Electrical Engineers
Research, design, develop, test, or supervise the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment, components, or systems for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use.
- Median pay
- $120,630
- Doing it now
- 199,700
- By 2035
- Up 9.9%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
a year
across the country
11,400 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products.
- Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes.
- Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks.
- Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements.
- Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or specifications.
- Plan or implement research methodology or procedures to apply principles of electrical theory to engineering projects.
- Prepare specifications for purchases of materials or equipment.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications EngineeringSee 410 colleges that teach it
- Electrical and Computer EngineeringSee 22 colleges that teach it
- Electromechanical EngineeringSee 3 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Analytical and curious
Organised and precise
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $120,630 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.