CAREER FIELD RESEARCH

For my career field research, I interviewed Jason Rowe, an electrical engineer who currently works at Eversource Energy. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Haven. From the conversation I had with him, it seems like he genuinely enjoys his job and challenging himself to take on new projects. From his perspective, one of the most enjoyable aspects of being an electrical engineer is constantly learning new things and being exposed to different environments. As a field engineer, the work environment is almost never the same. Part of being a field engineer is always traveling to different places in order to work on different projects. This was surprising to hear, because I had assumed engineers would spend most of their time working indoors, on a computer screen, where they would be working on new designs and projects. But it turns out that this job also requires a lot of hands on work, which actually seems more exciting than sitting in an office all day. One surprising element of this career that was brought up during the interview was how dangerous the job can be. Being an electrical engineer means you can possibly be dealing with very high voltages and you have to be aware of how to handle this. Jason told me that each day him and his team have to follow proper safety procedures and are required to wear special clothing that protects them from being harmed or burned. Everyone has to know what to expect and what to do in case something happens. This is one negative aspect of electrical engineering I discovered, but regardless, it is still something that I am interested in pursuing as a future career. This experience has opened my eyes a little more to what being an electrical engineer is like, especially interviewing and talking to someone who currently works in that position. Using what I’ve gained from my research, I still plan on pursuing a career in the engineering field, despite the hardships I may face.