• Question: in this line of work which is probably the best road to go down?

    Asked by baton246 to Amit, Emily, Joanne, Martin, Paige on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Martin Wallace

      Martin Wallace answered on 12 Mar 2012:


      It depends on if you want to spend a long time studying. I think there are 2 routes, a university degree, and an apprenticeship.
      A degree can take 3-4 years and will give you a good qualification at the end and will be an amazing experience where you will meet lots of new people and make friends for life. It also requires a lot of hard work and determination. The downside is it will cost a lot of money to pay for accommodation and tuition fees.
      An apprenticeship you can start straight from school and the company will teach you everything you need to know about the job. They will pay you a wage and pay for your studies. I was always envious of the apprentices in our company as they were able to get the hand-on experience of the job while they were studying, whereas at university it is a lot more knowledge based.

      The best route for one person is not necessarily the best for another. If you are prepared to put a lot of hard work into studies and can afford it then university might be the way forward; but if you are better with your hands than you are academically then an apprenticeship might be worth considering. There’s nothing really stopping you ending up in the same job at the end of it if you work hard.

    • Photo: Emily Bullen

      Emily Bullen answered on 12 Mar 2012:


      I’m not 100% sure what you mean.

      If you mean what do you need to study to become an engineer, then in my field of work you do need to get a degree. You’ll need some science A levels (inc maths), and to apply to the uni of your choice.

      If you mean once you’ve got a degree what should you do… then there’s no right answer! it’s all up to what interests you.

    • Photo: Joanne Davies

      Joanne Davies answered on 13 Mar 2012:


      In this line of work, the best road to go down is the one that excites you the most. If you enjoy what you do, every day is a good day.

      You could go to university and then find a job in engineering; or
      You could get a job and do some studies or on the job training.

      It really is up to you on how you get there.

      Here’s something to think about baton246:

      Before you choose your road, think about all the different destinations and pick the one you like the best. It’s the destination that matters and not always the road.

      Best of luck to you and if you have any more questions, I’ll be pleased to help. 🙂

    • Photo: Amit Pujari

      Amit Pujari answered on 14 Mar 2012:


      I believe engineering is one of the most exciting and promising careers you can choose from.
      Also you can earn decent salary!

      Engineering or science as a career choice, I would recommend it to anybody. But again, it is entirely up to you. What you like? What you want to be? Imagine the world full of only engineers. No doctors (who will cure us?), no pilot or train drivers (who will take us from one place to another), no teachers (who will teach young kids like you to become all these different people)………

      We need everybody and everybodys interest could be different. Follow what you like and work hard for what you would like to be and you can achieve great things.
      But if you want to be an engineer, you need to study well and hard. Ask your teachers, parents etc…Engineering has many branches, see what interests you the most….civil, mechanical, electrical, biomedical, chemical, computer

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 17 Mar 2012:


      Baton246:

      You can do almost anything with engineering… the sky is the limit! Whatever you can think of doing, there is probably an engineer who works on it or at least works in a team that addresses it.

      You can’t go wrong with computer science or computer engineering… in today’s world, computer scientists are needed on almost every engineering or science project you can think of, because technology is so important to design! Environmental and Energy engineering are also going to be important as we enter an age of significant climate change…

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