Power Generation Engineer Overview
Power Generation Engineer Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a power generation engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.97 an hour? That's $78,976 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 8,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Power Generation Engineer Do
There are certain skills that many power generation 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, math skills and mechanical skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a power generation engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 38.6% of power generation engineers included technical support, while 14.7% of resumes included high voltage, and 10.9% of resumes included distribution 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 power generation engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most power generation engineers actually find jobs in the utilities and technology industries.
How To Become a Power Generation Engineer
If you're interested in becoming a power generation engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 54.8% of power generation engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.1% of power generation engineers have master's degrees. Even though most power generation 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 power generation engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a power generation engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on power generation engineer resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a power generation engineer. In fact, many power generation engineer jobs require experience in a role such as helper. Meanwhile, many power generation engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as electrical engineer or electrician.
What is the right job for my career path?
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Power Generation Engineer Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of electrician you might progress to a role such as maintenance supervisor eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title chief engineer.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Power Generation Engineer
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Black Hills Energy Power Generation Engineer I or II Power Generation Engineer I or II | Black Hills Energy Black Hills Energy | 12/29/2020 12/29/2020 | $74,80012/29/2020 $74,800 |
Cummins Inc. Power Generation Sales Engineer Power Generation Sales Engineer | Cummins Inc. Cummins Inc. | 05/02/2019 05/02/2019 | $77,79205/02/2019 $77,792 |
Leidos Engineering, LLC Power Generation Engineer Power Generation Engineer | Leidos Engineering, LLC Leidos Engineering, LLC | 03/15/2019 03/15/2019 | $77,18903/15/2019 $77,189 |
Falconbridge Services, LLC Project Design and Power Generation Engineer Project Design and Power Generation Engineer | Falconbridge Services, LLC Falconbridge Services, LLC | 03/04/2019 03/04/2019 | $78,00003/04/2019 $78,000 |
Leidos Engineering, LLC Power Generation Engineer Power Generation Engineer | Leidos Engineering, LLC Leidos Engineering, LLC | 02/20/2018 02/20/2018 | $72,96602/20/2018 $72,966 |
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Top Colleges for Power Generation Engineers
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
3. Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA • Public
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
6. Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI • Public
7. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
8. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
9. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
10. University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE • Public
Top Skills For a Power Generation Engineer
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, 38.6% of power generation engineers listed technical support on their resume, but soft skills such as speaking skills and math skills are important as well.
- Technical Support, 38.6%
- High Voltage, 14.7%
- Distribution Systems, 10.9%
- Diesel Engines, 9.8%
- Engineering Support, 8.0%
- Other Skills, 18.0% See All Power Generation Engineer Skills