Hello Peeps,

I'm also an electrical engineer by trade. And did I read that someone says at this day and age "you cannot get a job with a 2:2", that is an absolute farce. I could recount at least 20people who are close colleagues that secured a graduate positionjust last August before the economic downturn and they're still working in their chosen field as we speak.

It's all about the experience and if you could sell yourself at the interview, though I'm not trying to condone failure or mediocrity in any shape or form.

allhavoc:

@ Becomrrich
that's exactly my worry, I'm afraid companies might feel the degree is over qualified for a position they still have to train you for. I don't expect to earn above a masters pay initially if I can get in the door but I've heard/read from numerous sources (including newspaper articles) that PhD limits your job opportunities. It will be unfortunate if I'm limited to academia or "consulting" from a university. Fingers crossed.

Mr Man, PhD does not limit your opportunity at all if you know what you're doing. In actual fact, the time spent working on your PhD is as good as being a stated as a work experience so don't get any negative information engraved in your brain right now else,you'll be the one limiting yourself. I have friends who have just concluded their PhDs and believe this or not, there are more electrical engineers in the finance sectors i.e. working in the city than there are actually accountants (I mean the investment banking) so just have the fighting mentality and the positive attitude, your PhD would take you places and that I can guarantee you.

Good luck.

B.O.S.S.:

Hello Peeps,

I'm also an electrical engineer by trade. And did I read that someone says at this day and age "you cannot get a job with a 2:2", that is an absolute farce. I could recount at least 20people who are close colleagues that secured a graduate positionjust last August before the economic downturn and they're still working in their chosen field as we speak.

It's all about the experience and if you could sell yourself at the interview, though I'm not trying to condone failure or mediocrity in any shape or form.

who said so? I don't think anyone has said anything like that on this thread.

I must have misread you then. Beg your pardon. But I've been waiting for a thread lke this. I would like to know how it works as an electrical engineer in Nigeria and in a different environment.Could you enlighten me again as to what your electrical enginering profession has been like over the years @ Ajanlekoko

Hi,
My work experience is outlined on the first page of the thread, as well as some of my career experiences, so pardon me if I don't rehash it once again.
Engineering as a whole is still in the gestation stages in Nigeria, and there are lots of personal frustrations. I can say though that the future is bright, and this is the right time to be an EE person. In the last 10 years, the scope has changed, we have a lot of multi-billion dollar investments in energy and telecoms, and IT is now coming to the fore. The opportunities are beginning to surface. The kind of experience I have been able to gain over the last few years in Nigeria, I never thought was possible. Most EE contributors who have said one thing or the other and are practising here would
We still have a way to go, and this global crunch may slow things a bit, seeing as a lot of projects are being rescheduled or cancelled outright. Let's hope that the G20 'Marshall Plan' can get things into motion again, and we can pick up on the growth tip.
Telecom has proven to be the single most important contributor to the EE landscape in Nigeria, in terms of employment, projects and long term value so far. But I personally feel that the 'downstream' power sector (distribution) has huge potential, provided the 'cabal' who has a stranglehold on this industry can be stymied somehow. But we'll see.

@oyb,
yes o. The man passed on a while back.
Didn't notice you were at Siemens. He was also the chairman of Siemens and Magnum Trust Bank, back in the day.
Those were the men. Ah, well, our time will come!

AjanleKoko:

Hi,
My work experience is outlined on the first page of the thread, as well as some of my career experiences, so pardon me if I don't rehash it once again.

OH no, it's cool. I should have worded my question properly. I'm actually based abroad and presently working in the control systems division of electrical engineering after working as a power and distribution engineer in the last year.

AjanleKoko:

Engineering as a whole is still in the gestation stages in Nigeria, and there are lots of personal frustrations. I can say though that the future is bright, and this is the right time to be an EE person. In the last 10 years, the scope has changed, we have a lot of multi-billion dollar investments in energy and telecoms, and IT is now coming to the fore. The opportunities are beginning to surface. The kind of experience I have been able to gain over the last few years in Nigeria, I never thought was possible. Most EE contributors who have said one thing or the other and are practising here would
We still have a way to go, and this global crunch may slow things a bit, seeing as a lot of projects are being rescheduled or cancelled outright. Let's hope that the G20 'Marshall Plan' can get things into motion again, and we can pick up on the growth tip.
Telecom has proven to be the single most important contributor to the EE landscape in Nigeria, in terms of employment, projects and long term value so far. But I personally feel that the 'downstream' power sector (distribution) has huge potential, provided the 'cabal' who has a stranglehold on this industry can be stymied somehow. But we'll see.

