I have the chance to go back to school and complete my degree. I am thinking of studying Electrical Engineering or Alternative Energy. Solar power, wind energy, low flush toilets, efficient water heaters, etc. Will I need to know/study Calculus and Physics based Calculus? How much computer programming will I need to know? What programming languages? I’d like to open my own business and be self employed with installing such technology. I plan to start with an associate degree and then a 4 year degree. I figure once I get out of school I would work for a company for a year or two before I attempted to open my own business.
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This is more advice and opinion than factual.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
I’m an electrical engineer, but it’s been close to three decades since I went to school and things have changed a bit since then.
Calculus is very important for a EE degree. I doubt that has changed at all.
I’m not sure that your career goal is realistic. A EE degree will give you some basic knowledge about electrical engineering stuff. They won’t teach you much practical stuff in school. Mostly they’ll cram theory into your brain and hope that most of it sticks. Then you get out into the real world and you learn how to apply it.
Electrical engineers don’t install solar panels and heaters. Installation is typically done by electricians and contractors. Obtaining an electrician’s license is a completely different path than getting a EE degree.
Opening your own business is going to be rough. You will be competing against established businesses and, if you try to get into solar panels and such, you might even find yourself competing against the local electric utility. I would have to hear some much better planning than what you’ve posted here to think that you’ve even got a shot at competing in those sorts of things.
Not trying to burst your bubble, just trying to be realistic.
CompE here. My program was pretty much a EE program where all of my electives were about writing software. You should expect three semesters of calculus, another two of linear algebra/differential equations, and at least one prob/stats course. EEs and CompEs alike had to learn basic C-programming and know their way around a computer well enough to learn how to use all the big, expensive software tools we’ve got. Personally I’d consider some experience with a low-level programming language like C mandatory for a new hire fresh out of college, but I’m not the one who makes those kind of decisions.
As ECG said, EEs don’t install solar panels; we design them and plan for their installation so we can have a guy with a big truck and a ladder install them. I’d suggest looking for a school with a good co-op program so you can get all of the practical experience alongside the technical skill, plus make some money while you’re doing it.
Thanks, I know I need to do more planning if I want to be self employed in this field. At this point I am wondering is a 4 year degree “over education” because I want to actually work installing said technology. I’d like to work with local construction contractors and be self employed installing equipment that I feel good about doing for the environment. Thanks for the details in both responses.
EDIT: I guess what I really need to find out is will an AA in Electronics give me the same ability/qualifications as an Electricians licence???
Frankly, if your goal is to have your own business installing solar panels and insulation, I think what you really want is an associate’s degree in business, and as much time as you can working for construction contractors (both on site and office stuff). Maybe pick up enough training to get an electricians license if you find that interesting.
But I think knowing electrical theory is way way down the list, even practical electric installation knowledge is down there compared to knowing how to find customers, bid jobs, work with local permitting offices, manage customer expectations and complaints, finish jobs, get prompt payment and calculate your real profit on a job once it’s done.
Electronics is about transistors and integrated circuits and things that blink and go bloop. Electrical engineering is about designing and implementing systems for generating and delivering electrical power. These are very different academic disciplines.
Electricians are the people actually installing and maintaining electrical distribution systems or the electrical systems within buildings. They go through a vocational program and a lengthy apprenticeship to get licensed.
If you want to learn about installing solar panels your best bet would probably be to contact local solar companies and ask them what qualifications they look for. Then start looking into obtaining those qualifications, and try to get a job with them to learn the business. Then, after many years, when you know everything about the solar installation business, you can fulfill your dream of ragequitting and buy your own truck.
Ah! Thanks for all the help people, I thought I’d get a four year degree then go to work soon after that. I can see now that it it is more complicated than that…
It sounds like electrician is the route that is closest to what you want to do. The good news is that the vocational training is not as long as an academic AA program. You can get out in the field and working (under a licensed master) pretty quickly.
