We have a good number of electrical engineers in the power industry, as one would expect. Tons more of us are more of hands-on technician types. You kind of need that system of checks and balances.
Of course, the industry requires a sharp mind for at least a good portion of the jobs, engineer or not.
Not all of our “engineers” are registered Professional Engineers, but most attain that status after a couple of years. Experience might be a requirement, I don’t know.
I seem to recall, and I could be way off base, that one could be a certified professional electrical engineer without having an engineering degree, but I don’t know how true that is nor how long ago that may have been if it’s true.
We do have a number of semi-foreign people in the engineering hierarchy these days. I don’t know if they’re H1B or people that came to the US as a youth - I have never asked, but many of the “foreign-sounding” ones have been at my present/past employer for a few years now.
As you noted, there are technician positions that are called “engineer” but the people doing them are not engineers. Not that they’re bad at their job, but my understanding of engineer is probably more like yours. They’re field technicians that troubleshoot and rework control wiring and things like that. I did that kind of work a while back, and it was very enjoyable. The downside was that I had to climb up on large power transformers occasionally, and I was not really good about heights. But you gotta play the cards you’re dealt. I moved into operations and never looked back.
Oh, yeah, some of our engineers are doing coding, keyboard stuff, data processing, etc. as you noted. A couple of them are really good at it, while others seem to have sought out the easy route. Non-critical path for some.
It’s a two step process in most, if not all, states to get a Professional Engineer certification. Don’t know of any exceptions and there is a national standard. (big book right over thar). The first step is the EIT (engineer-in-training) test which can be taken after 4 years of school or work. Then it takes 4 more years of related work to qualify to take the PE exam. And one needs a sign-off by three other professionals to get to take the test. It’s technically possible to not be a college grad to take the tests but those tests are serious stuff with a heavy math component. I remember my own ME PE test had a lot of heat transfer problems and without some serious study I don’t know how one would make it thru?
I qualified both as an ME and by experience as a surveyor which also requires a certification.
It’s noteworthy the things that would require a PE EE sign-off in your field: new power lines, new generation plants, power distribution level changes, all of which would be above the geek level. The kinds of things that make the boss check the company liability insurance.
There’s another phrase you might see: “Operating engineer” for those hands on types who actually run stuff.
I think part of the problem is that many students will not take the harder than other road. They want the easiest road to success which is usually more money. Likely good engineers and other techs are not the easiest road in college even if the universities of today do offer anything good classrooms with excellent professors which is getting more and more doubtful.
Most third worlders don’t have the opportunities we have in the US and will gladly work for 25% less to come to the US.
That alone has a chumming effect for CEO’s/employers.