At the moment though, I'm configuring PLCc and also intertwinning my role with the basic electronics engineering as you know they are all married together. I used to work for 4years as a Graduate Telecoms Engineer within IT/Telecoms field but I didn't fancy it that much because it's too vague and so I deem it not to be my cup of tea. However, in Nigeria now, what's the potential for Electrical Engineers right now as we speak.I have my experience in the UK in a top company (top 5 actually so I'll not like to reveal being a defence/aerospace secret of the country itself). What's the potential with Power Engineering and Control Systems Engineer? Could you get far in a place like Nigeria where manufacturing doesn't float our boats and we get to import everything? Mind you, I'm talking with the vague knowledge of Nigeria that I have in my memore being that I left the shores 11years ago and have never stepped foot over there.

What frustrates you overall as an Electrical Engineer? I could tell you all I know in the UK but I want to see things from abroad over the shore and be able to compare especially since we have someone like you with that knowledge.

ayobase:

This is a very lovely thread, I have been longing
for something like this!!


A 400 Level student of Federal University Of Technology,
Yola
Adamawa State.

Will be going on IT within the last 1/2 of the year,
but would like to start working on something b4 next year
as a mini PROJECT!

I will like to get any past PROJECT that any Engineer has worked
on, this I might finally use as my PROJECT if permitted.

Is there is anyone that can help me in any way, ?

There are a couple of projects which I have worked on while I was in the university but I'm not sure if you could do the same in Nigeria due to a difference in syllabus and study materials available. I could tell you a couple of projects I did while at Imperial College though and I'm not sure how I could guide you towards writing your own project.

One of the projects is a software project titled "Nonlinear microwave circuit simulation using arithmetic operator method". I still have the write-up but for the sake of avoiding plagiarism, I could give you a hand with the project provided but it'll be best if you learn from it rather than just having the finished article else, thae'll not help you in anyway at all.

Oh well, see if that could give you a headstart firstly else, see what you could get from someone else. I could come with some other titles of projects I was involved in but for now I hope that helps.

Honestly i am dumb when i was reading all the post cos i have just graduated and doing my youth service without any experience based on IT and i read power and machine, my question is how can i start when i dont have anybody in Lagos or PH where one can see opportunity to acquire experience or is there any company that will employ without years of experience?

sunnym:

Honestly i am dumb when i was reading all the post cos i have just graduated and doing my youth service without any experience based on IT and i read power and machine, my question is how can i start when i dont have anybody in Lagos or PH where one can see opportunity to acquire experience or is there any company that will employ without years of experience?

Listen mate, I'll lend you my 2cents and I hope it'll be worth it. When I started in the UK having almost finished secondary school in Nigeria, and after I went through my A-Levels and University, I had zilch experience basically, I was stuck in the same position as you.

I started with all sorts of work but with my eyes focussed on the job i.e. geting something related to my degree and within 6months, I got a into a Telecoms company but was in a customer service role. I showed them what I was capable of and I always shuttle within the IT department just to see how they get by and see what they do. In fac, I dedicated some of my time doing the MSCE exams before the company eventually realised what I was capable of and I was eventually a Project Manager within 2years.

I'll advise you to start off with a company in your field whichever niche you wanna focus on and no matter how small the company is, try and try and get as much experience aspossible.Milk it dry in terms of invaluable opportunities it could provide and believe mne it'll look good on your CV.More so, the ability to be able to sell yourself in interviews without looking desperate would take you very far.

Just my 2kobo

BOSS thank for your urgent reply, believe me many people in our field is gonna make something out of all you guys experience. I will keep on praying to God and keep my finger crossed. Thanks all.

ireport, you think say everybody been like you. call university of ilorin and ask now. even one of thier lecturer was my classmate. his name is adamariko. check the university of ilorin website too. http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/unilorin/index.php/engineering-technology-staff-list
you can call rogers in canada, i worked for them as a  platform specialist website http://rogers.ca

you be olodo,

BOSS, you think say I dey joke. A nigerian with a PHD abroad. if you are not in the USA. your chance is as good as taxi driver. Your example is someone in nigeria sha.

PHD limit your job chance. Only in the USA is that possible. Do you know how many nigeria with PHD in london. Half of them have never used thier PHD before. ANd they are still paying for their student loan. Which would take them another 12 years to pay back. That why they never send money home. Debt.

