Not sure what to do, career change?

[Snookums]

So technically it is not a career change but more changing qualifications. It all seems quiet daunting suddenly looking to change career path but the younger I am to do it the better I guess.

I went to uni late and then had some troubles throughout meaning I have just finished second year Mechanical Engineering at the age of 23. I've struggled a lot with it, its not putting me in a good mental place and at this point I have no interest in the industry. I can't afford to do a degree in something else. Up until now everything has been about going into engineering so its the only career I really know how the progression works and how to get into.

I am currently looking into AATs/ACCA and ACCA seems to be the route to take, however ACCA seem to over a hell of a lot and I am trying to work out what would be best.

On top of trying to work out how to go about getting qualified, I need to choose the best way into doing so. I have had a quick look around and seems some places offer trainee jobs at certain levels and other places offer apprenticeships. The issue with this is I no longer live at home and have no option to return to living at home so apprenticeship wage would be too low to be able to live off.

Am I best to just get a full time mundane job for a year or so whilst I get some of the qualification under my belt that will allow me to slide into a job as a trainee on an actually livable wage.

Also another thing I can't seem to find is the prices of the exams and the actual layout of how many exams and when the should be taken, anyone done it all recently?

 

[dowie]

I went to uni late and then had some troubles throughout meaning I have just finished second year Mechanical Engineering at the age of 23. I've struggled a lot with it, its not putting me in a good mental place and at this point I have no interest in the industry. I can't afford to do a degree in something else. Up until now everything has been about going into engineering so its the only career I really know how the progression works and how to get into.

What are you struggling with? Do you have some issues external to the course that have caused problems/caused you to fall behind or are you not coping well with the material itself?

I'd suggest perhaps that with courses like Engineering, Physics etc.. just getting your core maths skills squared away is a good way to relieve pressure - just use what time you have left in the summer to bash out a load of problems.

This book is good:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathematical-Methods-Physics-Engineering-Comprehensive/dp/0521679710

Also check out the Schaum's outlines books. Take a look at MIT Open Courseware (Gilbert Strang's linear algebra lectures for example), check out Stanford Engineering Everywhere - in particular Stephen Boyd's lectures etc..

I am currently looking into AATs/ACCA and ACCA seems to be the route to take, however ACCA seem to over a hell of a lot and I am trying to work out what would be best.

On top of trying to work out how to go about getting qualified, I need to choose the best way into doing so. I have had a quick look around and seems some places offer trainee jobs at certain levels and other places offer apprenticeships. The issue with this is I no longer live at home and have no option to return to living at home so apprenticeship wage would be too low to be able to live off.

Are you thinking of dropping out or something? I'm not an accountant but I know that AAT is the path that people who didn't even go to uni would follow.

Ideally you should get a 2:1 or a 1st and then just get onto a grad scheme at an accountancy firm. Yes for ACCA and CIMA AFAIK you can study independently so you could get a job elsewhere and study for them independently initially.

I presume if you're not pursuing Mechanical Engineering as a career and you're not dropping out then you'd be looking to finish in a year with a BEng? It would be silly to quit completely at this point and end up with nothing... it might also be worth sticking around for a 4th year if it means you get a better chance at a better degree classification and/or there are useful modules not specific to mechanical engineering - for example can you take some stats or programming modules?

Is the accountancy route because you're not so happy with the "cognitive load" you're dealing with in engineering? If not then there are various other fields you could go into - like various roles within banking etc.. or perhaps data analyst/data science roles (perhaps start as the former and study part time to get to the latter) or just general programming roles or you could train to become an actuary if you're fairly numerate etc..etc..

The maths that you're covering will be useful in plenty of areas, any programming skills you pick up could be useful too, also things like control theory etc.. will have some overlap with say reinforcement learning, time series analysis etc.. if you go down the data scientist route. Basically if you get through the next year and get yourself a 2:1 then you're in a way better position than a lot of grads from much less useful degrees and you have a good knowledge base from which to divert into plenty of different possible high paying roles.

 

[Snookums]

What are you struggling with? Do you have some issues external to the course that have caused problems/caused you to fall behind or are you not coping well with the material itself?

I'd suggest perhaps that with courses like Engineering, Physics etc.. just getting your core maths skills squared away is a good way to relieve pressure - just use what time you have left in the summer to bash out a load of problems.

This book is good:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathematical-Methods-Physics-Engineering-Comprehensive/dp/0521679710

Also check out the Schaum's outlines books. Take a look at MIT Open Courseware (Gilbert Strang's linear algebra lectures for example), check out Stanford Engineering Everywhere - in particular Stephen Boyd's lectures etc..



Are you thinking of dropping out or something? I'm not an accountant but I know that AAT is the path that people who didn't even go to uni would follow.

Ideally you should get a 2:1 or a 1st and then just get onto a grad scheme at an accountancy firm. Yes for ACCA and CIMA AFAIK you can study independently so you could get a job elsewhere and study for them independently initially.

I presume if you're not pursuing Mechanical Engineering as a career and you're not dropping out then you'd be looking to finish in a year with a BEng? It would be silly to quit completely at this point and end up with nothing... it might also be worth sticking around for a 4th year if it means you get a better chance at a better degree classification and/or there are useful modules not specific to mechanical engineering - for example can you take some stats or programming modules?

