Any Engineers here? (Not Plumbers/Mechanics/Fat people in overalls)
- Thread starter Ricochet J
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Are you in the oil industry?
Soldato
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Several of my collegues will take this home if they do around 50 hours per week. Contracting is very lucrative at the moment in some areas of engineering.
Oil/gas industry skews comparitive pay, there is no product as such to refine and sell on as cheap as possible to undercut whilst meeting requirements like there is in other engineering roles.
After 2 years on our graduate scheme in the Aero in the April pay reviews hopefully Ill be on the same as what my brother started at BP on.
Associate
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Engineers can be well paid, it just depends what field you work in. I have worked in automotive for the past 8 years and I started on £14K/yr as permanent staff and now I can command £35/hr (about £70K/yr) as a contractor. My sister works in the oil industry and she is on £70/hr (about £140K/yr) as a contract process engineer.
My advice: forget about permanent staff jobs, they are for people who like to feel "secure".
My personal theory is that you have to position yourself in a revenue stream of something that is intrinsically valuable e.g. oil and people will pay you lots to get it.
So... I'm retraining in control systems with an MSc at Coventry uni with a view to moving into the energy industry.
And no, people who wear overalls are not engineers. It takes years of studying to understand science and the complexities of designing. I'm not saying you can't take the overalls off and step up to the plate (as I did) but there is a common misconception, in the UK particularly, that an engineer is somebody who gets their hands dirty. This is not the case in most of Europe where the title engineer is a term of high social standing, such as a doctor.
My advice: forget about permanent staff jobs, they are for people who like to feel "secure".
My personal theory is that you have to position yourself in a revenue stream of something that is intrinsically valuable e.g. oil and people will pay you lots to get it.
So... I'm retraining in control systems with an MSc at Coventry uni with a view to moving into the energy industry.
And no, people who wear overalls are not engineers. It takes years of studying to understand science and the complexities of designing. I'm not saying you can't take the overalls off and step up to the plate (as I did) but there is a common misconception, in the UK particularly, that an engineer is somebody who gets their hands dirty. This is not the case in most of Europe where the title engineer is a term of high social standing, such as a doctor.
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I understand your point!
I was referring to people who mend cars, or fix pipes and claim to be engineers.. Last time in OcUK (a thread search should find it!) a guy who said he can do MOTs at his garage claimed he was a Mechanical Engineer! Stuff like that irritates me as it devalues real engineers!As for your questions I could answer 5 confidently! I'm also looking to go into the defence sector or even the Energy sector once I've finished my degree
pay wise my job isnt much to brag about, but im a water jet engineer and its very rewarding . i get handed a technical drawing of the part in question and the material spec (last night was titanium 25mm and carbon fibre) i then have to draw it up with cad software network it over to the machine terminal ,set up the lead ins and lead outs , tool paths, speeds ect ect ect and then cut the part , best of all its only 3 nights a week
Well the only thing i would recommend is that you get work experience by the bucketload, and especially work placements near the end of your degree (penultimate summer). It will stand you in good stead when applying for graduate jobs.
I got an MEng from Nottingham Uni in Mechanical Design, Materials, and Manufcature. A lot less mathsy than mech eng, and taught me a lot more other than just theory and how to machine metals. Im starting work on the underground as a graduate mechanical engineer with a salary over 25k, which is ok for London, in february. My other 3 close coursemates all got jobs before I did within a few months of finishing uni last summer. 2 managed to swing jobs from the 25 graduates recruited by DESG (MOD) and another works for jaguar up in birmingham.
I think that shows what Notts uni and our degree can do
No oil rigs around dunstable, that's for sure.
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Soldato
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So your actually a water jet operator or technician with a bit of CAD modelling thrown in.
The engineer will be the dude who designed the component your making TBH. And the machines your using.
The engineer will be the dude who designed the component your making TBH. And the machines your using.
Soldato
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Isn't the legal requirement for the title of "Engineer" that you need to be chartered?
Not in the UK, Engineer isn't a protected title like Doctor so anyone can call themselves an engineer.
Soldato
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Yeah, I just looked it up. It is protected in several countries though, most notably most of continental europe. It ought to be protected, dammit!
Slightly out of date, but my Dad studied Electronic Engineering at Brunel. He's worked for Thales UK for 25 years next year - he's been there through all the name changes, from Marconi to Thomson Marconi etc. He works in the 'Underwater Technology' part - I don't know a massive amount about it because he works closely with the MoD.
This may be true, but youre also forgetting other things that staff employees get, like private health care, pension, annual leave, sick pay, flextime, car schemes, etc.
I work in the oil and gas industry; contractors, particulary specialist process engineers can earn £100 an hour or more. However, they come in to do a job, they are left to get on with it, and once they have done it, then can be asked to leave by the end of the week. You can earn a lot of money contracting but it can be a cruel world.
Staff jobs have career development support, which is important when you are young and wanting to gain experience, paid courses for many things such as computer programs, team building, assertiveness etc, plus all the above bonuses I mentioned above. Plus, if you play your cards right you can stand to earn a fair amount of money. Some of the staff guys here are very good at their job and valuable to our company, therefore the company pays them a contractors salary just to keep them as staff employees.
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Ford were paying £22K for graduates when I was at Marconi 1996-1998. Was £16.9K at Marconi in 1996.
This was my downfall with engineering. As it goes I had just as much on PD but I think my lecturers were better.
Marconi still exists, blatantly. It's just taken on all manner of different names like BAE Systems, GEC, I think one became Qinetiq etc. As it goes I did a bit of underwater tech while I was there
maybe your right, hey i can take it
but tbh a lot of the components in question are mathmaticaly impossible to create and have to be redone quallification wise i have an Hnc in engineering (from huddersfield like someone else on this thread ) maybe im not an engineer ,dont think i will lose much sleep over it
Soldato
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Marconi is now BAE systems essentially so 23k ish.
What are Ford paying graduates in the UK now then to do a comparison.
I'm a CAD monkey but also a trainee signalling design engineer with the railways.
It's one of the least known areas of engineering unless your in the industry and there is quite a shortage of people in this field.
The overall aim of the job is to make sure the railways can operate in an efficient and safe manner and there is a hell of a lot of factors that go into making a light on a signal go green or yellow(Proceed aspect) or switching points(changing the trains intended route) for example.
It's a mix of mechanical and electrical engineering that is used to ensure everything that is done is fail safe. As you can imagine i work with some right train spotters!
It's one of the least known areas of engineering unless your in the industry and there is quite a shortage of people in this field.
The overall aim of the job is to make sure the railways can operate in an efficient and safe manner and there is a hell of a lot of factors that go into making a light on a signal go green or yellow(Proceed aspect) or switching points(changing the trains intended route) for example.
It's a mix of mechanical and electrical engineering that is used to ensure everything that is done is fail safe. As you can imagine i work with some right train spotters!
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The various comments about the overalls are misguided. No matter what level of engineer you are, the chances are you'll probably need to stick on a pair of overalls at some stage in your working life. As an electrical engineer I regularly wear flameproof overalls - when you're firing a spike through a 33kV cable to prove it's not live you really need them!