And if they give up, run back to nigeria. PHD for here is look before you leap. Only in the USA is the place you stand a chance. why do you think nigerian ran away from other countries even britain to live in the USA.
You do you think nigerian abroad hate nigeria govt, because of the suffering they have made them go thru. Do you think they would prefer to be abroad. NO. It is because of useless leaders. So that why those nigerian abroad would make nigeria leaders suffer when we have the chance to do so. if you want steal we expose you. Nigeria leaders put the nigerian abroad in bad situation. So nigerian abroad believe, we should make them too feel the suffering.

oya we will get to the bottom of this today!

I read electrical in the university of ilorin. i graduated in 2001.

becomrich complete the following

B.J.
T.S.

these are initials. if you were there, you will be able to complete them

who was the department adviser in 2001,2002? what was his name and what tribe was he?

2001 ke, i finished school, very long ago. one of your senator , we grew up on the same area. ,   so you should know ,  i even i am older than your speaker of the house. is is my aburo.


BJ olufeagba. prof of electrical engineering, went to MIT.

he was the chairman of engineering then africa union

there is also prof Ibiyemi, major area computer science and electronics.

and we have prof adeniyi in mechanical engineering, his son lives in the USA.  my school mate.

prof oni in agric engineering.

there is adimula in physics.


civil engineering have prof adetifa. his son was after me. if i remember.

mechanical use to have this man from Ghana smart , i think is last name is cole.


zoology have prof zoloye. i am joking, but that what they call him.

when they shout great nigeria student. in ilorin we reply with hallelujah, 

the student union motto is every unlooker is either a coward or traitor. 

on the permanent campus ,  the halls are in block from block 1 to block 10.

science faculty is clock 1 to 6. engineering is 6 to 10. 

electrical is block 10.

mechanical is block 8

the electrical lab is in block 9,

i think maths is block 1 ,  i cant remember them very well.

but geology is block 6.

i think physics is 3

biochemistry is block 5.

the university clinic is not far from abuja female hostel

male hostel are name a , b, c, d , i think to G.


the academics hall is not far from block 1.


the stadium is not far from chapel of light.

you take a bus from tanke bus stop to go to the permanent site.

the  temporary site  is close to the general hospital in ilorin.

i finished before you,  very very long before you. so i cant supply you with the other information.

the university clinic is not far from abuja female hostel

na this one i go take catch you.

abuja hostel is relatively new compared to the other buildings. if as you say, you finished way before i did, you would't have known of abuja hostel.

another elect/elect engineer in the house. BEng Elect/Elect Eng & MSc Information Engineering.
Work as an Information Assurance Analyst though.

young man i am decade ahead of you in ilorin, stop wasting your time. I was in ilorin when prof adeniyi was VC. He is a prof of medicine. he signed my degree. I think there have been 4 or 5 vice after him .

Even NVS philip adekunle was also in ilorin. there was about 24 or less than that universities in nigeria those day and jamb was difficult. i entered ilorin in the 80 's young man, stop wasting your time. i am not as young as you think, i have children some are in school my friend.

ilorin had prof salami, dr okanla, he is in UK, Dr dada. he use to teach electromagnet.

this is a long time. moji makanjuola was still in nta ilorin.  Zuru gambari was still emir of ilorin.  it is far before your time. IBB was head of state 


Those days NANS was powerful. it is not like the weak NANS you have now. NANS can shut the nigeria economy. they are weak now.

@becomrrich
Why are you so pessimistic about everything?

Becomrrich:

young man i am decade ahead of you in ilorin, stop wasting your time. I was in ilorin when prof adeniyi was VC. He is a prof of medicine. he signed my degree. I think there have been 4 or 5 vice after him .

Even NVS philip adekunle was also in ilorin. there was about 24 or less than that universities in nigeria those day and jamb was difficult. i entered ilorin in the 80 's young man, stop wasting your time. i am not as young as you think, i have children some are in school my friend.

then you could not have known about abuja hostel old man. also ibiyemi became a professor in 2000/2001, and he most certainly was not in unilorin in the 80s. i hope you aren't one of the technicians masqurading as an engineer and hogging the compute centres bandwidth for your satelitte pictures


_{you are aware of all the current and past goings on abi you are a perpetual student?}

becomrich talk true , are you not jamiu/james , that fat lab custodian of the electrical lab

This feud between oyb and becomrrich is getting out of hand. Lets focus on the topic. We should start ignoring irrelevant comments.

@ oyb
i must say ur last reply was funny. Did your set have problems with a fat dude running the labs?

LOL.
Make una no fight.
I remember in those days Ilorin guys used to say Olufeagba no like young guys.
Ibiyemi was a Dr back in the day. Computer guy.
You guys had one useless guy called VSA Adeloye. He used to be a lab guy, but somehow got himself and Phd and became some sort of lecturer. The guy no sabi nada.

