Graduate Technician looking to transition to Electrical Engineering

[el124]

I will be graduating with an Associates Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology this August and would like to know what employers typically look for in recent graduates?

I have an Associates in Radiological Technology and have 8 years of experience working in the medical field as an x-ray tech but no experience in electrical engineering technology of any kind, other than what I learned in school. Any advice on how to transition over from the medical field to the electrical side?

 

[trchambe]

You may want to consider continuing to a BS. Or, if you're school doesn't offer that, look to transfer credits to another school. I have a degree in electrical engineering technology from a school that allows you to stop at an associate or continue to a bachelor. No one I know that stopped at the associate degree went into an engineering position. Nearly everyone who continued to the bachelor did find work in engineering.

If you're not interested so much in engineering as you are electronics or technology however, it may or may not be necessary.

 

[TheTick]

In the prevailing culture and job market, you won't be an engineer without a BS, except in the rinkiest of dinky establishments.

 

[el124]

Dont want to be an engineer but do want to be a tech?
Any advice on what employers look for in new grad electrical engineering techs?

 

[Twoballcane]

Just want to make sure you know that EET and EE are two different fields/degrees and careers. What I have seen so far from other posters that it is better to go all the way with an EE degree than a EET.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[DedKt]

I am working towards a BSEET right now, you'll have to check with your institution, but at mine I can take another 32 credits and have my BSEE as well. However, more and more I hear most BSEET programs don't shadow a BSEE the way it does at my school.

 

[manolo1981]

DedKT,

Do you mind sharing what school is this you're referring to? I'm on the same boat and currently looking to convert my BSEET to BSEE.

 

[xnuke]

My guess is it is Oregon Institute of Technology. DedKt is correct that the OIT BSEET does shadow a BSEE degree. The courses at OIT are taught at the EE level of mathematical and design rigor even though many are listed as EET courses.

OIT's Portland campus is not allowed to offer the BSEE degree (offered at Klamath Falls campus) due to political reasons, but can offer a BSEET degree. The students from Portland may then transfer to the Klamath Falls campus to take an additional 37 credits of upper level math and engineering courses to complete the BSEE as post-baccalaureate students. If your BSEET is not from OIT but is from an ABET-TAC accredited program that is substantially equivalent to OIT's BSEET, they require an additional 45 credits. However, the equivalency will be carefully determined by the program director and/or department head.

xnuke
"Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life." Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[GregTirevold]

I got my 4 year BSMET at Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia back in 1998 and they have since begun offering both Engineering Technology and regular Engineering degrees as well. I checked out the details and it sounds similar to what xnuke is describing. An MET grad can take another 30 or so semester hours (Calc 3, Diff Eqns, Heat Trnsfr, etc) to acquire a regular ME degree. You may have to pass the EIT test as well, I didn't read that part too closely.

I posted my transcript course list in another thread but it basically shadows the ME degree with the exception of a few higher end math classes and a couple of engineering classes. Our MET program was taught at roughly the same level as ME classes such as all calculus based physics, etc in what sounds like similar circumstances to OIT.

Since MET grads can take the EIT and PE exams in Georgia with just a couple of extra years of waiting I don't know how worthwhile it would be for older MET grads to go and try and upgrade however. For probably a lesser time commitment you could just study and pass the exams. If I remember correctly Engineering Tech grads with 15, or so, years of qualified experience (work+school) can apply for an EIT exemption to let them skip to the PE exam.

I suppose a consideration would be if you wanted to try and get your license in a state that didn't let Engineering Tech grads get PEs or wouldn't accept an EIT test exemption. Then comity could be a problem.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtirevold

 

[DedKt]

Yes you are correct xnuke, it is OIT. I stated 32 credits because I will have the upper level math out of the way by the time I graduate with my bseet. Also they have just started teaching the EE classes out of the portland campus, so now the post-baccalaureate EE can be completed there as well as at the K-falls campus, at least according to the counselor I talked to a few weeks ago.