Top 12 Principal Electrical Engineer Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's competitive job market, showcasing the right mix of skills on your resume is crucial for landing a role as a Principal Electrical Engineer. This article highlights the top 12 skills to emphasize so your expertise shines and hiring managers take notice.
Principal Electrical Engineer Skills
1. MATLAB
MATLAB is a high-level programming and numerical computing environment used for algorithm development, data analysis, visualization, and numerical computation. In electrical engineering, it underpins design, simulation, and test for systems and signal processing.
Why It's Important
MATLAB matters because its computational power, specialized toolboxes, and rich math functions make simulation, analysis, and design of electrical systems fast, repeatable, and trustworthy.
How to Improve MATLAB Skills
Level up by mastering advanced features, writing efficient code, and keeping pace with new releases. Prioritize these areas:
Vectorize aggressively: Replace loops with vector and matrix operations for major speed gains.
Use the right toolboxes: Lean on Signal Processing, Control System, and Simscape Electrical for domain-specific depth.
Automate the grind: Build scripts and Live Scripts for data workflows, regression tests, and report generation.
Profile and optimize: Use the Profiler to find bottlenecks; preallocate, avoid growing arrays in loops, and adopt efficient data structures.
Parallelize workloads: Run large simulations and analyses with parallel pools or clusters when jobs scale up.
Strengthen quality: Add unit tests, assertions, and linting to keep code robust as models evolve.
Leverage the community: Explore examples, shared functions, and tips from peers to shortcut problem-solving.
Stay current: Review release notes; new functions and performance improvements can replace entire custom scripts.
These habits compound. Your models run faster, your results hold up, and your design loop tightens.
How to Display MATLAB Skills on Your Resume
2. AutoCAD
AutoCAD is CAD software for precise 2D and 3D drawings, essential for electrical schematics, panel layouts, and construction documentation.
Why It's Important
It anchors design clarity and traceability. You get clean schematics, consistent documentation, and smooth collaboration across disciplines—all aligned with standards.
How to Improve AutoCAD Skills
Focus on the workflows that save hours, not minutes:
Advanced training: Take electrical-focused courses and push beyond basics into productivity tools.
Custom workspaces: Configure ribbons, palettes, and keyboard shortcuts tuned for electrical tasks.
Templates and standards: Build project templates with layers, title blocks, and annotation styles baked in.
AutoLISP and scripts: Automate repetitive edits, tagging, and drawing checks.
Electrical toolset: Use components, wires, tags, and error-checking purpose-built for electrical design.
Blocks and data: Create intelligent blocks with attributes and data extraction for BOMs and reports.
Keep it current: Track new versions, plug-ins, and content libraries that trim friction.
Community know-how: Troubleshoot and pick up tricks from experienced users and forums.
How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume
3. PLC Programming
PLC programming creates control logic on Programmable Logic Controllers to automate and safeguard industrial machinery and processes.
Why It's Important
It’s the heartbeat of modern plants—precision, uptime, safety, traceability. Strong PLC design squeezes out waste and keeps processes resilient.
How to Improve PLC Programming Skills
Write code that’s clean, testable, and maintainable for years:
Adopt IEC 61131-3 practices: Standardize on Ladder, Function Block, and Structured Text where each fits best.
Modular architecture: Build libraries and function blocks with clear interfaces and diagnostics.
Prefer Structured Text for complexity: Use ST for algorithms, state machines, and data handling; keep Ladder for interlocks and clarity.
Simulation first: Validate logic with offline simulators and digital twins; shorten commissioning pain.
Peer reviews: Regular code reviews catch edge cases and enforce standards.
Robust diagnostics: Alarms, timestamps, event logs, and watchdogs—bake them in from day one.
Documentation: Comment intent, name I/O consistently, and maintain revision history.
Continuous learning: Stay sharp on vendor ecosystems, safety PLCs, and cybersecurity hardening.
How to Display PLC Programming Skills on Your Resume
4. VHDL
VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) describes the behavior and structure of digital systems for simulation and synthesis, enabling rigorous FPGA and ASIC development.
Why It's Important
It ensures precise modeling, thorough verification, and scalable designs. From timing to resource usage, you control the hardware story line by line.
How to Improve VHDL Skills
Blend discipline with experimentation:
Master foundations: Types, concurrency, signals vs. variables, processes, timing—get the semantics right.
Reusable patterns: Apply proven templates for state machines, clock-domain crossing, and pipelines.
