As I'm fond of saying, engineers know what to do, electricians know how to do it. There's a good deal of overlap in the middle, but two vastly different skillsets to learn if someone wants to do both. I don't intend to presume my engineering experience gives any sort of magic entitlement to practice as an electrician, but it does give me a leg up from the man on the street walking in cold.
Nor do I intend to quit my job and start pulling cable; it's just frustrating to be able to stand there and go "Ayup, we've got a problem! Looks like that ground right there is corroded and needs replaced before someone gets killed. I should go find a contracting agent so I can put the job up for bid and maybe get an electrician out here in a few weeks to take care of it." We've had a smashed receptacle here for 4 months- 4 MONTHS- a simple smashed duplex receptacle- that would take appx 3 minutes and $2 to replace, including tag-out time. Yet all I can legally do is wrap it in caution tape, and I probably wasn't even supposed to do that much. I have respect for electricians- that's why I'm here on this forum. But just because I haven't spent 5 years bending conduit doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. I *do* have experience in electrical work, it's just not the traditional "apprentice-on-up" kind that most of you have.