B.O.S.S I indeed enjoy your post you really inspire me keep it up! I am a 4level student of the dept. of ELECT/ELECT Engineering Obafemi Awolowo University ILe-ife.

I intended majoring in Power and machine but indeed I want to avoid a lecturer in my final project so Iam choosing telecom for now so after obtaining my result i will switch over.

please advice me more on this. Moreso i' m also interested in that your project "nonlinear microwave circuit stimulation" any e-material on the project? please let know.

And, presently I searching for my six month industrial attachment posting and im considering doing courses in IT as alternative to power and machine please more advice.

teejay2010:

B.O.S.S I indeed enjoy your post you really inspire me keep it up! I am a 4level student of the dept. of ELECT/ELECT Engineering Obafemi Awolowo University ILe-ife.

I intended majoring in Power and machine but indeed I want to avoid a lecturer in my final project so Iam choosing telecom for now so after obtaining my result i will switch over.

That's very good to know you're almost rounding up your course. But why do you want to switch to It/Telecoms for your final year project instead of Power Engineering? The reason being is because you have chosen to study Power Engineering as a field so your lecturer/project supervisor would expect you to choose a project in that field (I hope that's how it works in Nigeria because that's the way it was while I was at Imperial/Leeds) and hence you'll be able to deliver in that field.

teejay2010:

please advice me more on this. Moreso i' m also interested in that your project "nonlinear microwave circuit stimulation" any e-material on the project? please let know.

My project was done in 2004 but I still have the write-up. I think there should be more resources available for research now so you shouldn't have much problems however you'll need to be conversant with some software techniques especially C++ programming and Matlab beacuse that's included with the project and would get you good marks.

teejay2010:

And, presently I searching for my six month industrial attachment posting and im considering doing courses in IT as alternative to power and machine please more advice.

I'm not sure about the Nigerian market when it comes to other sectors of Electrical Engineering because most people I speak to tend to only mention IT/Telecoms despite the fact that Nigeria needs Power Engineers, Control System Engineers and even Electronic Engineers because we should be at that stage of growth where we have to start producing things and maintaining a lot of industries as well as generate adequate electricity (in the case of Power Engineers).

Overall though, I'll say this and it's from my experience as an engineer in this field, believe me that your degree is a lot more worthy than people could ever say. Electrical Engineers (as well as other graduates) are needed everywhere in the world as long as you could prove your worth and gain that usefulexperience under your wings, you'll be priceless.

Just never give up.

@B.O.S.S,
Personally, I think EE grads at Bsc level should be well grounded enough to work anywhere. Irrespective of your final year electives and project work. My postgrad work was in industrial control systems, even though 100% of my post-school work experience is in the IT and telecom industry. My undergrad project work was strictly electronics, while my PG dissertation was in the area of industrial automation (sequence-controlled mechanisation).

Unfortunately the entire manufacturing sector is killed due to a host of factors, from the lack of power to the greedy government importers. That's why most grads these days are pushing more towards IT and Telecoms. Although there are a few major projects in oil and gas, particularly gas (OKLNG et al), but these may be stalled by the global financial crisis.

Nowdays there are lots of options, but what I would recommend to the average EE school grad would be to get good knowledge about what they're studying. We have too many 'brilliant' lecturers and students who are really not clued up as per knowledge and skills, but are geared only towards passing exams. Guys should get out to Oshodi or somewhere, get a few components and couple them together, see what happens. That was what we did back then, as the labs were lousy and inadequate, and the lecturers were content to force-feed us with the same old crap they were force-fed a decade or two earlier. Could be the British system we follow, as I noticed the Americans seem to have a more hands-on approach. Mind you I'm not the best expert on this but I enjoyed Vincent Del Toro as an all-round EE textbook as opposed to Theraja.

@all,
Let me even ask the house, what was the motivating factor that made EE your choice? For me, it was pure accident. I was some sort of idealist in secondary school, didn't see myself as an engineer, and was going to study physics or computer science in university. My dad played a key role in convincing me that EE was a much better choice, and more attractive in the labour market. So on the spur of that convincing I picked up basic electronics at SSCE level and managed to squeeze an A3 out of WAEC, despite the short time I had to prepare (2 terms).
Years later I read about the transistor and Shockley's exploits (his contemporaries at the time claimed he could see electrons), and that sparked a lifelong romance with the wired world. A romance that I would say is just beginning. I always wanted to work in high tech, and I got my wish without having to emigrate. And because of where I work (new product development), I actually have a very good overview of the technology, far more than my colleagues who are in the core telecoms where I started from.
Any interesting stories?

