Top 12 Relay Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's job market, a relay technician can’t skate by on basics. Hiring managers scan for depth: protection know-how, testing chops, clear thinking under pressure, clean documentation. Highlighting a strong, relevant skill set on your resume puts your experience in bright lights.
Relay Technician Skills
- SEL Relays
- Doble Testing
- IEC 61850
- SCADA Systems
- Protective Coordination
- AutoCAD Electrical
- Power System Analysis
- Omicron CMC
- Relay Logic
- NERC Standards
- Substation Automation
- Digital Fault Recording
1. SEL Relays
SEL (Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories) relays are digital protective devices that monitor power systems, detect and isolate faults, and provide control and automation. Programmable, precise, and rugged. Relay technicians configure, test, and troubleshoot them to keep networks stable and safe.
Why It's Important
They deliver fast, selective protection with rich monitoring and control, which directly supports system reliability, safety, and recoverability.
How to Improve SEL Relays Skills
Sharpening SEL relay skills means knowing the gear inside out and testing like a pro.
Stay Updated: Keep current on firmware, software, and application notes. New features often tighten security, add logic blocks, or fix edge-case issues.
Digest the Manuals: Application guides, logic examples, and integration notes are gold. Don’t skim. Build a personal library and annotate it.
Use the Tools: Get comfortable with configuration and integration suites (e.g., acSELerator QuickSet and RTAC tools). Build repeatable workflows and setting templates.
Hands-On Practice: Commissioning labs with a test set teach more than theory ever will. Create fault scenarios, verify logic, and prove trips.
Training: Formal courses accelerate learning and expose advanced functions you might never stumble upon in the field.
Peer Exchange: Ask questions, trade settings files, compare test plans. Hard-won field tips often aren’t in manuals.
Routine Maintenance: Test event reports, SER, and self-tests; verify inputs/outputs; confirm time sync; validate security settings.
Feedback Loop: Track issues, note firmware behaviors, and refine your standards. Small tweaks compound into speed and accuracy.
Build repeatable methods. Verify everything. Then document it so the next job goes faster.
How to Display SEL Relays Skills on Your Resume
2. Doble Testing
Doble Testing refers to diagnostic procedures and tools used to evaluate protection systems and major apparatus. For relay technicians, it means simulating system conditions and validating protective element performance end-to-end.
Why It's Important
It reveals insulation issues, missettings, wiring errors, and hidden coordination gaps before they turn into outages. Confidence comes from data, not guesses.
How to Improve Doble Testing Skills
Accuracy, speed, and safety—tighten all three.
Calibration and Care: Keep test sets in spec. Scheduled calibration, clean leads, verified accessories.
Ongoing Training: New test modules, better analysis routines, and updated methods roll out regularly. Keep pace.
Plan the Test: Study settings, schemes, and drawings. Pre-build test sheets and sequences. Measure twice, inject once.
Automate: Use automated sequences where practical. Reduce hand-tweaks, cut variance, speed results, improve repeatability.
Safety Discipline: PPE, clearances, lockout/tagout, test leads managed, grounds checked. No surprises.
Peer Review: Another set of eyes can catch a missed pickup value or polarity flip. Use them.
Document and Trend: Archive results, compare across maintenance cycles, and spot drift early.
Do the prep. The execution gets easy.
How to Display Doble Testing Skills on Your Resume
3. IEC 61850
IEC 61850 is the standard for substation automation data models and communication. It enables interoperable IEDs, fast messaging, and structured engineering files for protection and control.
Why It's Important
It simplifies integration, reduces wiring, and supports high-speed schemes, all while enabling consistent configuration and scalable substation designs.
How to Improve IEC 61850 Skills
Make devices talk clearly, quickly, and reliably.
Interoperability Focus: Test GOOSE, MMS, and Sampled Values across vendors. Validate data sets, report control blocks, and time sync behavior.
Robust Testing: Use tools that model 61850 signals, subscribe/publish GOOSE, and verify response times under load or failover.
Clean Configuration: Manage SCL files (ICD/CID/SCD) with discipline. Version control, naming standards, and change tracking matter.
Keep Learning: Standards evolve. So do vendor stacks. Refresh knowledge often.
Hands-On Practice: Lab test bays with real IEDs beat slide decks every time.
Less mystery, more method. That’s the 61850 mindset.
How to Display IEC 61850 Skills on Your Resume
4. SCADA Systems
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems provide real-time visibility and control across electrical networks. Relay technicians interact with SCADA for monitoring, alarms, event data, and remote operations tied to protection schemes.
