Engineering isnt the skill of soldering, laying bricks or fixing cars, its the art of solving problems. Its more about the state of mind, the ability to put complicated theory into practice to come up with solutions that benefit our lives and society. Fixing wires and soldering dont have anywhere near the potential great and exciting challenges that an engineering degree would offer.
What route for Electrical engineer.
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Engineering isnt the skill of soldering, laying bricks or fixing cars, its the art of solving problems. Its more about the state of mind, the ability to put complicated theory into practice to come up with solutions that benefit our lives and society. Fixing wires and soldering dont have anywhere near the potential great and exciting challenges that an engineering degree would offer.
Those types of people really do my head in, they're the types of people who's only crack when talking to them, is about a far away land etc. etc. And how they're now an expert upto PHd level on the aboriginal history of Australia, because they spent 4 weeks working in a bar in Australia, crushing coackroaches with a flip flop in their grubby hostel, and taking surf lessons.
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This is what I was trying to emphasise early on. That people with Btec, vocational training etc have different skills set whereas degree holders/graduates have been taught different skills etc but more on the design side with in the same broad field of electrical engineering.
They are infact complementary to each other. One can't operate without the assistance of the other when carrying out an industrial based project where a product involves both designing/calculations and manufacturing/soldering etc.
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Don't confuse an engineering degree with bog stand degrees, it's of the same level as a medicine or law degree, and having one from a decent univeristy and coupled with the right kind of industrial experience during your degree it will open up oppurtunities for you to work anywhere in the world and earn serious amounts of money.
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Best thing I've heard all week!
Very true. A lot of people don't think you're an engineer unless you have a degree but that doesn't mean that people who have an HND and work on multi-million pound machines/projects aren't engineering on a day to day basis.
Very much so! They're also bloody hard and time consuming!
Unlike medicine the quality of the university you attend also matters.
There's too many engineers for the high paid jobs, so you want to have a very good degree from a good institution.
If you get a degree from a really poorly thought of institution I don't think those doors will be open to you.
My fee's are being paid for me, I still get paid for the 8 hours work that I miss, I'm earning full time wages, I have loads of disposable income, I'll be moving out into my own (rented, not owned, lol, still need a little while for that) house soon.
Contrasting with; sharing a house with 5 other students, living on a diet of fish fingers and beans, having to do bar work to top up income to afford to be able to go out on the weekend, not having a car or motorbike to get around on.
I made the wrong choice me thinks
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Havnt read all of the thread, but contact local Sparky companies and ask about a weekend job being a brew boy and maybe do a little bit of hands on training?
Even volunteer for it if they dont want you?
Even volunteer for it if they dont want you?
That's all dependent on the engineering discipline and the university though, much like law.
That being said, I reckon the experience you can get whilst at university has a greater bearing to employment prospects than the university (but exceptions obviously apply). But, if you want to become an electrical engineer then university is the only sensible idea.
A friend of mine graduated from Paisly uni about 12 years ago. He worked hard to get his degree, but he could not find a job. He was eventually placed in the equivalent of a YTS scheme for graduates in a manufacturing company where he has struggled to earn the type of wage people would want to earn with a degree, he's even worked through his notice once but been kept on.
It may be the case that he doesn't interview well, but I'd be willing to bet if he'd gone to Glasgow Uni instead he'd have been more employable.
The experience does of course count - and I think by 10 years in the industry it's far more important than the degree you have. But to get the experience.. you need the best degree you can get.
Too many people giving bad advice in this thread IMO
The two main and best options are
1) find an employer willing to sponsor you through your NVQ apprenticship btec ,HNC then a part time degree admittedly this is hard in current times but a mate just finished his part time degree via this route , the company has paid for the lot and he has been earning a steady wage throughout his education. Is now working towards chartership
2) a levels (maths , physics , another) , degree , graduate job , chartership . Loads of academic learning , no wage , loads of debt .
