There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a chief electrical engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $49.15 an hour? That's $102,230 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 8,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many chief electrical engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed speaking skills, writing skills and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a chief electrical engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.1% of chief electrical engineers included control systems, while 9.6% of resumes included osha, and 8.8% of resumes included electrical systems. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the chief electrical engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most chief electrical engineers actually find jobs in the manufacturing and construction industries.
If you're interested in becoming a chief electrical engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 43.3% of chief electrical engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 29.9% of chief electrical engineers have master's degrees. Even though most chief electrical engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a chief electrical engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a chief electrical engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on chief electrical engineer resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a chief electrical engineer. In fact, many chief electrical engineer jobs require experience in a role such as electrical engineer. Meanwhile, many chief electrical engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as senior electrical engineer or project manager.
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The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.1% of chief electrical engineers listed control systems on their resume, but soft skills such as speaking skills and writing skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a chief electrical engineer. The best states for people in this position are New York, New Mexico, Virginia, and Vermont. Chief electrical engineers make the most in New York with an average salary of $117,008. Whereas in New Mexico and Virginia, they would average $114,339 and $108,390, respectively. While chief electrical engineers would only make an average of $108,051 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New Mexico
$114,339
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$117,008
Avg. Salary
3. Virginia
$108,391
Avg. Salary