Architecture and Engineering · Holland code RIC

Electrical Engineers

Research, design, develop, test, or supervise the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment, components, or systems for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use.

Also called: Design Engineer, Electrical Design Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Project Engineer, Circuits Engineer, Electrical Controls Engineer, Electrical Project Engineer, Engineer.

O*NET 17-2071.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $120,630; Middle half earn $92,830 to $152,950. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 82% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes.
Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget.
Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements.
Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or specifications.
Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks.
Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products.
Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.
Collect data relating to commercial or residential development, population, or power system interconnection to determine operating efficiency of electrical systems.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Writing4.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Active Learning3.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

Engineering and Technology4.7 / 5
Computers and Electronics4.7 / 5
Design4.1 / 5
English Language3.8 / 5
Mathematics3.7 / 5
Physics3.6 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic84
Investigative74
Artistic19
Social12
Enterprising24
Conventional57

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

electrical engineer · DE Ingenieur Elektrotechnik/Ingenieurin Elektrotechnik · FR ingénieur électricien/ingénieure électricienne
electric power generation engineer · DE Ingenieur Stromerzeugung/Ingenieurin Stromerzeugung · FR ingénieur en production d’électricité/ingénieure en production d’électricité
electromagnetic engineer · DE Ingenieur Elektromagnetik/Ingenieurin Elektromagnetik · FR ingénieur en électromagnétisme/ingénieure en électromagnétisme
electromechanical engineer · DE Ingenieur Elektromechanik/Ingenieurin Elektromechanik · FR ingénieur électromécanicien/ingénieure électromécanicienne
mine electrical engineer · DE Elektroingenieur Bergbau/Elektroingenieurin Bergbau · FR ingénieur électricien des mines/ingénieure électricienne des mines
power distribution engineer · DE Ingenieur Energieverteilung/Ingenieurin Energieverteilung · FR ingénieur études transport-distribution/ingénieure études transport-distribution

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Aerospace engineers (2126)41,700 employed
Electrical engineers (2123)59,700 employed
Quality assurance technicians (3115)36,100 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “電気・電子・電気通信技術者（通信ネットワーク技術者を除く）”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥364,900; Middle half earn ¥289,900 to ¥468,800 a month.
Workers in the category: 334,680; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.13. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (17-2071).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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