Any way to get into renewable engineering without a BEng/MEng?

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
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Seeing as my job is going no where and i have no interest in following what i did for my degree for a while now ive been thinking i want to do something else.

ive always been interested in renewable power, specifically wind since geography in high school, but stupidly i did molecular biology at uni.

Im turning 26 in September with nothing to show for it, and to add to that this years uni course deadlines are closed i think. :( this means £9k a year if i had to go to uni.. again

ive been looking at various MScs that i can do ontop of my degree and have been accepted onto one [energy engineering and environmental management] but fear that this is one of those pointless degrees without the undergrad engineering. [how can i learn what i need in a year]

Is there any apprenticeship options i could take? if it takes 4 years on low pay i dont mind, would be preferable to uni.

reason i ask here is i dont know anyone who can help/advise me on this.


I really REALLY wish i had figured this out 6 years ago [or even 3!].. i think much longer at my current job will crush all my aspirations of sucess in life, not even an exaggeration, im worried i am heading that way


This isnt just a whimsical idea i really want to do this. My A levels are all A-C in biology, chemistry, physics and maths
 
You have a degree to show for it, however, Moses has a good point. How about telling the renewables what you have, and then ask them how to do what they do.

What sort of job do you actually want to do though? Renewables is such a broad term!
 
Yep go and ask the companies. Doubly ask about the MSc you have been accepted on, see if they know it and if so what they feel about it. An MSc isn't just an MSc... If it's more vocational then it is designed to get you a job as well as teach you the skills, obviously if it's a poor/unknown masters then it's not going to do that.

Oh and ignore HR if you can, try and find a senior technical guy instead.
 
You're really going to struggle to get a technical engineering role without an engineering degree of any sort. Project engineering may be open to you, especially once you have an MSc, but certainly ask around.
 
I've tried a few companies problem with this msc is its brand new and seems too broad, plus side is that there is a placement option, but on the open day there were far more maybes than confirmations about anything

Basically I want to do practical engineering, say be able to work on off shore wind turbine construction, build, plan and understand how to get a small scale turbine up and running even work on a bio reactor.. Slightly relevant to my degree

Would meng even be worth considering at my age?
 
I know this isn't what you want to hear but... run...

New course with no reputation for someone with no preexisting engineering qualifications is a massive risk with employability... It could well be a year and lots of money for little to no return. The possibility of a placement isn't necessarily something that would draw me to it.

What uni is it BTW? Also did you do a similar thread to this a few months ago?
 
Yes I did, and yeah that is exactly what I'm afraid of, my feeling is that unless I can get sponsorship..ie its less of a risk, then I think I need something else

Its uea, so not a bad uni, I hate this lost feeling, its worse than coming it of uni, least then you have something behind you, I want to do something that I have no qualifications for, feel I'm at a give up and work where I am forever unhappy or take a massive risk

This isn't a band wagon thought..I've found though doing the job I'm doing I've made the wrong choices in life so fart and suffering for it now prospects wise
 
If I can't get tuition fee help its definitely a no go, because the money for my current job as well as the job itself its useless, the masters I could afford, but not a 3 year + course without help of some kind

If I could get into the forces I would , flat feet :/ I did look years ago

Would any company want to fund someone in my position? I don't mind applying myself doing the leg work, but is it realistically likely when there are plenty of weighed people coming through?

These are all genuine questions btw
 
I did not know that, so that basically stops me getting into it the obvious way.

This its looking more unlikely than I even thought, probably going to be looking at apprenticeships in something a lot more basic than I hoped, I'm still going to ring round, I'm so frustrated at picking my uni course now, I know you can't undo the past, but I resent it more each day
 
Its worth a look it doesn't help I have gf tho, but I would definitely do it abroad if it was worth it

Yeah I'll get onto student finance about 2012 funding I know its a hell a lot of money but if its not until you earn over 21k thats ok as I'm earning less than that now!

This isn't easy

The msc I was looking at here is

Energy engineering with environmental management at uea its in school of maths
 
Wind power? Really?

I thought it was general knowledge that wind power is an exercise in madness. It's financially viable as long as it's government subsidised, but once that's gone the chances of it standing on it's own merit seem negligible.

The energy cost of making the turbines can be recovered within 2 or 3 years if they're placed in particularly reliable areas, but making it break even financially takes, well, I can't remember the number. Something over a decade.
 
Yes thats what I want to do, I've woken up today with a sick feeling that I'm suck on the track I am now as my current job is so specialised and distant from my degree I can't see how I'm going to get out.

I'm also going to look at apprenticeships, but then I have to stay in the local area :/ id much rather move away from here
 
If you are interested in renewables, why not something in algal or other biological based resources?

My friend does algal research and a lot of money is going into finding how to use algae and other microrganisms to break down wastes to produce energy and useful by products. There is a crossover into engineering in that as its an emerging field, the systems used are constantly being developed, but if you're interested in renewables and have a background in molecular biology, I would have thought it would be a good fit?
 
That's a pretty good idea, do you know what they did to get there? I work on algal studies atm but in a completely non interesting way

Uea university is now powered by a bioreactor and is self sufficient

If you have any info in that would be grateful
 
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