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  1. #1
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    Default Any Engineers out there or anyone studying Engineering?

    I'm considering a comeback to University to study Engineering. Anyone out there who is in the field or currently studying? What are the prospects like for engineers and what is the course itself like in general?

    Not sure whether I would specialise in Civil or Mechanical yet but I've heard u don't really need to specify until 2nd/3rd year anyway..

    Any insight would be great, cheers
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  2. #2
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    First year is common. Second year you split up, unless it is Computer Systems/Electrical Engineering which share the second year too (at least it did at UQ).

    There seem to be jobs out there for graduate engineers from what I have seen from my job hunting.

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    Not sure if it is still like this, but it was a course that had a very heavy workload compared to some others.





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    I would imagine it would be a heavy workload Pete. The specialist Maths subjects would require a lot of study I'd say. But overall I think the course looks really interesting especially in the 3rd/4th years
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  5. #5
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    Definitely a heavy workload compared to most when I graduated back on '01. I remember doing more hours as a part timer (was working full time) then most of my mates doing finance, etc who were going full time!

    Which direction you head can depend on a lot of things:

    1. What really interests you i.e. mechanics - playing with cars, machines, etc. ... mechanical services - airconditioning / piping layouts, etc. .... structures - building things... civil - digging holes.... project management / engineering of any of above. etc.

    2. Where you want to work... building services / structural prob more city orientated offices, civil prob more chance of moving around the country side. This is failrly generally speaking of course. And mining... if you want to work in the boonies!

    3. If you want chicks in your class... from my experience the civil subjects always had a much bigger % of females compared to the mechanical subjects (maybe one or two if your lucky!)

    4. How much money you want to make. Manufacturing - generally lowest paid. Civil / structural prob better, mining prob the big money maker at the moment, but possibly the most volatile??

    One thing to consider though is that engineering is often a "love job" and the country is run by accountants not engineers! But it is rewarding and usually pretty fun!

    This is all just my opinion though coming from working in the industry for the past 20 years and of course there are always exceptions to all of the above.

    Good luck and keep us posted what yo decide.

    Cheers,
    Waz

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    thanks for the in depth response Waz, the thing that worries me is going from not studying for the past 5 years into one of the most heavily study based programs at Uni...

    Mechanical things have always interested me but I like some aspects of civil including the environmental impacts and sustainability. Although its tempting I dont want to base my decision on point 3...lol

    So you graduated as a Civil engineer?
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  7. #7
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    No probs, for the info. Happy to help.

    Mechanical for me. Worked for a while as a draftsman whilst studying. Mainly mechanical, but a bit of civil structural, mining, piping etc.

    Then for some reason moved into manufacturing and worked drafting for a toolmaker until I finished my degree.

    Moved back into Project Engineering for mining based project company, but got laid off and fell into a product design role. Am still working in product design but prob more product development / project management than design per se... we have industrial designers for that!

    Early on in my career I prob did like the structural side of things better, but I like where I am at the moment and developing new products is pretty fun and rewarding.

    Studying Engineering although the work load is tough, if you are committed and put in the effort it is bearable. I think I found that every body tended to help each other out and it was more about resourcing and finding the information, which apart from say real research work the real world is all about. The internet is a pretty handy thing!

    Other tip, the first years are often the toughest (maths, physics, chemistry, etc)... it is often sad they do that on purpose to weed at the serious from the pretenders, but the later years are better and subjects more interesteing and real world. I remember going to an introductory lecture and they said look at the guys on your left and right, when you graduate they won't be there. So it is no walk in the park.

    But if you dodecide to give it a go, stick out those first couple of years and you will be right. I will say that I was not the brightest guy there and I (like many) struggled early and it was often about just getting that pass mark. Pass is a pass afterall. But in the end when the subjects got more interesting I found myself getting better marks and ended up graduating with honours

    And yeah as I say I worked and studied part time and I did for 11 years! First Associate Diploma at tafe then Degree. So it can't be all that bad!

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    Flavvs, engineering is my background and have been doing it for about 20 years.
    Your prospects these days are much greater than when i first started, however FNQ or North West WA are you best options.

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    Graduated as an Elec Eng back in 2006.

    Most of the stuff has been covered, except it should be noted that 90% of the time these days you will need to score a graduate job when you finish Uni.

    To be honest an engi straight from Uni knows SWA when it comes to 'real world' applications. This is not the grads fault just the fact that the courses are so heavily theory based. Eg: Standards were not part of my curriculum, but it is a huge part of an engi role.

    Because new grads don't have the experience required straight from Uni, the only real way to get this is via a grad position.

    The highest paid engineers are Mining (need to work where the mines are though), Process / Chem, Elec and Mech probably the same level.

    Not sure about other disciplines but Elec Eng requires 3 months industry experience before you can graduate.