Great thread. Keep it up, bro.

AjanleKoko:

@B.O.S.S,
Personally, I think EE grads at Bsc level should be well grounded enough to work anywhere. Irrespective of your final year electives and project work. My postgrad work was in industrial control systems, even though 100% of my post-school work experience is in the IT and telecom industry. My undergrad project work was strictly electronics, while my PG dissertation was in the area of industrial automation (sequence-controlled mechanisation).

Unfortunately the entire manufacturing sector is killed due to a host of factors, from the lack of power to the greedy government importers. That's why most grads these days are pushing more towards IT and Telecoms. Although there are a few major projects in oil and gas, particularly gas (OKLNG et al), but these may be stalled by the global financial crisis.

Nowdays there are lots of options, but what I would recommend to the average EE school grad would be to get good knowledge about what they're studying. We have too many 'brilliant' lecturers and students who are really not clued up as per knowledge and skills, but are geared only towards passing exams. Guys should get out to Oshodi or somewhere, get a few components and couple them together, see what happens. That was what we did back then, as the labs were lousy and inadequate, and the lecturers were content to force-feed us with the same old crap they were force-fed a decade or two earlier. Could be the British system we follow, as I noticed the Americans seem to have a more hands-on approach. Mind you I'm not the best expert on this but I enjoyed Vincent Del Toro as an all-round EE textbook as opposed to Theraja.

Of course you're right about Nigeria politics stalling development in Nigeria and hence impeding people's profession i.e. Power ENgineering and the other aspects of Electrical Engineering however I beg to differ regarding your opinion as to people doing well and being able to apply the rules despite finishing with one discipline i.e. Power Engineering and then doing well in IT/Telecoms. I must tell you these disciplines are very vast and without disrespecting you at all, I don't know how you were taught in Nigeria but think about it this way, I focussed on Silicon Technology/Digital Signal Processing/Communications Enginering in my final year and I think that's vast enough and I doubt an Electrical Engineer with Power Engineering principles would be able to hack it in that same field likewise my colleagues that studied Optoelectronics/Electonics Engineering and the other groups that did Software Engineering/control Systems Engineering and Embedded Systems Engineering had their own knack as well as variety. So without the accurate training and love for the subject,it'll be very hard to be an all-rounder.

I could also use myself as an example, I worked as a Telecoms Engineer for three years and decided to change my field and trained as a Power Engineer and found it very uninteresting as well as a very hard nut to crack because that just didn't do it for me right from university and I struggled a bit in that field as opposed to Telecommunications/Software and IT.

More so, I beg to differ regarding the British system not being as tough as the Americans and in fact I could give you theories and theories as well as practicalities of British applicable engineers which would thrive over Americans any day or any time and in fact the British education system being three years shows you how good you have to be to be able to squeeze as much as possible in your head in the three years of your stusy. Mind you, I used to have 9hours of practical timetabled session in my first year at University, oh and by the way, did I forget to say the university you attend matters as well?

Don't use text books when comparing UK and USA when it comes to standars,in engineering especially. 

AjanleKoko:

@all,
Let me even ask the house, what was the motivating factor that made EE your choice? For me, it was pure accident. I was some sort of idealist in secondary school, didn't see myself as an engineer, and was going to study physics or computer science in university. My dad played a key role in convincing me that EE was a much better choice, and more attractive in the labour market. So on the spur of that convincing I picked up basic electronics at SSCE level and managed to squeeze an A3 out of WAEC, despite the short time I had to prepare (2 terms).
Years later I read about the transistor and Shockley's exploits (his contemporaries at the time claimed he could see electrons), and that sparked a lifelong romance with the wired world. A romance that I would say is just beginning. I always wanted to work in high tech, and I got my wish without having to emigrate. And because of where I work (new product development), I actually have a very good overview of the technology, far more than my colleagues who are in the core telecoms where I started from.
Any interesting stories?

Overall, my interest in engineering was not really of interest but of me "question-marking" everything and being inquisitive in a bid to quench the thirst of my knowledge and as soon as I got into it, I thought this isn't the course for me but what makes the hair on my neck stand up is the fact that I see something from nothing for example writing a programme and turning it into something from scratch just gives me the goose bubbles.

@jaybee
what's it like being an information engr. What do u guys do?

@ajanlekoko
The fact that elect engr is lucrative was one of the motivating factors. But i've always been amazed as to how much can be achieved with very little components. Back then my dad wanted me study medicine. I've not decided what field i'd like to go into but there's still time. I'll probably decide next year during my IT.