Geothermal Energy Engineer
Career Area: Engineering
Occupation Group: Chemical, Biomedical, and Related Engineering
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Geothermal Energy Engineer earns the following wages (national and state):
State
We do not have this data at this time.
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $80,695
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Develops geothermal engineering systems using heat from the earth. Engineers and designs systems that use geothermal sources to general electricity or heat or cool buildings.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 0 | +6.7% |
| Nationwide | 36 | +3.6% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Geothermal Energy Engineer is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
- Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
- Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Geothermal: Geothermal energy is heat energy generated and stored in the Earth.
- Project Management: Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria.
- Budgeting: Experience planning how the financial resources of a business or department are to be allocated during the next business period.
- Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.
- Mechanical Engineering: Mechanical Engineering, is the discipline that applies engineering, physics, and materials science principles to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Geothermal Energy Engineer that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- Clean Energy: Clean energy is energy, as electricity or nuclear power, that does not pollute the atmosphere when used, as opposed to coal and oil, that do.
- Fuel Cell: A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through an electrochemical reaction of hydrogen-containing fuel with oxygen or another oxidizing agent.
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills:
- Power Plants: A power station, also referred to as a power plant or powerhouse and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power.
- Fuel Cell: A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through an electrochemical reaction of hydrogen-containing fuel with oxygen or another oxidizing agent.
- Alternative Energy: Alternative energy is any energy source that is an alternative to fossil fuel.
- Biomass: Biomass is an industry term for getting energy by burning wood, and other organic matter.
- Waste-to-energy: Waste-to-energy or energy-from-waste is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 16% |
| 3 to 5 years | 13% |
| 6 to 8 years | 61% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Senior Geothermal Engineer - Onsite Energy & Power
- Geothermal
- U S Army Office Of Energy Initiatives - Energy Project Manager
- Geothermal Project Manager Energy Sto
- Tax Oriented Investments - Alternative Energy Staff Engineer - Associate
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