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    I graduated as a mech eng (with computer science as a double degree) 6 years ago, spent 3 years working at Ford as a project manager and a draftsman, now 3 years at a small agriculture company where i am the only engineer and basically do drafting, project management, parts ordering, etc, etc.

    The course is very maths heavy, especially early on. First year was common mechanical and civil, and to graduate needed 3 months industry work.

    A lot of engineers end up in other roles, apparently we are valued for our problem solving skills?

    So much of it depends, engineering covers a very wide range of jobs, from fully in the office, to very hands on. When I went to university my 2 room mates were also engineers. One was manufacturing and still works managing a production line, one was mechanical and is now essentially a sales and service manager who does sweet FA engineering. I have done very little real engineering, more general drafting and project management.

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    As Toolish says, some are fully in the office as a "paper engineer". That's what I have done a lot of. I've handled a lot of documentation; written or maintained test plans/procedures, requirements docs, analysis, drawings, safety/security plans and all of the management that goes along with it.

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    Thanks for all the responses guys I'm a bit worried about the demands for heavy maths in 1st year as I did maths 1 in year 12 but not maths 2 (advanced maths).

    I'll take on board all the advice and make a decision shortly. Also whats drafting like? There's a Tafe course designed for drafting to assist engineers.. Lots of cad and the like I imagine, is there any money in it?

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    If you like maths you should be fine, provided you put the time in.

    Draftsmen don't make the greatest coin. Where I work they put our designs into a nice CAD drawing. Very little thought required, besides being skilled at driving the AutoCAD software.

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    The drafty in my recent team was a bit of a dope. Good in CAD, but that's about it. Despite years of converting our design into drawings, they could not think for themselves. If the rest of us had time to fully learn CAD, we could have had the role covered.

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    Are we talking sub 50G a year for a drafty or more? I think I should just stick to straight engineering and if I can get past the first semester then second I'll have a good chance at passing the lot...
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    Engineers almost have better parties than med students.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flavzz View Post
    Are we talking sub 50G a year for a drafty or more? I think I should just stick to straight engineering and if I can get past the first semester then second I'll have a good chance at passing the lot...
    Im sure the guys at my site are on more than 50K, but I dont really know.

    If your willing to put the time in and you have half a clue with maths you should pass no worries.
    Last edited by Minor_Threat; 5th June 2011 at 09:50 PM.

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    Good to know Yoss, the quality of Uni Pub crawls goes heavily into overall consideration
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    Thanks MT, I am keen to put in the time so I will have to sit a STAT test and apply for it before the 14th..
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    Drafties like anything can earn big dollars for the right person in the right role. i.e. 6 figures +

    I have worked with some very smart drafties that were much smarter than the Engineers they were working for... but have come across alot of drop kicks also. The big dollars in drafting really comes about through contracting though. Good when there is lots of work.

    But yeah drafting used to be a real skill. Now with CAD really anyone with a little computer knowledge should be able to do it.

    Not a bad gig if looking for a bit of work and experience whist your studying

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    Engineers only have better parties if they manage to team up with the nurses. Otherwise, no chicks. Well, that was when I was at uni, anyway. I'm a degree qualified electrical engineer who never worked a day as a real engineer - not much in the way of job prospects when I graduated (over ten years ago, mind you) and fell into IT. No huge regrets, but I would have liked to have used all that stuff I learned at uni (and have largely forgotten now) for something.

    If you liked Calculus and/or Physics in high school you won't mind engineering, but it is a bit of a grind in the first year or two. Practical aptitude is importent as the course goes on though, the theory is just that. I was told by one of our better lecturers that real-world design means doing the sums, then multiplying the result by two and then selecting the only sized part that was available in the first place anyway.

    It's also true that many engineering grads end up in management and sales roles. A few of my uni mates are paper engies. Some of these pay more, but as AndyP will tell you, your uni mates won't respect you anymore.
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    Everything has been covered except to get any of the good grad positions u have to apply early have a good gpa and extras.

    I hope u can drink

    When I finished I did not pick up a grad pos so stayed at uni and started a masters I ended up getting a job out of my thesis project... I never did finish the thesis

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    yeah drafting part time whilst studying would be ideal. Is there a heap of work out there for them?

    Thanks Larry, I did like Physics in yr 11 but didnt do it in yr12. Hopefully that wouldnt hurt me too much. It would be a shame to spend all that time completing the degree and then becoming a paper shuffling manager
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    Grad jobs are definitely the way to get your foot in these days. The problem is they are so popular and competitive. We are talking '000s of applicants for 5 jobs type of popularity.

    I was lucky and scored one before the 'grad' job boom is what it is now. Having said that I put out plenty of applications, did plenty of interviews and assessments. I ended up with Orica, which was about 6 rounds of interviews, psych tests, assessments centres etc.

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    Good thread, my boy wants to be an engineer, so this is good stuff.
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