Job Responsibilities
I work in the Standards department of a utility. We
create/revise the Construction Standards used to build the
electric distribution system. As part of this, I review the
proposed Standards for compliance with National Codes. (~10%) I
also spend a considerable part of my time helping Field Engineers
and Construction personnel with specific design problems when the
situation does not meet what the published Standards offer.
(~50%) I spend another significant portion of my time with
research and development of new or revision of existing Standards
to incorporate new materials or work methods. This includes
industry research as well as in-house research. (~20%) Much of
the remainder of my time is spent as part of a team or teams that
review and address specific concerns in other areas of the
company operations. For the past few months I have been part of
teams that have addressed clearance problems, adoption of a new
voltage system, and the problems of cars hitting our facilities.
(~15%) The remainder is split too much to identify.
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Job Requirements
I have an engineering degree and a Professional Engineers
License. These are not "required" for the job but help greatly
when I am required to give depositions for company lawsuits. My
career path includes substantial time related to design of
electrical systems. It also includes over 5 years experience
acting as a liaison between Construction and Engineering. This
has greatly helped in identifying where conflicts between the two
exist and possible solutions. I also have substantial experience
on several national Standards committees. While this was not
required to start my present position, it has positively impacted
my ability to do the job.
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Uppers
The variety of work is incredible. I never know from one minute to the next
what sort of question will come my way. Sometimes I work as a sort of detective
to determine what caused a problem or why we have done it "this way" for so long.
There is also a large satisfaction in helping people do their jobs more
effectively. As a result of what I do I have gained a tremendous amount of
respect from folks both inside and outside the company.
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Downers
There really are not many. But the biggest gripe I have
is "babysitting" some issues. The ability to think something
through seems to have been lost somewhere along the line. I
spend way too much time responding to questions that have readily
available answers.
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Lifestyle
There is some travel involved but, as with most business travel, there is little
"glamour" in it. The last several meetings can be described by citing the color
of the carpet in the conference room. This is a somewhat typical 9 to 5 job but
there are times when it is anything but. Technical responses to questions are
often needed in a hurry and my days can often run to 12 hours. In addition, I do
work for a utility and storm response can also mean long hours in a somewhat
stressful and slightly dangerous situation.
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Compensation
I may not be a typical example because of some unrelated issues,
but my salary is around $100K with an annual bonus somewhere in
the $12-15K range.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Pick a topic and learn it thoroughly. Then pick another and
learn that as well. I have found that an abilty to relate two
dissimilar topics can result in a solution that solves more than
just the problem at hand.
As for the job prospects, I may be part of a dying breed. I
consider myself one of what one trade magazine called a "Doug" or
Dumb Old Utility Guy. We've been around long enough and have
enough experience to have seen the reasons we used to do it that
way and also know why we changed. The utility industry is
changing rapidly and "outsourcing" is affecting Standards groups
everywhere. The problem is that if I do my job right, few
problems show up and the perceived need for me gets blurred.
There's fewer "Dougs" than there was and the prospects for more
are less.
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