Dear nairaland, I am a fresher of electrical electronic engineering at a university,I have been reading a lot of threads on NL concerning graduates who finished as an engineer in universities but having little or no knowledge in practicals of their specialisation turning them to half baked and sometimes jobless due to the fact that university only teaches theory with litlle or no practical application (as they say).
The last thread I read on NL was about an electrical engineer who doesn't know how to use a tester....my question is that is there any certification I can do during my undergraduate days in my area of specialisation (elect elect engr) to increase my potential in the job market?

cc lalasticlala

Y

cc: myndd44

cc jarus
help a NL

Ok

Cisco certifications, most Engineers end up doing computer science jobs

Mechanic

Follow any technician/electrician to site...once awhile and thank me later ... engineers are more of practical wrk

X

What's up with all d letters... F,X,Y,A @y'al up there

Find an electrician in your area and register as an apprentice. In two years time you will even be earning money. I swear in your final year you will do project for people and make a hell of money (I don't encourage you to do that anyway)

Start now and continue till you graduate. Don't be like me that was carried away with so many distractions. Pay the price earlier.

Dabble into video game consoles, flatscreens and computers/laptops if you can. Everything that has a panel/circuit board is in your domain. In other words, experiment with as many things as you can. There is no shortage of electrical panels for you to experiment with.

Save up money and get a laptop, then do research on electrical engineering softwares. pm if you can. I can point some out.

Go to youtube and watch videos if you have data.

Don't miss the electrician part. That is where you get the best practical knowledge.

Thank me later.

Cisco....am a computer scientist and i have friends who studied elect elect and ended up in cisco and Linux....trust me you will be a hot cake especially when you move from ccna to ccie... Networking rocks... God help you cos dollar now Na issue of writing those certifications

During your holiday period, you can do so electrical training course with AETI and other training outlets, this will further exposed you as the training is practically oriented.
Concerning certification, its depends on the area u want to specialise.
There are many certification.

What's did you specialise in, robotics, comms or power?

EEE is very broad so you need to consider your ambition against the listed specialisation above in narrowing down your options

HSE, Mechantronic/Elecromechanics, QA/QC, Design Software Certifications, Automation

TheLordIsGr8:
Find an electrician in your area and register as an apprentice.

Start now and continue till you graduate. Dabble into video game consoles, flatscreens and computers if you can. In other words, experiment with as many things as you can. There is no shortage of electrical panels for you to experiment with.

Go to youtube and watch videos if you have data.

Don't miss the electrician part. That is where you get the best practical knowledge.

Thank me later.

Electrical/Electonic Engineers aren't technicians bro.

Engineers are meant to be designing/delivering solutions to identified problems

mayprince:
Dear nairaland, I am a fresher of electrical electronic engineering at a university,I have been reading a lot of threads on NL concerning graduates who finished as an engineer in universities but having little or no knowledge in practicals of their specialisation turning them to half baked and sometimes jobless due to the fact that university only teaches theory with litlle or no practical application (as they say).
The last thread I read on NL was about an electrical engineer who doesn't know how to use a tester....my question is that is there any certification I can do during my undergraduate days in my area of specialisation (elect elect engr) to increase my potential in the job market?

cc lalasticlala

well that is thoughtful of you,just graduating as an engineer is not the issue but knowing your area of specialization is another credict to certificate,I will advice you to go run a program called MEP,I don't know if this program is obtainable in Nigeria, but in UAE were I based the program have help alot of Engineers like Mechanical And Electrical Engineering graduates to have full knowledge of their field ,the full meaning of the Acronyme is called Mechanical,Electrical and Plumbing design, you will learn all about HVAC design ,Electrical design and plumbing design,just long around for this,though little expensive,

barlinbuchi:
well that is thoughtful of you,just graduating as an engineer is not the issue but knowing your area of specialization is another credict to certificate,I will advice you to go run a program called MEP,I don't know if this program is obtainable in Nigeria, but in UAE were I based the program have help alot of Engineers like Mechanical And Electrical Engineering graduates to have full knowledge of their field ,the full meaning of the Acronyme is called Mechanical,Electrical and Plumbing design, you will learn all about HVAC design ,Electrical design and plumbing design,just long around for this,though little expensive,

He didn't study building services engineering though and he hasn't said if he specialised in power as that's his only way into the HVAC stuff.

Cool

jaybee3:


Electrical/Electonic Engineers aren't technicians bro.

Engineers are meant to be designing/delivering solutions to identified problems

There you go again with that theory thing... they are meant to right?, so please give him better options. I would gladly support you.

