If you’re an IEEE student member, graduate student member or young professional member of PES, you are in the right place to prepare for your future. If you’re NOT a member of PES you’re really missing out for two main reasons: workplace changes, power system changes and industry connections.
Here are some recent statistics on millennials in the workplace:
- More than 60% of millennials ages 22-32 have changed jobs between one and four times in the past five years.
- 44% of millennials say they will leave their current position within two years.
- Millennials will represent nearly 75% of the workforce by 2025.
Where is your next job going to be? Do you have a professional network of colleagues to call on when you want to make “the change?”
A Safe Bet
We had a young professional speak at our PES Student Congress last year who said PES membership is just like fire insurance. You don’t know when you’re going to need it, but when you do it is critical for success. Based on the above millennial statistics, the safe bet is PES membership. Come to your local chapter meetings and our conferences and develop YOUR professional network BEFORE you need it!
PES now has more than 258 professional chapters and 377 student chapters around the world. Chances are there’s one near you. Check out our PES chapter locator online.
These chapters are excellent local networks for your professional development. PES sponsors 21 conferences that are excellent events to meet new colleagues and investigate new opportunities outside your local area.
PES also has 17 technical committees and three coordinating committees working on new standards for the power system. Detailed information can be found on committees online as well.
Everything is Changing
My friend and former PES President Wanda Reeder gave a talk at PowerTech in 2017 and summed it up like this:
Everything’s changing:
- The way we make it
- The way we move it
- The way we use it.
And everything’s changing at the same time. Since her talk, I think we can add one more to the list in 2019: The way we sell it.
Hawaii has already adopted the Ratepayer Protection Act that will require utilities to change their business models and fully decouple revenue and capital expenses.
The traditional power system with central station generation, transmission networks, and radial distribution networks IS going to change. The only question is the pace of change.
Rooftop solar and PV farms are popping up everywhere depending on local regulations. A number of pilots are also already underway with microgrids designed to enhance resiliency and community microgrids designed to share renewable resources within the neighborhood.
IEEE PES is leading the effort to understand these changes brought on by the integration of renewable energy sources with the existing grid and develop standards to make them work effectively and safely.
The mission of PES is just that: to be the leading provider of scientific and engineering information on electric power and energy for the betterment of society, and the preferred professional development source for our members.
Professional Learning
PES has developed tutorials and webinars to help engineers develop and deploy the grid of the future. These resources can be found online. The PES Resource Center is also available to our members to keep current with new developments and earn CEUs and PDHs for their Professional Engineer requirements.
But IEEE PES is more than what you can get out of it. We all want to make a bigger difference and with IEEE PES, you get the opportunity to have your voice heard and your input count.
Student members and young professionals are the future leaders of the IEEE PES society. Now. more than ever, we need your help to bring more power to the future. With over a billion people still without access to electricity, we must all work together to help develop and deploy new technologies to light up the world.
New ideas are required to help design, build and operate the grid of the future. There has never been a time like this. We need you as a PES member to help figure it out!
For more information:
PES Chapter Locator | https://www.ieee-pes.org/pes-communities/chapters/chapter-locator
PES Committees | https://www.ieee-pes.org/technical-activities/committees
Tutorials and Webinars | https://www.ieee-pes.org/professional-development
PES Resource Center | https://resourcecenter.ieee-pes.org/
PES Membership Benefits | www.ieee-pes.org/about-pes/member-benefits