Is the accountancy route because you're not so happy with the "cognitive load" you're dealing with in engineering? If not then there are various other fields you could go into - like various roles within banking etc.. or perhaps data analyst/data science roles (perhaps start as the former and study part time to get to the latter) or just general programming roles or you could train to become an actuary if you're fairly numerate etc..etc..

The maths that you're covering will be useful in plenty of areas, any programming skills you pick up could be useful too, also things like control theory etc.. will have some overlap with say reinforcement learning, time series analysis etc.. if you go down the data scientist route. Basically if you get through the next year and get yourself a 2:1 then you're in a way better position than a lot of grads from much less useful degrees and you have a good knowledge base from which to divert into plenty of different possible high paying roles.

Thanks for the reply Dowie.

It's a mixture of struggling with the content and some external factors have had a drastic effect on my struggles as well. I feel like have bitten off slightly more than I can chew with this.

I'm not 100% certain on whether I want to drop out or not tbh. Obviously I am speaking to the uni as well about all this.

Between my a levels, a 1st in my foundation year and what I have so far from my degree it seems I can apply for some exemption on the ACCA exams allowing me to slightly fast track.

I'll have a look over the material you've mentioned as well thanks for that. It's just got to the point where I am absolutely sick of it all and I'm struggling to keep through tbh. A career in engineering at this point holds no interest to me. The only thing i am actually enjoying is the Cad work

 

[dowie]

It's a mixture of struggling with the content and some external factors have had a drastic effect on my struggles as well. I feel like have bitten off slightly more than I can chew with this.

I'm not 100% certain on whether I want to drop out or not tbh. Obviously I am speaking to the uni as well about all this.

Can you take a year out? Like if you've successfully completed a foundation year plus 1st and 2nd year then with only one year left to get a BEng it would be a shame to quit and can certainly change the options you have available to you. If you take a year out, whether you end up working in your local Tesco or you write to some companies you're interested in an look to take on some sort of internship/sandwich year etc.. it gives you the time to do a bit of self study etc.. and work on any academic areas you're struggling with before going back and finishing off the third year.

Why would you have exemptions from ACCA exams as a result of an Engineering degree out of interest? That just doesn't sound right unless they've got some basic maths module or something? The exemptions are usually for people who've studied certain accountancy degrees.

Do you actually want to be an accountant or are you just looking at it as a qualification you could get as a non-graduate that would give you a reasonably well paid job - this is something you'll potentially be doing for most of the rest of your life, if you found out you didn't like Mechanical Engineering after a couple of years I'd also think carefully about putting all your eggs in one basket re: accountancy. Get the degree completed to at least BEng so you have some more flexibility. There are various people with accounting qualifications who no longer work in accountancy (or indeed who never worked in accountancy specifically), they tend to have degrees and other useful skills/experience though.

 

[Snookums]

Can you take a year out? Like if you've successfully completed a foundation year plus 1st and 2nd year then with only one year left to get a BEng it would be a shame to quit and can certainly change the options you have available to you. If you take a year out, whether you end up working in your local Tesco or you write to some companies you're interested in an look to take on some sort of internship/sandwich year etc.. it gives you the time to do a bit of self study etc.. and work on any academic areas you're struggling with before going back and finishing off the third year.

Why would you have exemptions from ACCA exams as a result of an Engineering degree out of interest? That just doesn't sound right unless they've got some basic maths module or something? The exemptions are usually for people who've studied certain accountancy degrees.

Do you actually want to be an accountant or are you just looking at it as a qualification you could get as a non-graduate that would give you a reasonably well paid job - this is something you'll potentially be doing for most of the rest of your life, if you found out you didn't like Mechanical Engineering after a couple of years I'd also think carefully about putting all your eggs in one basket re: accountancy. Get the degree completed to at least BEng so you have some more flexibility. There are various people with accounting qualifications who no longer work in accountancy (or indeed who never worked in accountancy specifically), they tend to have degrees and other useful skills/experience though.

I think either way I will take some time out or possibly look at part time for the last year and span 120 credits across 2 years to give me more breathing room. AFAIK this is possible in general but I know it is for sure possible for some people with EC which I may fit that criteria anyway to be honest.

I think i would apply for some exemption due to a level business as well as I have done several management across years 1 and 2 which may tick off some criteria to exempt from some exams. I am not certain though so would need to check either way. those who study accountancy agrees just start their acca at a higher level I believe as to start ACCA only requires GCSES and A levels, no specific ones.

Accountancy is always something I have thought about to be honest as I know its not uncommon for mech engineers to change to accountancy and I know several people whom have graduated and gone the accountancy path instead of engineering.

 

[Macky]

As others have said, definitely worth sticking your degree out for at least a BEng. Lots of employers will look favourably upon an engineering degree. It shows the ability to analyse and solve problems.

There aren't many engineering jobs in which you'll be deriving fluid mechanics or thermodynamic equations or even ever see them again. You'll just want to have an appreciation for the underlying engineering science, which your degree will give you.

Plenty of job types that an engineering based degree could lead to, though: design engineer, manufacturing engineer, project manager, planner, procurement, commissioning engineer, etc to name a few.

 

[regulus]

Stick it out mate. Take a year off if you have to but that's a great degree to get into construction services as an example. Really easy stuff once you get the hang of it and enormously well compensated down the line. All the services guys I work with come from that background and they never look stressed