The basics of what a Power Engineer Technologist does is to monitor and adjust flows, velocities, levels, temperatures, and pressures. Repair and make recommendations for repair of equipment, as well as supervise other personnel. You are responsible for the safe, efficient and legal operation of industrial or commercial equipment.

As a Power Engineer Technologist you may perform many tasks in a plant including supervising trades people, contractors and other Power Engineer Technologists who are on shift with you. You could be responsible for a very small operation or a very large one with many trades and disciplines under your direction. You could be part of a sales team selling industrial or commercial instrumentation, electrical, mechanical, or chemical products. You could be part of or in charge of a Federal, state, civic, provincial or corporate inspection team traveling extensively or, locally situated.

This career provides a huge window of opportunity for knowledge and employment.

You learn:

Employers are always looking for well trained individuals. Multi-disciplined people are an employer's dream. Numerous disciplines for the price of one. They get real excited about P.E.T. and Stationary Engineers.

This technology diploma, which is new to the U.S., provides people who have the desire to succeed with a multitude of skills to foot the bill for many industrial and commercial opportunities.

Employers in Canada have been taking advantage of this for decades. Employers from the U.S. have done the same with their Stationary Engineers. Some have noted the advantages of Power Engineers and have advertised specifically for Canadian trained Engineers for their operations in the U.S. and around the world. So there is a distinct advantage for U.S. citizens to get their diploma in as much as there is for Canadians to do the same. Excellent money is to be made in either case, at home or abroad. Those who choose to acquire their diploma will be part of a elite and rare breed.

You learn everything pertinent to the operation of industrial and commercial equipment. Along with that, you will have mysteries revealed to you like, the principle of how your television works, how your refrigerator works, how your car's engine works, what the difference is between a rocket engine and a jet turbine.

The world of technology is yours to know and to master.

A typical day in the life of a Power Engineer in a boiler house operation may go something like this:

07:00 BLOW DOWN WATER COLUMNS ON EACH BOILER TO CHECK LOW WATER SHUT DOWNS AND ALARMS ARE WORKING.

07:15 DO WALK AROUND TO DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT

07:45 DO WATER TESTS AND ADD CHEMICALS FOR WATER TREATMENT.

08:15 ATTEND MORNING MEETING WITH OTHER PERSONNEL TO DISCUSS ITEMS OF CONCERN, PREVIOUS DAYS WORK AND UP COMING TASKS

09:15 DO READING SHEET FOR EQUIPMENT CHECKS. NOTE ABNORMALITIES.

10:00 COFFEE BREAK

10:15 ATTEND TO MAINTENANCE ITEMS, IE: PIPE FITTING CLEAN UP WORK AREA

11:45 DO VISUAL EQUIPMENT CHECKS, BLOW DOWN AIR RECEIVER AND FILTER ELEMENTS

12:00 LUNCH TIME

13:00 BACK WASH SAND FILTERS

13:30 DO READINGS AND EQUIPMENT CHECKS

14:00 PAINT SOME PIPING

14:45 COFFEE BREAK

15:00 REGENERATE A ZEOLITE SOFTENER

16:00 DO SOME CORRESPONDENCE STUDYING

16:30 DO VISUAL EQUIPMENT CHECKS

17:00 CONTINUE STUDYING

18:00 DO VISUAL EQUIPMENT CHECKS

18:15 CONTINUE STUDIES

18:45 CLEAN UP AND PREPARE FOR SHIFT RELIEF AT 19:00

All this can keep you hopping.  The pace may be casual or it may be fast.  If it is fast pace, you will benefit greatly from good organization and prioritization skills.  Discipline will play a key role in your success.

Duties for a Power Engineer as a process operator may be very similar:

07:00 DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT

09:00 DO READINGS AND VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT

10:00 COFFEE BREAK

DO LAB TEST OF PROCESS PRODUCTS. DETERMINE IF ADJUSTMENTS TO THE UNIT ARE NECESSARY AND IF SO CARRY THEM OUT TO ENSURE PRODUCT IS ON SPECIFICATION. CROSS REFERENCE LAB RESULTS WITH ON LINE ANALYZERS TO ENSURE RELIABILITY OF INSTRUMENTS.