Yes, thank you, but I didn’t know I’d have to work for another electrician, I’d prefer to work for myself, I mistaken thought a 4 year degree would get me started. Maybe I need to pick a different career path…
Working for yourself is great, but you have to learn the business somewhere. Electrician school will teach you necessary skills, tools, code compliance, safety procedures, and the basics of how electricity works. But it won’t teach you anything about running a business, dealing with clients, dealing with permit offices, dealing with inspectors, dealing with suppliers, real-world repair and maintenance issues, and so on. The only way to learn that is to work in the business for someone else.
yeah, its hard to admit, but due to personal problems, anxiety, depression, etc, i’m not sure if I will ever be cut out to be either an employee or a small business owner. i was excited about a new area of study and just forgot about all the details of running a business that you mentioned… basically the “cool” idea made me forget the practical complications of running a buisness
I’m an electronics engineer employed in Alternative Energy.
There are electrical engineers working in AE, and it’s a possible career goal, but it’s a very small target. Become an EE if you really want to be an EE. Become an Electrician if you really want to run a small business working in AE.
The guys I know with AE qualifications work in support roles in companies selling products to electricians. The EE’s I know in AE work as consultants – and it’s not many people.
If you aren’t going to be an employee or an owner, you’re cutting down your options. In the meantime, pick up some new skills and see where it leads you.
I am also curious about the Engineering field as well. Although I’ve been thinking about Aeronautical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering, I want to narrow my choices down to either Computers or Electrical.
I’ve talked to a Civil Engineer and he gave me a whole different perspective of how to think of technology and the creation of an aircraft carrier for example. Different sized compartments, structures, electricity, nuclear power, and it does not stop there.
I plan on talking to more people within my area in Virginia but I was wondering if you guys would consider a Computer Engineer as a IT? Do they travel as much as other Engineers? Sounds weird that I’m asking about this but the idea of travel (no outsourcing) is still out there, as a passion to explore. I don’t think I’d like to become an IT.
CompEs do work in IT; I’ve done it. To this day, I have issues with my management thinking I know Access databases and web page design more than I do aircraft cockpit displays and fly-by-wire control laws.
Thank you Melbourne, I need to get over my depression first which I am working on but thanks for the input. Right now I am a bit pessimistic about the future but I am resolved to keep making effort.
there are technical/vocational schools that might have courses in alternate energy.
there is much to know. you would need to pick wind or solar electric or solar thermal. while a company might do all of them they have totally separate crews with unique training and certifications.
We’ve been interviewing a lot of potential interns lately, and the impression I get from them is that computer engineering is a bit of a cross between electrical engineering and computer science. You get some of the higher level software training of CS, but you also get a bit of hardware design and even low level programming like assembly code that you don’t get in CS.
You should probably look more at exactly what it is you want to do when you get out and work backwards from that to figure out what degree you want to get. EE for example encompasses a wide range of things. I do hardware and software design for a company making industrial control systems. A friend of mine who went through the same EE program I did, was in mostly the same classes (a few different electives) and graduated at the same time is a transmission and distribution engineer for a power company, which is a much different job. I write code and lay out circuit boards and occasionally program PLCs. He creates drawings that tell folks where to put poles and hang power wires and how to lay out the new substation. There are all kinds of other jobs that EEs do as well, and all kinds of jobs that CompEs do too.
Travel varies a lot depending on the company you work for, what type of things they do, and what your job is within that company. As an R&D engineer, I fairly rarely travel. i know other EEs who do mostly project work, and are almost constantly traveling to one site or another. Usually they’ll work on site for a few months, then might do a month or two of office work, and then they are out to another site for a few more months. It all depends on what kind of job you are doing.
My undergrad degree is EE and I work with many electrical, computer and mechanical engineers. I also interact with IT. Computer engineering is not IT. Computer engineers can do IT, but they can do a lot more, too. When I was in college, you have pursued a degree in Information Services or something like that if you wanted to get into IT.
As for travel, just depends on who you work for. I’ve worked with CEs that had opportunities to travel internationally. I did as well, as an electrical engineer in the auto industry.