1 is by far the best choice in my eyes but I tried and tried to find such sponsorship and in the end gave up and went the academic route. I've got 20k of debt and I still have to find a job
The two main and best options are
1) find an employer willing to sponsor you through your NVQ apprenticship btec ,HNC then a part time degree admittedly this is hard in current times but a mate just finished his part time degree via this route , the company has paid for the lot and he has been earning a steady wage throughout his education. Is now working towards chartership
2) a levels (maths , physics , another) , degree , graduate job , chartership . Loads of academic learning , no wage , loads of debt .
1 is by far the best choice in my eyes but I tried and tried to find such sponsorship and in the end gave up and went the academic route. I've got 20k of debt and I still have to find a job
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Seriously? I suggest you look into electrical and electronic engineering before trying to make remarks.
I've been doing a degree for 4years and the amount of things covered in this area of engineering is amazing.
You don't think they're gonna let some student walk out with a degree without knowing everything they need to?
My first year every student had to learn how to design, build and test a circuit using a breadboard, PCB, oscilloscopes and function generators etc.
That was the first year, engineers aren't some cowboy electricians.
But if you go the hnc and part time degree route after your Btec and NVQ you then have both sets of skills along with years of on the job experience .
And as for manufacturing/soldering etc well a lot of full time engineering degree courses now include an nvq2 or labs to cover this. Admittedly they won't have the same expierience. By the Thor year everyone from every background is pretty balanced
I was speaking about the experience you get from placements whilst at uni. Be that actual on the job experience or the contacts. But, yes, you're going to struggle with a degree from Paisley (UWS) Uni.
In that case I suggest A Levels. You'll need maths and physics, and I suggest electronics for a third option. The people I know who did that course got some good knowledge from it.
Then look for a decent university offering a course accredited by the IET and aim for becoming a chartered engineer. As for "practical experience": get summer placements in engineering firms. Every summer since I started I've worked in different firms and I've learned a huge amount of practical and theoretical stuff from it. And got paid pretty well too.
Don't worry about not getting enough practical experience, if you're interested enough in the subject, you'll get loads through project work, industral placements etc.
I'm in my fourth year of an MEng in electrical engineering and I'm currently applying for jobs. There are loads of graduate schemes out there paying pretty well, but you'll need at least a 2:2 MEng for most of them, so aim high
.That's a bit of a generalisation - it completely depends on the sector.
It's getting better now, but I know for a fact chemical engineers are in demand. When I started uni in 2005 the amount of people studying Chem Eng in the UK was much less than the industry required.
I'm not saying that any old engineer will get a job, but some sectors are crying out for engineers.
I'm doing BTEC Electrical Engineering Lvl 3 then want to do a degree either BENG or MENG not sure yet, in either Electrical or Computer Systems Engineering.
I find the BTEC much easier than A-Levels though. No exams in BTEC, I'm in for a shock at uni with exams lol.
I find the BTEC much easier than A-Levels though. No exams in BTEC, I'm in for a shock at uni with exams lol.
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A BTEC is significantly easier than Alevels, that is why!
I'd be wary about the step up from BTEC to degree level compared to A-levels.
I would personally go for the A-levels route, but it depends what exact role you want to end up doing. If you want a more core engineering/design job then I'd do A-levels, however if you think you'd prefer a more hands on role (technician type) then maybe BTEC would be better.
At the end of the day you're getting a degree either way, however I would be wary of employers possibly being sceptical about the BTEC, especially if they're used to graduates who did the A-level > degree route.
In my view, follow the path that will give you the best opportunity to go to top uni. This should give you the best employment options and means you should have the most choice when choosing a career path.
I would personally go for the A-levels route, but it depends what exact role you want to end up doing. If you want a more core engineering/design job then I'd do A-levels, however if you think you'd prefer a more hands on role (technician type) then maybe BTEC would be better.
At the end of the day you're getting a degree either way, however I would be wary of employers possibly being sceptical about the BTEC, especially if they're used to graduates who did the A-level > degree route.
In my view, follow the path that will give you the best opportunity to go to top uni. This should give you the best employment options and means you should have the most choice when choosing a career path
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