11:00 DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT. MAY FIND A CONTROL VALVE THAT ISN'T WORKING AS WELL AS IT COULD. MAKE CHANGES TO THE TUNING PARAMETERS BRING ABOUT A MORE UNIFORM AND CONSISTENT CONTROL CHARACTERISTIC..

12:00 LUNCH BREAK

13:00 DO READINGS AND VISUAL CHECKS ON EQUIPMENT. PUMP DOWN LIQUID LEVELS IN KNOCK OUT VESSELS TO PREVENT CARRY OVER OF LIQUIDS. PERFORM A MANUAL DUE POINT ON PROPANE SALES FLUIDS.

15:00 COFFEE BREAK.

15:15 DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT. TOP UP LUBRICATING OIL LEVELS IN COMPRESSORS. START UP BOOSTER COMPRESSOR STATION.

17:00 DO READINGS AND VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT

17:30 CLEAN SUCTION SCREEN ON GLYCOL CIRCULATING PUMP.

18:00 PREPARE FOR SHIFT CHANGE AND CLEAN UP.

17:00 SHIFT CHANGE.

As one of my instructors put it to us years ago, "You are nothing but high priced baby sitters!". Well he is right but, only to a point. There are times when some folks bring a hobby to work with them because, there is not a lot to do. I recommend just finding stuff to do around the facility.  There is always something to do. You need to discipline yourself to keep occupied.  Your coworkers will always know if you are taking care of business or if you are gold bricking it.

Other days you are run off your feet. This is what can make or break a persons interest in this career. If you can tolerate this kind of change in pace from zero to 100 miles an hour and all points in between, you will do well.

There are jobs where you are technically challenged on a daily basis to keep the place running or from blowing up. There are other jobs where you have no time for thinking where you don't run the equipment, the equipment runs "you" the entire shift. Kind of a steady mindless pace with no room for free thought or autonomy. Again there are other jobs where once the equipment is up and running it just purrs along and all you do is polish the brass (If you talk to the old timers that have government jobs, polishing the brass is a common term.) and still others where there is a combination of all.

One thing is for sure. If your employer expects you to operate like a robot and run all day to keep a place running day after day, year after year, its time to find a new employer. That's the type of environment where people will either get burned out physically and emotionally or, worse case get injured or killed. In either case, its not worth it. Find a new employer.

Another interesting dimension of this career is, you can transfer your tickets and/or steam time over to become a Marine Power Engineer. You could also study for and write your marine and power engineer exams simultaneously. This opens up the world of oceanic travel as an officer in the Merchant Marine. Some U.S. companies prefer Canadians on their ships because of the superior training they get. Canadians are considered to be the best of the bunch. Camosen College in Vancouver B.C. Canada is the place to be for that training. [More info like this in the institutions contact list section.]

Another way of doing this is to first get into the Marine end of things and be writing off exams simultaneously. This way you can be learning and earning while aboard ship and traveling the world. Food and accommodation is good and you can devote much of your spare time to educating yourself. Some guys go full boar at it and just take off a month or two every year until they get all their tickets earned as well as a swollen bank account. This way they have more options in life supplied by TWO POWERFUL careers and a solid bank account. This sort of approach really sets a guy up for the future, big time. Look at it like a university education. You work your butt off for four or five years, get great pay, get an education, maybe two educations, have everything paid for except your clothing perhaps and a few incidentals and come out on the other side with enough money to buy a beautiful house, a new car and still have money in the bank. From there on you may decide to do what ever you want, where ever you want. Remember you will have your education to fall back on, plus four or five years experience.

Then again, if you are a land lover, like me, you may not choose the oceanic route and stay on dry land. These are just a few of the many different possibilities and combinations of ways one may involve themselves in one or both of these careers.

Although I have had job offers from The Middle East and other parts of North America, for now I'm staying put. I've found my neigh in Canada. How about you? Have you found your neigh yet? Are you pleased as punch with your career? I wish you the best luck in your endeavors.

It may be time to move up in the world by becoming a POWER ENGINEER TECHNOLOGIST.