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Professional experience

Hello there, I am an electrical/electronic engineering student (in Australia) and was hoping to glean some professional knowledge from the newgroup. I'm nearing the end of the degree and starting to look into some work experience to complete the degree.

There are two basic areas open to me at this stage:

  1. Control systems
  2. Building services

Both seem interesting, but I would appreciate some perspective from the group. Which of the two areas would I be better of exploring? What would day-day work involve, which is the larger of the two industries, essentially which of the two would make the better career path?

Any advice greatly appreciated!! Thanks, james.

Reply to
james
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Both certainly wouldn't hurt. More and more buildings are engaging control systems designers for control of lighting, heating, cooling, life safety systems, annunciation systems, and etc.

Reply to
indago

You will find that there is much more call for 'Building Services Engineers' than 'control systems engineers'. Control systems are a specialised field of building services, and perhaps constitute a discipline in its own right. You may find that you would end up working in a different industry sector if you went down the control systems route, working for companies who provide OEM solutions rather than design consultancies. As a BS engineer, you will get involved in a small amount of control system design anyway. Of course I am speaking as an electrical design engineer, and Personally I enjoy a wider spectrum of elements within buildings, such as power, comms, safety, fire, e.t.c. rather than a single area of expertise. as a control system engineer, you may not get the chance to work on much else.

Regards Andy Smith

Reply to
andrew smith

But depending on your range of interests, "control systems" can open up to you a whole range of industrial control (factories, process plants, power stations) and utilities (water, gas, wastewater, power distribution). Building services only touch the surface of what control systems can do.

My thoughts fwiw.

Reply to
Miles

James, you haven't said what you would *like* doing. Basically it boils down to your answer to two questions:

  1. Do you like the idea of working in large factories (steel mills, refineries, etc.)? Think dusty, dirty, noisy, smelly, technically complex and highly rewarding.
  2. Do you like the idea of working in large concrete tower office buildings under construction? Think dusty, dirty, noisy, boring. (sorry.. ;-)

If your answer to question 1 is "yes", try lurking around news:sci.engr.control for a while and have a look at

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. If your answer to question 2 is "yes", stick around here for a while. If your answer to both questions is "yes", look to join a Consulting Engineering firm... ;-)

Cameron:-)

Reply to
Cameron Dorrough

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