Testbenches that bite: Constrained-random tests, self-checking assertions, and coverage to pin down corner cases.
Version control: Structure repos with IP cores, testbenches, and CI for linting and simulation runs.
Lean into VHDL-2008: Generics, packages, and advanced types make code modular and expressive.
Tool proficiency: Get fluent with simulation, synthesis, and timing tools (e.g., ModelSim/Questa, Vivado, Quartus).
Professional growth: Follow standards and communities; read the IEEE VHDL Language Reference Manual.
How to Display VHDL Skills on Your Resume
5. LabVIEW
LabVIEW is a graphical programming platform for data acquisition, instrument control, test, and industrial automation—ideal for rapid prototyping and deployment.
Why It's Important
For complex test stands and control rigs, LabVIEW shortens path-to-first-measurement and scales from bench to production with strong I/O and visualization.
How to Improve LabVIEW Skills
Tame complexity and keep performance crisp:
Optimize code: Preallocate, decouple UI from processing, and profile hotspots.
Use design patterns: State Machine, Producer/Consumer, Actor Framework—pick patterns that match data flow and timing.
Debug like a pro: Breakpoints, probes, execution highlighting, and deterministic logging.
Toolkits and modules: Reuse DAQ, vision, FPGA, and real-time modules instead of reinventing wheels.
Code reviews: Enforce style guides, error clusters, and connector pane conventions.
Hardware in the loop: Exercise systems early with simulated I/O; shift issues left.
Keep learning: Track new features and consider certification; cRIO developer guides offer solid practices.
How to Display LabVIEW Skills on Your Resume
6. PSpice
PSpice is a SPICE-based simulator for analog and mixed-signal circuits, used to predict circuit behavior and verify designs before hardware.
Why It's Important
Simulation exposes edge cases early, cuts board spins, and trims cost and time by revealing issues you can fix in minutes instead of weeks.
How to Improve PSpice Skills
Make results faster and more trustworthy:
Curate models: Keep component libraries current; validate vendor models against known measurements.
Sweep and optimize: Use parameter sweeps and optimization to tune performance and tolerance sensitivity.
Exploit multi-core: Enable parallel or multi-threaded runs where available to accelerate big simulations.
Right-size profiles: Tailor step sizes, tolerances, and stop times to the problem at hand.
Convergence aids: Adjust RELTOL, VNTOL, initial conditions, and source ramping for tough circuits.
Advanced analysis: Monte Carlo, worst-case, noise, and sensitivity analyses for robust designs.
Automate: Script repetitive setups and reporting to keep studies consistent across revisions.
Keep learning: Track new features and application notes from your EDA vendor.
How to Display PSpice Skills on Your Resume
7. Python
Python is a versatile language known for readability and speed of development. In electrical engineering it powers automation, analysis, simulation, and tooling.
Why It's Important
From data pipelines to control prototypes, Python glues systems together and scales from quick scripts to robust services.
How to Improve Python Skills
Push beyond basics with domain-focused practice:
Core fluency: Strengthen syntax, standard library, and type hints to write clear, maintainable code.
Numerics stack: Use NumPy and SciPy for vectorized math, signal processing, optimization, and transforms.
Data handling: Pandas for time series, feature engineering, and tidy ETL.
Visualization: Matplotlib for publication-grade plots; Plotly for interactive dashboards.
EE libraries: Explore PySpice, scikit-rf, and control systems libraries for simulations and analysis.
Packaging: Structure projects with virtual environments, pyproject.toml, and lint/test workflows.
Projects: Build lab automation, log analysis, or model validation tools tied to your stack.
Community: Engage on Stack Overflow, GitHub, and local meetups to trade patterns and shortcuts.
How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume
8. C++
C++ is a high-performance language for embedded systems, hardware control, and real-time applications—places where latency and determinism rule.
Why It's Important
It delivers tight control of memory and timing, crucial for firmware, drivers, and compute-heavy algorithms at the edge.
How to Improve C++ Skills
Modernize and measure:
Core mastery: Refresh object-oriented design, templates, RAII, and the STL.
Modern features: Adopt C++11/14/17/20 features—smart pointers, lambdas, ranges, constexpr, and coroutines where they help.
Concurrency: Use threads, atomics, and executors carefully; benchmark and profile.
Practice: Tackle embedded-side projects, contribute to open source, or solve problems on coding platforms.
Quality: Add sanitizers, static analyzers, fuzzers, and unit tests to your build.
