Also, how did you get into it, and what sort of education or certifications (if any) did you need?
And if you were to get into the same niche today, would you? (And in some cases–COULD you, or has the door closed?)
I’m a designer, which is a well-known profession, but I design substations, which almost no one I’ve run into has heard of.
Substations are like giant jungle-gyms for electricity. They’re a grouping of electric structures that transfer high-voltage electricity to low-voltage, or low voltage to high voltage. They’re a major part of our electricity distribution system. You drive by at least one every day, most likely.
I got into it by chance. Right place, right time. I went back to school and got my AS in drafting for industrial design and manufacturing. I applied to this job on accident, thinking it was for manufacturing, then when I was offered an interview, accepted it despite the mixup. Why not? They offered about double what other jobs were for a drafter, so I took it.
8 months into the job, a designer position opened up, so I interviewed for that and got the promption!
Door is still wide open, despite the general idea that drafters are becoming less of a demand. Based on my experience, they’re sorely needed, especially for civil jobs. Also I get paid higher than a friend of mine who got her masters in interior architecture (also a drafting/design gig), with just my AS. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Totally worth it.
Doesn’t your country just have a few standard designs you just copy/paste everywhere?
Even with standard components, you’re still dealing with a wide variety of different sized city blocks with different types of buildings and industries, different grid layouts, etc. You also have to plan for potential future changes in load. Even if you have a large part you can copy-paste you still need to check all requirements and design the interconnections
I see. It’s just that here in the UK a lot of infrastructure like that is literally just copy paste boxes. I’m from a xUSSR country originally and there all the infrastructure is just factory built all the same stuff. Something custom is super rare. I guess everyone knows copy pasted Soviet house blocks, so yeah, infrastructure is the same.
