Graduate Job Guide: Engineering

The engineering industry holds a host of prospects for graduates, in fields ranging from electronics to mechanical engineering, civil engineering and many other specialties. In fact, an engineer may find themselves anywhere from a design office to a lab, or on site in a remote location, depending on the field they choose. Large engineering consultancies like Atkins, petrochemical companies like Shell Oil, and car manufacturers like Vauxhall and others are all potential employers in this field.

Industry Overview:

Engineering, as a broad field, is a fascinating and exciting career choice. Nowhere else will you have so much opportunity to shape the world than as an engineer, whether it is as a civil engineer, designing and overseeing roads and dams in remote parts of the world, or a computer engineer, designing the latest and greatest information technology systems.

This is a field that touches every part of our lives. From the moment we get up in the morning, engineering is everywhere. The fridge you open to get your morning milk out of was designed by a refrigeration engineer. The car you drive to work was designed by a mechanical engineer, and the bridge you drive over by a structural engineer.

At its heart, engineering is driven by technology and progress, and in turn, is what drives both of these, making it an exciting and fast paced industry to be involved in. If it’s your dream to have a job that allows you to impact on the world, and the way people live, then engineering is certainly a great option to consider.

Engineering can often include many other facets of business, and can lead to a much broader involvement in the business world, for instance, in production and project management, bringing your designs and ideas to reality, or even managing the team that puts your plans into motion. Another common role of the engineer is in marketing their ideas and projects.

With so many secondary roles, engineering is certainly an exciting, interesting and multi faceted career, allowing a very broad scope of opportunity to graduates with drive and ambition.

There is also a good scope for starting a business, either in consulting, or your own engineering firm, depending on the field of interest.

Requirements:

To succeed in the engineering field, whatever specialization you choose, you will need a high level of academic skill, coupled with strong analytical abilities, and in most cases, a good grasp and a love of subjects like mathematics and science.

That’s not it though. In order to become a great engineer, you will need good interpersonal skills, a high level of computer literacy, as most engineering fields these days rely heavily on computers and software. You’ll also need to be meticulous and a little bit of a perfectionist, and be able to work as a part of a team, and under pressure.

Of course, even if you have the whole package, you’ll also need a degree in engineering, or in mathematics, science or another technical field. You may choose to either complete a 4 year masters degree, either MEng, MTech, MSc which will allow you to register as a chartered engineer, or a 3 year bachelors degree, either BEng, BTech or BSc, combined with a years in service training, in order to achieve incorporated engineer status.

Either way, you will need to achieve good results in whatever subjects you do, in order to have the pick of the jobs available, so it will be 4 years of intensive, hard work!

Positions:

Globally, engineers are in short supply, and are sought after. Large corporations, including major companies in the oil and gas industries, motor vehicle manufacturers, telecoms and utilities and government departments, to name but a few, hire engineers, and as a qualified engineer, you will have your pick of career opportunities anywhere in the world!

You could become a design engineer, focusing on dreaming up new products, or infrastructure, to bring to the market, or become a technician or consultant in a large firm of engineers or consultants. Even marketing is a possibility, for example, if you decide to work for a property developer or similar, but it will all depend on your specialization.

Because of the flexibility of choice within the industry, there is scope to choose your specialty according to the kind of career you’d like to have, whether it is in the field, getting your hands dirty, or in a high tech lab, designing products and processes that will alter the world as we know it.

Not only are there jobs available with many large companies, with excellent advancement prospects, but engineers also often receive further training by the companies that hire them.

Considering that a graduate engineer can start with a salary of between £20 000 and £30 000, it’s definitely a well paying profession to enter, but unlike some careers, advancement is based largely on experience, and can be somewhat hierarchical, so it may take some time, although with so many positions available, top performers could certainly make very lucrative lateral moves.

Career Prospects:

The engineering profession has very few unemployment problems, and it seems that there are just not enough graduates at any time to fill the enormous need around the world.

Because of this, graduates who distinguish themselves are particularly sought after, and as such, you are likely to have your pick of great job opportunities in a variety of companies.

Many engineers in fact, end up serving on the boards of large multinationals, and if you’re willing to relocate to another part of the world, or are looking for a career that combines travel with great earning potential, this is probably it.