cableguy said, if you stick around long enough and become good at what you do, YOU become the senior who gets makes the decisions, and that's a nice place to be.

So there are controls, transmission, building, nuclear, substation in electrical power field.

Which field are you in and which do you wish you were in?

soobs said:

So there are controls, transmission, building, nuclear, substation in electrical power field.
Which field are you in and which do you wish you were in?

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There is also electrical construction which always needs power guys. But there you get into lighting systems, technology systems, etc.

I agree with the post above, stack sending resumes and see what else is out there...

good luck

soobs said:

So there are controls, transmission, building, nuclear, substation in electrical power field.
Which field are you in and which do you wish you were in?

Click to expand...

I spent one year in transmission substations, our department had 5 engineers covering physical design/layout, control, and system protection elements of transmission subs. Now I've spent almost 3 years in electric distribution, and that includes pretty much anything distribution: Protection, underground/overhead, circuit layout, load flow studies, fault studies, voltage regulators, distribution substations, fuse coordination, project management, after hours troubleshooting/crew supervision, etc. etc.

I also did an intership in a transmission system operations and planning department looking at transmission power flow studies alot.

Never been in a power plant, but from what I know of power plant, the EEs get turned into MEs, but maybe thats just around here.

Never done any building stuff, but that never tripped my trigger from the start.

I think the sub par wages is one reason not to go into power engineering as opposed to the other disciplines. I am in a similar position as the original poster. I live in Silicon Valley. Am an electrical engineer in the power industry. But I have friends who are EEs in the high-tech industry making 20% more than me. It's depressing.

I don't know what it is with power engineering, but I feel like we are becoming a commodity.

Machiavelli999 said:

I think the sub par wages is one reason not to go into power engineering as opposed to the other disciplines. I am in a similar position as the original poster. I live in Silicon Valley. Am an electrical engineer in the power industry. But I have friends who are EEs in the high-tech industry making 20% more than me. It's depressing.
I don't know what it is with power engineering, but I feel like we are becoming a commodity.

Click to expand...

Thats exactly how I feel... we are a commodity. But I have started to wonder if it's due to the ability of a utility to "skate by" without engineers, whereas tech and others need engineers driving their product to the next level in order to stay competitive. At a utility, we don't have to "drive our product to the next level" because we usually don't have much for direct competition, and at least where I work forward thinking is almost discouraged because usually it costs a little bit more.

djohnson.ee said:

Machiavelli999 said:

I think the sub par wages is one reason not to go into power engineering as opposed to the other disciplines. I am in a similar position as the original poster. I live in Silicon Valley. Am an electrical engineer in the power industry. But I have friends who are EEs in the high-tech industry making 20% more than me. It's depressing.
I don't know what it is with power engineering, but I feel like we are becoming a commodity.

Click to expand...

Thats exactly how I feel... we are a commodity. But I have started to wonder if it's due to the ability of a utility to "skate by" without engineers, whereas tech and others need engineers driving their product to the next level in order to stay competitive. At a utility, we don't have to "drive our product to the next level" because we usually don't have much for direct competition, and at least where I work forward thinking is almost discouraged because usually it costs a little bit more.

Click to expand...

Well, I am not at a utility. I have always worked at design firms and it also seems like we are workers on an assembly line. Just get the project done as soon as possible. Go, go, go! With no attention paid to quality. And then you get blamed when there are not just change orders, but even RFIs.

Well, I'm at a utility, and color me weird, but I like it. Yeah, I don't make fatty money, but I hit the door at 5pm and walk away until tomorrow, and know that I have a job tomorrow (along with a nice pile of work). We've been hiring all through this 'recession', and have been busier in the last few years than ever in our company's history.

That said, this is a Generation & Transmission Electric Cooperative. We're non profit. I used to work for an Investor Owned Utility. That brought the suck. Constant threats of mergers, downsizing, reorganizations, managerial power plays, layoffs to prop up the stock price, blah blah blah. Screw that.

I'm at a utility and love it. There are certain times that overtime is required but the travel isn't bad and the quality of life is much higher than consulting. Nice work if you can get it.

Most sectors of power engineering including utility, building (MEP consulting, etc) are barely engineering, so as engineers we are certainly a commodity. When the design is mostly driven by code or by company standards, you don't need top shelf inovative engineers. Average engineers or simply designers can do the majority of the designing 80-90% as good as a good engineer, so paying the increased salary for a top engineer isn't worth it. The end client doesn't appriciate it.

If you want to have a varity of exierience move to a power generator. I started off doing mostly plant distribution work and switched to a power station. I now work in many area to include plant wide controls, power distribution, relaying and anything else that has electricity connected to it. Pays well because our company provides overtime pay but the downside is everything needs to be done yesterday. It is the same here as any where tight budgets makes you spend money where you get the best bang for the buck so you end up engineering around problems to keep older systems working. It is rewarding and frustrating at the same time. No job is perfect. I have made good connections with vendors that know my capibilies and will easily be able to pickup consulting work when I walk out.

I am a distribution power engineer that worked at an Investor Owned and now work at a municipally owned system. Life is varied, challenging and exhausting during/after severe storms. I survey and design lines then obtain the right-of-way, produce construction drawings and material lists. Then as the jobs are being built I handle any 'problems' that come up. I have worked on the construction of a new 69/13KV substation, 161KV addition to a substation, 69KV with 13KV under-built lines, designed underground electrical and fiber distribution for residential developments and many other things. We serve ~32,000 customers and have less than 60 employees so I am never bored.

I have been a power engineer since I got out of college. I started in the utility sector working in system operations and then substation design in relation. I enjoy the work at the utility however, there were some drawbacks. Some of the drawbacks were the threat of reorganizations within the company, losing your job due to contractors taking over your work, and general uncertainty. This led me to try consulting for a very short stint. I enjoy the work, but the wages were not on par with what the utility had paid me previously. I am now original transmission organization and I am really enjoying the work. It is not really engineering in the sense that you are designing something or stamping drawings. But it is very analytical and interesting. I like running the load flows in watching how the system responds day today during different load levels. Utilities are not a bad place to work but with the changing regulatory landscape it makes the challenge for an engineer to know their role. Also, prior to my time at a utility I had spent some time at a different regional transmission organization. This particular organization was not run as well as the organization that I currently work for, but it was not a bad place and the pay was pretty good especially for the region that I was working in. I think that with the government regulations from the National Electric regulatory Council and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission there will be ample opportunities for both engineers and analyst types to find work related to Bulk power operations. As I say some of this work is not terribly technical, however some of the work is especially involving energy markets. just depends on what your preferences are and what your skills are as well.

We also dealt with SCADA system which is control and supervisory in power especially in train control etc

..are you purely focus on the distribution or generation power?