Electrical Engineering 

By on

Digital Scope
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is a field that covers a wide variety of different areas and technology, including electricity and electronics. Modern electrical engineering covers everything from basic electronics to more advanced areas, such as power distribution, control systems and telecommunications.

It is a field that goes back over experiments throughout several centuries.  Today, electrical engineering is a mature and highly regulated discipline.

Depending on your interest, working in electrical engineering could see you creating billions of microscopic components on a computer chip to working on some of the largest and most powerful machines on the planet.  There is not a single industry or activity which is not touched by electrical engineering. 

People of all works of life take an active involvement in electrical engineering, from hobbyists building circuits and using armature radio to professional electricians and electrical engineers working in industry. Most hobbyists are self taught, whereas professionals invariably have formal training.

Electricians will generally have carried out apprenticeships, including practical works, course works and examinations. Electrical engineers typically have university degrees from three or four year courses.  For people intending to pursue a career in electrical engineering, a formal qualification is required.

Professional institutions also play a role, with qualified electricians and engineers joining these.  Membership of an appropriate institution recognises not only the educational background, but all time and experience gained working in the profession.

Typing ‘Electrical Engineering’ into Google brings up 176 million results; testament to the broad reach and appeal of the subject.  By finding your way to this needle in the haystack, you have found a great source of electrical engineering knowledge and community from which the learn or share your experiences.

myElectrical.com is dedicated to electrical engineering.  If you are looking to broaden your knowledge, or just find out a little bit about the subject hopefully our site will help.  If you are looking for something in particular you can try the search function.  If you just looking to browse the subject, try starting at our notes index



Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus

  1. ElecMan88's avatar ElecMan88 says:
    9/1/2011 2:11 PM

    Nice to see the blogs are back.

  2. ManjoloPhiri's avatar ManjoloPhiri says:
    9/1/2011 2:11 PM

    Agreed. As an experienced electrical Engineer I have found myself dealing more with instrumentation, electronic, networks, and process automation problems. Dont be surprised to hear that I have looked after mechanical aspects of crushers, diesel mining equipment, pump chambers, civil construction projects etc. In third world countries when you are an electrical engineer you can do anything!

  3. Steven's avatar Steven says:
    9/1/2011 2:11 PM

    I've also looked after chair lifts in mines, conveyor belts, rock hoisting systems and pumping systems. Electrical engineers are obviously a pretty versatile bunch of people. :) Experience outside our area of expertise is always good as it make us better engineers (and keeps us thinking).


Comments are closed for this post:
  • have a question or need help, please use our Questions Section
  • spotted an error or have additional info that you think should be in this post, feel free to Contact Us



3 Phase Loads

Three phase systems are derived from three separate windings, either connected in delta or star (wye). Each winding can be treated separately, leading...

110 or 230 Volts

I've been considering a blog on the 110 or 230 Volt issue for a while.  While browsing the Internet I came across a great summary by Borat over at  engineering...

RLC Circuit, Resistor Power Loss - some Modelica experiments

Modelica is an open source (free) software language for modelling complex systems. Having never used it before, I thought I would download a development...

Paternoster Lifts

These lifts were first built in 1884 by J. E. Hall and called a paternoster ("Our Father", the first two words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin) due to its...

IEEE Winds of Change

IEEE TV has a part series of videos on wind power and it's implication. For a really good overview to the technologies and issues around wind power, these...

How to Size Power Cable Duct

Some colleagues had an issue earlier in the week on sizing conduits to be cast in concrete for some power cables . It became clear that none of us had...

Calculating Cable Fault Ratings

When selecting a cable, the performance of the cable under fault conditions is an important consideration. It is important that calculations be carried...

How to Write an Electrical Note

Electrical notes are a collaborative collection of electrical engineering information and educational material. Any registered user can add content. ...

Dielectric loss in cables

Dielectrics (insulating materials for example) when subjected to a varying electric field, will have some energy loss.   The varying electric field causes...

Harmonised Cable Codes and Colours

Within Europe the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) has standardised the both the designation and colour of cables.   ...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note