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Industrial to Utility Job Change

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saladhawks

Electrical
Jun 4, 2004
86
I am considering accepting an offer from a large electrical utility for a distribution engineering position. I am a PE with 10+ years experience in a variety of large industrial settings (lots of generation, distribution, and control experience). I am curious if anyone has made a similar industrial to utility job change and if it turned out to be what they expected? My assumption is that the challenges would be similar, but there would be less variety and more "by the book" engineering on the utility side of the fence. Am I missing something here?
 
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I work in the industrial side and have not worked for a utility, but know people who do. From what I can tell, the main differences are cultural. Utilities tend to be more formal about their processes. Projects move relatively slowly compared to most industry. This can be good and bad. It allows more complete, "engineered" systems than are frequently found in industry. Industry is driven more by cost and time.
 
Utilites tend to play with bigger toys and don't have to follow NEC rules (in the US). That allows for more creativity in problem solving and fixing things fast.
 
I've been on both sides of the fence, and my observation is that utilities tend to do their own engineering (at a design level), and also tend to maintain a much tighter control over construction processes. Industry tend to buy in a lot, so industry maintenance engineers usually end up having to fix other people's mistakes, and utility engineers end up fixing their own (which is why they are pickier about having formal processes to make sure mistakes are minimised). Also, utility systems are much bigger and more widespread, and have far more seemingly irrational customers expecting the impossible and prepared to run to the regulator when they don't get it. Industry engineers only have to fight with Production and Finance.

But I reckon the variety of electrical work I get to do in my utility may not be as great as I saw in heavy industry (integrated iron and steel plant, smallish plant +/- 200MVA) but it allowed me to find what I like doing (protection). Now I can specialise in a utility environment, and still have a great variety within that specialisation. I was much more a jack-of-all-trades in industry, and I wouldn't trade that 4 years experience with all kinds of engineering for anything - it is surprising how good a foundation it has been!


Bung
Life is non-linear...
 
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