Essential Skills for Electrical Engineers

Steward Hudson

January 8, 2014

3 Min Read
Essential Skills for Electrical Engineers

Electrical engineering deals with the study of electromagnetism, electricity, and electronics. It's quite an exciting field -- electrical engineering has been on the forefront of technology for more than a century. It covers wide range of subfields such as, RF engineering, telecommunications, digital computers, signal processing, and electronics.

Electrical engineering students learn magnetism, engineering tools of design and analysis, electricity, and mathematics of design and analysis. And they're trained to manufacture and design safe and economical products that can enhance the lives of humans.

Electrical engineers are mainly concerned with making use of electricity to transmit electric power. They research, design, evaluate, test, and plan electrical equipment, and they have to work with large- and small-scale electrical systems such as fiber optics, controlling of main auxiliary systems, power generation, and laser microprocessors.

Traditional electrical engineering requires the following skills: numeracy, critical thinking, complex troubleshooting, operation management, listening, analysis, knowledge of the English language, quality control analysis, and reliability.

Numeracy is the skill with numbers and mathematical knowledge of algebra, calculus, arithmetic, and geometry along with their application. Critical thinking is the use of logic to address and identify the positives and negatives of alternative solutions and approaches to different problems.

Complex troubleshooting is identifying and addressing some of the core and the most complex problems, reviewing them and the information related to them, then evaluating and developing options and implement the solutions to make sure the job gets done.

Operation management means taking care of the machines and tools and having all the required knowledge, which includes their design, repair, use, and maintenance. Listening, and/or giving complete attention to what knowledgeable people are talking about is key. Electrical engineers should always take the right amount of time to understand the relevant points being made, and ask appropriate questions at opportune times and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Analysis
Electrical engineering requires analysis of the information and making use of logic to address issues related to the core problems and issues. A good grasp of the English language is a very important skill for an electrical engineer, as well as know-how of its content and structure, which includes the spelling and meanings of words, grammar, and the rules of composition.

An electrical engineer must have the knowledge of raw materials, quality control, techniques, and production processes to maximize the manufacturing and distribution of its goods. They not only have to have the knowledge of all the things related to it, but must be reliable, dependable, and responsible. He/she must be very careful and insightful at the same time, as the job needs the person to be detail oriented and highly thorough in meeting deadlines.

Steward Hudson is a researcher/blogger with experience writing for multiple industries including health, energy, finance, and more. He currently writes for Electrical Engineering Company NY Current Solutions PC .

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