Electrical Engineer
What do Electrical Engineers do?
Electrical engineers design, build and maintain electrical systems across nuclear sites. They are responsible for designing power distribution systems, instrumentation and control systems, and ensuring compliance with stringent safety standards and regulatory requirements. Electrical engineers are rare and in such high demand that they have been listed on the UK’s Shortage Occupation List.
Typical duties and responsibilities of an Electrical Engineer
- Working on the design of an electrical system including power distribution networks, control systems, and instrumentation.
- Ensuring all designs and systems meet the required engineering standards and requirements.
- Deriving equations from first principle for designing electrical systems.
- Using software to design electrical systems.
- Testing and inspecting the quality of electrical systems.
Skills and knowledge required to be an Electrical Engineer
- Good understanding of maths and science.
- Steady hands for physical implementation of wires.
- Good analytical skills to overcome problems.
- Being able to work in a team and communicate with others.
- Good organisational skills.
How do I become an Electrical Engineer?
There are multiple career paths you can take after GCSEs: apprenticeships, university, part time courses, full time courses or a combination of everything. It is recommended that you take A Levels, T Levels, BTECS, or other courses to boost your CV.
University
Pursue a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field with coursework in power systems, control systems, instrumentation, and nuclear engineering. The degree usually takes 3-5 years and often encourages you to complete a year in industry. After your degree you may want to get chartership status which usually take 5 years of work experience.
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeships is the fastest way to gain industry experience and can start after GCSEs or sixth form. This was you can learn to become an electrical engineer on the job, gaining hands on experience and then work your way up through the ranks.