Libraries: Learn Boost, fmt, Eigen, and embedded RTOS ecosystems relevant to your hardware.
Keep current: Watch talks, read proposals, and track compiler support for new standards.
How to Display C++ Skills on Your Resume
9. Altium Designer
Altium Designer is an end-to-end PCB design platform that unifies schematic capture, layout, and manufacturing outputs with robust project and library management.
Why It's Important
It scales to complex boards, keeps data organized, and moves designs from concept to fabrication with fewer surprises.
How to Improve Altium Designer Skills
Make the tool work the way you think:
Deep training: Advance through high-speed, stack-up, and DFM topics with formal courses.
Customize: Tune shortcuts, panels, and rules; script repetitive tasks to shave hours off reviews.
Library rigor: Centralize components with managed libraries on Altium 365; enforce parametric data and lifecycle states.
Design reviews: Use Altium 365 collaboration for comments, tasks, and release workflows.
Rules-driven layout: Codify clearance, impedance, length matching, and creepage/clearance to prevent violations.
Stay updated: Track release notes and PCB design articles for new capabilities and methods.
How to Display Altium Designer Skills on Your Resume
10. Simulink
Simulink is a MATLAB-based environment for modeling, simulating, and analyzing multidomain dynamic systems through block diagrams.
Why It's Important
It speeds controlled experimentation. You explore designs, verify behavior, and generate code—all before hardware exists.
How to Improve Simulink Skills
Build models that are clear, fast, and reusable:
Solid foundation: Complete structured tutorials to cement core modeling and solver concepts.
Model-Based Design: Trace requirements to models to tests to code; keep the loop tight.
Reusable libraries: Package common subsystems and parameterize them for easy reuse.
Optimization: Apply Simulink Design Optimization for automated parameter tuning and constraint satisfaction.
Code generation: Use Simulink Coder or embedded targets for rapid prototyping and HIL workflows.
Advanced simulation: Run parallel simulations and Monte Carlo studies for robustness.
Verification: Add test harnesses, coverage, and assertions; integrate with CI for regressions.
Keep pace: Review release updates and community examples to adopt better patterns.
How to Display Simulink Skills on Your Resume
11. Power Systems
Power systems encompass generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of electric power, including the design and operation of plants, substations, lines, and networks for reliable supply.
Why It's Important
Society runs on resilient, safe, efficient electricity. Engineers ensure stability, quality, and cost-effective delivery under shifting demand and new technologies.
How to Improve Power Systems Skills
Think reliability, flexibility, and sustainability—together:
Integrate renewables: Design grid-tied PV, wind, and hybrid systems with forecasting, curtailment, and protection coordination.
Smart grid features: Deploy AMI, advanced protection, and distributed control to sharpen visibility and response.
Energy storage: Model batteries and other storage for frequency support, peak shaving, and resilience.
Demand flexibility: Implement demand response and time-of-use strategies to flatten peaks and cut costs.
Grid modernization: Harden against physical/cyber threats; segment networks and apply zero-trust principles.
Predictive maintenance: Use condition monitoring, PMU data, and analytics to preempt failures.
Efficiency first: Improve power factor, reduce losses, and right-size equipment with lifecycle cost in mind.
Compliance: Align with IEEE/IEC standards and, where applicable, NERC CIP and local grid codes.
How to Display Power Systems Skills on Your Resume
12. RF Design
RF Design is the planning and creation of circuits and systems that transmit or receive radio frequencies for communications, radar, and wireless devices. It covers frequency planning, linearity, noise, matching, filtering, and antennas.
Why It's Important
Wireless performance hinges on good RF. Range, throughput, coexistence, efficiency—each depends on careful design and validation.
How to Improve RF Design Skills
Mix theory with bench work:
Foundations first: Master S-parameters, impedance matching, Q, and noise figure; understand how they trade off.
Simulate early: Electromagnetic and circuit co-simulation to validate stacks before copper is cut.
Choose components wisely: Amplifiers, filters, mixers, and passives—match specs to budgets and thermal limits.
PCB layout discipline: Control impedance, minimize parasitics, ground like you mean it, and segregate RF/digital domains.
Prototype and measure: Use VNAs, spectrum analyzers, and chambers; calibrate gear and document setups.
Antenna workflow: Simulate, build, tune—then verify in the intended enclosure and environment.
Keep learning: Follow application notes, workshops, and communities; RF techniques evolve quickly.
How to Display RF Design Skills on Your Resume