Why It's Important
It compresses response time. Faults get found faster. Switching gets safer. Data informs decisions instead of hunches.
How to Improve SCADA Systems Skills
Harden the platform and streamline the data path.
Refresh Hardware: Replace flaky comms cards and aging RTUs. Keep spares ready, firmware current.
Tighten Cybersecurity: Segment networks, enforce least privilege, log aggressively, patch routinely, and validate backups.
Maintain Software: Update SCADA servers and HMIs. Test patches in staging before production cutovers.
Network Resilience: Redundant paths, monitored latency, managed switches with proper QoS and time sync.
Train the Team: Alarm management, point-to-point checks, and failover drills keep skills sharp.
Reliable data. Predictable control. That’s the target.
How to Display SCADA Systems Skills on Your Resume
5. Protective Coordination
Protective coordination sets pickup values and time delays so the right device trips first and upstream devices hold unless needed. It limits outage scope and protects equipment.
Why It's Important
Good coordination prevents nuisance trips and keeps lights on for everyone not near the fault. Bad coordination does the opposite.
How to Improve Protective Coordination Skills
Gather System Data: One-lines, impedances, relay curves, CT ratios, breaker ratings, motor loads—get it all and verify.
Run Studies: Build models and simulate faults using tools like ETAP or SKM Systems Analysis.
Tune Settings: Adjust pickups, time dials, and curve selections for selectivity and speed. Consider inrush, cold load, and reclose logic.
Verify: Test updated settings. Secondary injection and logic checks confirm what the plots promised.
Implement and Record: Apply changes carefully, document revisions, and label settings files consistently.
Leaner margins, safer operation, fewer calls in the middle of the night.
How to Display Protective Coordination Skills on Your Resume
6. AutoCAD Electrical
AutoCAD Electrical speeds up control schematics, panel layouts, and documentation with electrical-aware tools: wire numbering, cross-references, symbols, and reports.
Why It's Important
Clean drawings reduce field errors, accelerate reviews, and make maintenance straightforward. Your future self will thank you.
How to Improve AutoCAD Electrical Skills
Nail the Fundamentals: Layers, blocks, attributes, electrical symbols, and project management—no shaky ground.
Templates and Standards: Title blocks, layers, text styles, symbols, and naming conventions tuned for protection and control work.
Library Discipline: Curate symbol libraries for common relays, CT/PT, interposing relays, terminal blocks, and communications.
Automate: Wire numbers, cross-references, BOMs, from-to lists—let the software do the repetitive lifting.
Shortcuts and Scripts: Customize hotkeys and macros for your most common tasks.
Iterate: Save design checklists. After each project, refine them.
Better drawings, fewer questions, faster installs.
How to Display AutoCAD Electrical Skills on Your Resume
7. Power System Analysis
Power System Analysis studies how the grid behaves during normal and abnormal conditions. Relay technicians use it to ensure protective devices detect and isolate faults without destabilizing the system.
Why It's Important
Settings aren’t guesses; they’re anchored in system behavior. That’s how you get fast trips without collateral damage.
How to Improve Power System Analysis Skills
Deepen Fundamentals: Short-circuit types, load flow, stability, grounding, arc flash—know the interactions.
Master Coordination: Understand curve families, CT saturation, DC offset, and the impact of reclosing sequences.
Software Proficiency: Get fluent with ETAP, PSS/E, or SKM Power*Tools. Build accurate models, validate against nameplates and field data.
Follow Standards: Track guidance from IEEE and the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES). Align methods to widely accepted practices.
Hands-On Validation: Correlate study results with actual test and event data. Close the loop.
Community: Share cases with peers. Fresh eyes spot blind spots.
The grid tells a story. Learn to read it.
How to Display Power System Analysis Skills on Your Resume
8. Omicron CMC
Omicron CMC test sets are versatile platforms for commissioning, maintenance, and troubleshooting of protection relays and schemes.
Why It's Important
They let you simulate faults precisely, validate logic, and produce traceable results. Trustworthy data speeds decisions in the field.
How to Improve Omicron CMC Skills
Keep Current: Update CMC firmware and your test software. New functions and bug fixes matter.
Use Templates: Standardize test sheets and Test Universe plans for common relays and schemes.
Automate Sequences: Leverage State Sequencer and related modules to reduce manual steps and errors.