I am quite aware. But nothing stops him from learning from other people's design. That actually depends on him. He doesn't have to stop at being a technician, he can decide to probe further but at least he will have gained a good grasp of how things fit.

With some knowledge he can grab a software and design one of those boards he will work with from ground up.

mayprince:
Dear nairaland, I am a fresher of electrical electronic engineering at a university,I have been reading a lot of threads on NL concerning graduates who finished as an engineer in universities but having little or no knowledge in practicals of their specialisation turning them to half baked and sometimes jobless due to the fact that university only teaches theory with litlle or no practical application (as they say).
The last thread I read on NL was about an electrical engineer who doesn't know how to use a tester....my question is that is there any certification I can do during my undergraduate days in my area of specialisation (elect elect engr) to increase my potential in the job market?

cc lalasticlala

the best thing you can do for yourself now is to start automation and control training, start from basic and inch your way to advanced. specialise on siemens plc, you can also learn allen brandy too. also include instrumentation and DCS(distributed control systems).
keep on learning this and practicing it till you graduate.
you will thank me one day.

It depends on your area of specialization. Now,it is advisable to get your hands 'dirty' with real site work...

@Op
First identify your area of choice.
Power
Electronics
Telecommunications
instrumentation
etc.
from there you will be able to narrow down your choice and specialize. Elect/Elect Engr is a very broad course.

my 1 cent

mayprince:
Dear nairaland, I am a fresher of electrical electronic engineering at a university,I have been reading a lot of threads on NL concerning graduates who finished as an engineer in universities but having little or no knowledge in practicals of their specialisation turning them to half baked and sometimes jobless due to the fact that university only teaches theory with litlle or no practical application (as they say).
The last thread I read on NL was about an electrical engineer who doesn't know how to use a tester....my question is that is there any certification I can do during my undergraduate days in my area of specialisation (elect elect engr) to increase my potential in the job market?

cc lalasticlala

NEBOSH GC, NEBOSH dip, HyHYS, Autocad.

Forget the courses. NEBOSH-es, AETI-s, LAGRANGE-s don't get no meaningful problems solved. Get your hands dirty.

The Engineering field is so wide you could never prepare yourself enough with certification from the outside.

Certificates matter only to he who owns them.

Talk to Baba Sikira - that generator repairman - about a six month apprenticeship with him. Under his invaluable tutelage, learn to rip open any household generator, and assemble them back. As a personal project and to validate your learnings, reverse engineer an "I pass my neighbour."

Then apply to Mikano or ABB.

Be wise. On your CV, put your apprenticeship with Baba Sikira before your BSc.

Then see how Mikano will fly your everywhere to get necessary certification. That's how you build a career from a BSc nothing

COREN, and join NSE

TheLordIsGr8:
Find an electrician in your area and register as an apprentice. In two years time you will even be earning money. I swear in your final year you will do project for people and make a hell of money (I don't encourage you to do that anyway)

Start now and continue till you graduate. Don't be like me that was carried away with so many distractions. Pay the price earlier.

Dabble into video game consoles, flatscreens and computers/laptops if you can. Everything that has a panel/circuit board is in your domain. In other words, experiment with as many things as you can. There is no shortage of electrical panels for you to experiment with.

Save up money and get a laptop, then do research on electrical engineering softwares. pm if you can. I can point some out.

Go to youtube and watch videos if you have data.

Don't miss the electrician part. That is where you get the best practical knowledge.

Thank me later.

one of the most annoying things is this rubbish where 'educated' people continue to celebrate tinkerers and artisans as 'practical' work

what you are most likely to learn at the hands of your electrician is how to cut corners, provide solutions that fail after two weeks, and a rote understanding of anything.

my biggest grouse with learning from artisans is that it can fundamentally alter your approach to problem solving. our artisans here either deliberately or by otherwise, are not into root cause analysis. this is why you can find your artisan running the same repair very other month.

first off, electrical/electronics engineering is a very broad field. what are you interested in? power, telecomms , building services, control, IT?

that will determine your path.

ask your dad or relatives to connect you to friends who are engineers [esp those who have their own businesses] and offer to work with them for free. brush aside the boy boy rubbish [inevitable in nigeria] and focus on picking knowledge

Embark on Cisco or Microsoft certifications. Cisco tracks from CCNA, CCNP and CCIE will give you deeper understanding of networking and technologies in general. You may also get certifications in Linux and other backend Operating Systems....