Electrical Careers in the Age of Automation: Opportunities, Upgrades, and Demand
Last Updated: 2026-05-29T03:45:17.248-04:00
Chariho Career and Technical Center's Electrical Technology class visited ProSystems Integration, an automation company in Westerly, to give students a look at career opportunities in the industrial side of the field. The students spoke to engineers on the floor, who explained how they design systems and machines. A 2022 graduate of the program, Jesse Brunelle, who is now an engineer at the company, said he wanted to expose students to the industrial side of the electrical industry. "There's plenty of career opportunities in this industry as well that aren't seen too often," he said. The class's instructor, Ryan Northup, said the trip gave students a "perfect real-world application" of what they're learning. "Something like this may inspire a particular student that will say, 'Hey, that was really cool, I want to start getting into that," he said.
Meanwhile, Level Automation in Sweden recently upgraded its control system from the Simatic S7-1200 to the new generation Simatic S7-1200 G2. The company's owner, Martin Ozols, said the migration was "almost ridiculously easy" and took only two minutes. The new system is certified according to the cybersecurity standard IEC 62443, which is important due to the increased requirements of the NIS2 Directive for socially important activities.
In the US, Post Electric, a licensed electrical contractor serving Southwest Missouri, has expanded its residential electrical services to include comprehensive home automation and smart technology integration capabilities. The company's Master Electrician, Ryan, said the expansion was driven by growing demand from homeowners seeking to modernize their electrical systems.
A recent report by construction scheduling platform Planera found that electricians have a low automation risk of just 14%. The report, which analyzed more than 55 manual professions, found that emergency services have the lowest average automation risk at 11%, followed by social services at 12% and healthcare at 16%. The report's author said that the electrician shortage is projected to worsen through 2030, with over 80,000 new positions expected nationally. "The irony is that AI data centers, the very technology driving automation fears, need electricians to get built and kept running," the author said. "That's about as future-proof as a job can get."
Finally, Built In, a website that covers the tech industry, recently published a list of 10 companies that are hiring electrical engineers. The list includes companies such as Tesla, Intel, Siemens, and NVIDIA. The article notes that the demand for electrical engineers is being driven by the growth of AI, electrification, and automation.
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