Train Up: Formal courses and labs reveal advanced features and good testing patterns.
Share Knowledge: Compare approaches with other technicians. Borrow what works.
Calibrate: Regular calibration keeps results tight and defensible.
Fast, repeatable, and defensible testing wins every time.
How to Display Omicron CMC Skills on Your Resume
9. Relay Logic
Relay logic uses electromechanical or solid-state relays and timers to implement control sequences. Technicians design, wire, test, and troubleshoot these circuits, often bridging classic schemes with modern IED logic.
Why It's Important
It’s simple, durable, and understandable at a glance. When the PLC is down or a microprocessor fails, hard logic still carries the day.
How to Improve Relay Logic Skills
Solid Theory: Refresh on fundamentals—contact types, latching, interlocks, seal-in logic, and timing.
Cleaner Designs: Use consistent symbols, wire tags, and terminal plans. Make maintenance effortless.
Simulate and Test: Bench-test with simulators or software before field installs. Catch wiring and logic gaps early.
Preventive Care: Inspect contacts for wear, verify coil voltages, and check for mechanical binding.
Keep Learning: Short courses and hands-on kits sharpen instincts and speed troubleshooting.
Peer Review: Another technician can spot a missing interlock in seconds.
Safety Always: Follow electrical safety rules and procedures every time.
Make it obvious. Make it safe. Make it last.
How to Display Relay Logic Skills on Your Resume
10. NERC Standards
NERC Standards are mandatory reliability requirements for the bulk power system. For relay technicians, they shape how protection systems are designed, documented, tested, maintained, and secured.
Why It's Important
Compliance isn’t optional, and reliability is the point. Following the standards reduces risk and supports a stable grid.
How to Improve NERC Standards Skills
Monitor Changes: Standards evolve. Track updates and interpretations, then adjust procedures.
Train Regularly: Refresh on evidence requirements, testing intervals, and documentation best practices.
Bake in Best Practices: Standardize settings reviews, commissioning checklists, and change control.
Quality Assurance: Peer checks on settings, drawings, and test reports prevent compliance gaps.
Participate: Engage with industry groups and working teams to understand expectations and share feedback.
Adopt Better Tools: Version control for settings, secure configuration management, and clear audit trails.
Learn from Events: Analyze disturbances, corrective actions, and root causes. Close loops with procedural updates.
Document what you do. Do what you document. Consistency earns trust.
How to Display NERC Standards Skills on Your Resume
11. Substation Automation
Substation Automation uses IEDs, networking, and software to monitor and control equipment. Relay technicians configure devices, maps, and logic; maintain communications; and troubleshoot performance.
Why It's Important
Faster fault isolation, better data, fewer truck rolls, stronger resilience. Automation pays for itself in uptime and safety.
How to Improve Substation Automation Skills
Upgrade Relays: Multifunction digital relays with modern protocols reduce panels full of parts and wiring.
Leverage IEC 61850: Standard data models and GOOSE messaging streamline engineering and cut copper.
SCADA Integration: Keep point lists accurate, alarm priorities sensible, and failover tested.
Cybersecurity: Harden endpoints, manage accounts, apply patches, log events, and segment networks.
Communications Backbone: Prefer fiber for critical paths, engineer redundancy, and maintain precise time sync.
Continuous Training: New firmware, new tools, new patterns—skills need refreshers.
Plan the architecture. Prove it in the lab. Release it carefully, then monitor.
How to Display Substation Automation Skills on Your Resume
12. Digital Fault Recording
Digital Fault Recording (DFR) captures waveforms and event data during disturbances. For technicians, it’s the forensic trail that explains what really happened.
Why It's Important
Time-stamped, high-resolution data clarifies sequence of events and accelerates restoration. It also sharpens future settings and studies.
How to Improve Digital Fault Recording Skills
Stay Current: Keep DFR and relay firmware updated to ensure compatibility and new features.
Calibrate and Verify: Validate CT/PT inputs, time sync, trigger thresholds, and channel mapping.
Analyze Smarter: Use software that can align records, extract phasors, and flag trends across events.
Test Triggers: Simulate faults to verify capture windows, pre/post-fault durations, and storage limits.
Integrate: Feed DFR data into enterprise analysis and SCADA environments for faster situational awareness.
Document: Standardize naming, metadata, and storage. Make retrieval painless during investigations.
Good records tell the story. Great records prevent the sequel.
How to Display Digital Fault Recording Skills on Your Resume
