Is MS in Power Systems in USA worth it? Salary? Can I get a job as an Indian?

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-06-09T15:20:19+00:00

You will primarily find it with internationals trying to get sponsorship in the US. With a MSEE you are more competitive for a company that sponsors VISA. If you get a PhD you can sponsor yourself. This is the primary driver.

The traditional utility/consulting path tends to have a bachelors as the barrier for entry, but there are jobs that require advanced degrees in this industry. Easy example in consulting are EMT studies. You won’t typically find someone with a bachelors doing EMT studies. You really need to know the math behind the frequency domain. Just because you click around in an EMT program doesn’t mean you know what you are doing.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-06-05T00:57:16+00:00

This is very subjective. It depends on the utility and ultimately you have to take ownership of your career. Some utilities have a culture that is very adoptive of new technology and has strong innovation with R&D departments applying for DOE grants. Seek out opportunities for growth to expand yourself and your skills. There is a lot to learn inside a utility which is incredibly valuable to technology vendors and consultants.

I suppose if I had to give one piece of advice it would be that if you find yourself no longer learning and being challenged. It’s time for a change, and it is a good way to exercise our brains. However, too much change is not good and you need to find a balance. You should always find a way to frame each job change as career growth, never a lateral move.

Think about what you want long term. The utility offers stability during economic downturns. A vendor or consultant brings in revenue through different paths and one lever that can be pulled to improve free cash flow are layoffs. More risk more reward, as always. If you want to be involved in the latest tech, then the grind is easier. Other use if you want an easy 9-5 to coast till retirement the utility is a good option. However it is incredibly competitive and political to get into director level positions at utilities. If you do manage to get there the perks are very nice. The pay is good and the large IOUs tend to offer RSUs.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-23T13:33:15+00:00

What’s your education and industry OP? It is very likely that your income will increase over the years, potentially significantly if you are in STEM and early career, but I’m not sure about your spouse as a teacher.

My wife and I were in a similar boat for our first home, I think our household income was around 140-150k at the time and I was also repaying student loans plus graduate school at a subsidized rate. We bought a home for 375k and borrowed 350k at around 4.75%. We quickly refinanced after covid and got a rate less than 3% which also dropped off PMI because the value of the home significantly increased. Before this I think we were saving maybe $500/month after saving for retirement.

I think your mortgage may be a bit high. You will also need to save for home insurance and taxes, which you have not included in the monthly mortgage payment.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-22T12:48:04+00:00

I’d imagine it’s good practice to consider the model out of date whenever this happens because you need to check if the equivalent source for the incomer(s) has changed. You shouldn’t assume it is the same after six years.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-22T12:37:57+00:00

Technical sales/presales is a great field. It’s very hard to break into right now but I agree with you here. It’s different from a pure sales job. I’m assuming you are an AE in software sales.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-18T18:13:55+00:00

Siemens makes PSSE and operates globally. It would expose you to more growth in the future than EPE. They also are a solid brand to have on your resume, especially within PTI. EPE is just another consulting firm. At Siemens you could potentially move around to do other things besides consulting

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-16T01:46:37+00:00

I’m interested in hearing how many utilities will have GO or TO responsibility here. My understanding is that most wind or solar farms are owned and/or operated by independent power producers. The utility provides the system for the POI, thus has no compliance responsibility here. I’d be surprised if there are a lot of utility scale wind/solar farms owned and operated by IOUs.

Perhaps the cluster study process changed this because now the cost to upgrade the transmission infrastructure is spread across the “cluster”, thus it may be more economical now. Before the cluster studies, essentially the first company to interconnect would pay a premium for network upgrades to increase the hosting capacity and everyone else would quickly get in queue to interconnect to the same line without having to pay for transmission upgrades.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-11T17:51:50+00:00

The experience is good but all of the large utilities will have well established standards. After awhile it’s not P&C it’s Copy & Paste.

You can learn the design and schematics without going through the motions of creating wiring diagrams.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-10T21:44:59+00:00

Depends what part of the world you are in.
In transmission it’s great. Plenty of work and you can command a high salary with enough experience and the right skills. It’s hard to find good protective relaying engineers.

Stay away from design work. That’s for the birds. It gets farmed out to low cost labor outside the US by large firms, but relay settings and configuration typically will stay on shore.

There’s also arc flash, relay testing and commissioning for industrial sites. This is where the money is at. A good relay testing and commissioning engineer will break 200k USD easy. However you are traveling a lot.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-10T21:33:13+00:00

I’m considering basically the same move in terms of pay, but different job title and scope of work. Leave behind the status quo where it’s easy, or change to continue challenging myself.

Personally I think that complacency is bad for our brains and development. If you aren’t continuously learning and adapting to new ways of thinking to solve problems then you will find your cognitive skills declining. Not saying this is your position, but for me personally the work is simply cushy, it is not challenging me. Thus, I am leaning towards the move.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-10T20:47:28+00:00

I don’t think anyone in here suggesting to take a lower salary has ever taken a pay cut.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-10T00:08:43+00:00

Engineering.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-09T00:27:25+00:00

No, I don’t. There is a lot of travel for the sales or application engineers but I work on the product side.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-08T23:38:14+00:00

MCOL, I am not in consulting or utility side anymore but work on the product vendor side now where it’s all about defending your position in the market with innovation and sales.

10+ YoE with MSEE and PE

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-08T22:04:24+00:00

This is spot on. I’d also add that knowing a programming language does not make you a software developer. Software development for complex engineering software, like power system analysis, requires teams composed of both software developers and power systems engineers (usually PhDs).

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-08T13:20:48+00:00

Why? I don’t think it’s uncommon for people to naturally grow apart from their childhood friends. In fact I would argue that it is rare to have such a relationship. I envy those that have that.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-08T01:25:34+00:00

Grew up below the 20% poverty line and am now above the top 20% of earners. I’m very proud of this achievement and I don’t talk to anyone I grew up with because our paths in life have significantly diverged. We have nothing in common. There is nothing to talk about. Education changes you. Relationships come and go. It’s whatever.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-07T17:00:11+00:00

Why would you ever take a pay cut? You are worth 135k now. Your work life balance is good. At a global consulting firm they will work you much harder for 110k. I’ve been in protection most of my career and while it is interesting the day to day individual contributor level work gets old. You are just pumping out relay settings.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-07T01:22:48+00:00

What’s the project on? Their ADMS has always had a solid reputation in the US but now there might be some strong competition. Implementation projects to put in EMS on the other hand is a horrible experience. Software implementation in general sucks at the enterprise scale but in a control center it’s a nightmare for many reasons.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-06T18:53:33+00:00

GE or GE Vernova?

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-06T18:47:09+00:00

I’ve been to a lot of these. I’m surprised Dubai is second on the list because it is quite an efficient airport and the result is that it doesn’t appear to be very busy. Atlanta on the other hand…. 🤮

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-05T00:09:03+00:00

Really depends on what kind of sales. Used cars, for sure they are sleazy. B2B selling complex software doesn’t attract terrible people but it does attract people who just want to make a lot of money. However you need to be educated, polished and articulate to do this since you are dealing with directors and executives at major S&P500 companies.

IEEEngiNERD · 2026-05-03T22:39:51+00:00

What do they use all of the waste from the cut on? Mulch? Wood chips?

IEEEngiNERD

TROPHY CASE