Breezy. Relaxing. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Electrical engineering. These words and terms do NOT go together. From project deadlines to working with others all the time, electrical engineering is no easy feat, requiring a lot of time and work. According to Scott Lee, a design engineer in the field of electrical engineering, graduate of Mililani High School and University of Hawaii Manoa, with his BS in electrical engineering, being an electrical engineer involves a high stress level, an “8 on a scale of 0-10.”

Electrical engineering is all about projects and these projects create loads of stress. What some people don’t know is that there are two different categories under electrical engineering and they both involve slightly different work. One of these titles is electrical engineer which involves power generation, electrical transmission, and anything involving the design and development of anything that uses electricity as a power source. The other is electronics engineer involving components, devices, and systems that use electrical circuitry. These are both known under electrical engineering and involve projects with buildings, traffic signals, communication systems, and things within Aerospace. Parts of the job include manufacturing, maintenance, research, design and development, testing and evaluation, management, education, and consulting. Tyson Kikugawa, AP Physics teacher at Mililani High School with an undergrad degree in electrical engineering from UH Manoa currently trying to obtain a degree to teach, says that in college, if it’s not class work it’s a project. For college, the stress levels “compared to now, it was actually lower,” but it gets more stressful with project deadlines. Mr. Lee has this to say about the projects, “I guess I do [enjoy them]… basically what we do, we solve problems.” He also says that this occupation is 100% projects so you can see how there will be constant deadlines that will have you ripping your hair out.

So if electrical engineering is 100% projects, how much time is consumed with this job? As a fellow student, I know that for most of you, we loathe projects. They’re a lot harder, they require extra work, and it takes forever to finish them. So what would it be like if the only thing you did was projects? Imagine the time an electrical engineer puts into his work. Many in this occupation work a normal 40 hour week but some work longer to meet deadlines. This is known to be true for Mr. Lee who has a 40 hour work week and sometimes puts in extra hours depending on the project. Mr. Kikugawa had to “force himself to have free time.” An electrical engineer’s time is of course spent on the projects but “the time spent depends on a person’s own intellect.”

If you’re anything like me concerning projects, you probably are, you want to work with (a) partner(s). Dividing the work up with others makes it much easier to produce a final quality product; and this is how it is for electrical engineering. There are some individual projects but the bigger projects, such as a building, take 2-3 guys, one for lighting, one for power, and one for communications, says Mr. Lee. But even with the few individual projects you still have to deal with others such as the draftsmen, the workers that blueprint the design of your work on a computer. This is also one of the many challenges of the job, dealing with difficult people; but we’ll touch up more on that later. You have to get along as you will be working with some people more than once. A positive of this is that it creates a friendly environment. When asked if it’s a good thing to get along with others well Mr. Lee replied, “Ideally yes….It helps your business.” Mr. Kikugawa agrees with him and says that one of the most valuable traits you should have as an electrical engineer is being a “team-player…you almost never work by yourself, you deal with a variety of people.”

Projects and working with others… but where. Most work at desks, inside offices, labs, and industrial plants but some make their way outdoors overseeing/troubleshooting construction. Consultants in this field are known to travel a lot. Work places include companies of: telecommunications, bioengineering, transportation and automotive, plus education and research. Electrical engineers can work almost anywhere in fields of commercial, industrial, military, consumer, science, and medical. Mr. Lee personally spends “90% of my work in an office” and the other 10% is composed of “looking at sights [to make] construction observations.”

To get the most out of this career one should have particular traits and skills. Some traits are being inquisitive, analytical, detail oriented, flexible, open-minded, willing to compromise, having critical thinking skills, a balance of logic with creative thinking, technical writing skills, a strong interest in science, and an aptitude for math. Skills needed are knowledge of science and technology and the ability to problem solve. It’s good to want to figure out how things function and find a better way for them to work. One should be a “hard-worker, dedicated, a team-player, creative” and a “determined…well-rounded person… [With] good communication skills.”

You’re interested in a job, the first thing you think about is how to get there right? So right now you’re interested and this is the education process involved with electrical engineering. Classes recommended for high school are Algebra I and II, Trigonometry, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, English, and Social Studies; business classes are also a good idea. It may seem like I listed every subject but that’s cause there are many different fields and opportunities for electrical engineers. For the first two undergrad years of college, you take Physics, Chemistry, and Calculus, then for the next two years you go into specific subjects of fields but basically everyone takes Introduction to Engineering, Intro to Computing, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability Theory, Statistics, Oral/Written Communications, and Social Science/ Humanities. A lot of work? I agree. Mr. Kikugawa found that in high school, taking AP Calculus, AP Physics, and doing Robotics club helped him through college but it would’ve been better if he had taken a few more AP core classes. Mr. Lee has this to say about the education process for engineering, “What happens in high school doesn’t matter…. [You] need to have an aptitude for math and science. Don’t need good grades, just determination. It’s not about being smart. If you are smart, you get to work on the mainland. Just getting through the program is enough…. Cannot just study. It’s important but it’s not the most important thing…. School is not going to prepare you for what we do.” He states that he uses about 5-10% of what he learned in college, you need people skills.

With every job come pros and cons. Some benefits of being an electrical engineer are: good income, different avenues for growth, job security, good work environment, excellent job outlook, stable career, and ability to work in comfort. For Mr. Lee it also “stays challenging for me. Nothing stays the same; there are always new rules and regulations. And it provides me with a decent living.” The cons, however, include: pressure to produce, long hours, competition, working in teams, and age discrimination. On the lines of working in teams, sometimes it’s not just the people you work with but for. Persons sometimes request specific things for their buildings or other constructions and they may get difficult about it without realizing the extra work they’re putting you through. It was hard when he first got out of college into the work field. No one gets any idea about the work until they actually start and that’s one of the hardest parts of the job, learning when first starting. “Hard. Really hard. Hard because you have to teach people things they don’t learn in college. Dealing with the younger engineers; trying to teach them. As hard as it is for the new people to learn, it’s just as hard for us to teach.” There is a constant cycle in electrical engineering, when you first start you’re the student but it remains just as hard because you then become the teacher.

Last but not least, the salary. As mentioned before, one of the pros is a decent income. The median annual income is $75,000. The entry level income is about $50,000, with a few years of experience you can begin making around $60,000, after 20 years of experience you earn approximately $75,000, and when you make it to management you can earn up to $100,000. On average electronics engineers make $4000 more than electrical engineers.
Work. Determination. Perseverance. This is the life of electrical engineering. Hard work, but it’s all worth it. Learning and a teaching process but always a challenging one. Mr. Kikugawa, Do you think your lifestyle now is better than if you continued? “Some ways yes, others not.” Mr. Lee, Are you satisfied with this career? Why? “Yes. It stays challenging for me.”