• Question: Hey there guys, I am looking to be an engineer in the future however, I am not entirely sure what sector would best suit me. What do you all personally think is the best area of engineering to work in?

    Asked by Julien Mary to Oliver, Lesley, Leah, Hannah, Graeme, Aleks on 6 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Lesley Colquhoun

      Lesley Colquhoun answered on 6 Mar 2019:

      Well I’m a Mechanical engineer and deal with the “mechanics” of things. This is how things work and the physics behind it. With this knowledge i am able to understand why something might not be working and physical solutions to everyday operations. We do learn software and electrical during the course to give us the tools to identify what can be achieved but do not have the full toolkit required.

      Electrical engineering is fascinating to me, but i personally just cannot seem to get my head around invisible things!

      I would advise you to look at lots of different courses and see what interests you most! the world is becoming more and more automated and i keep seeing more courses for “mechatronic” type fields which mix the mechanics and the control side into one.

      Have you a specific interest in life? engineering can be applied to everything from animals, sports, cars, planes, space!

    • Photo: Aleks Sokol

      Aleks Sokol answered on 6 Mar 2019:

      Hi Julien, great question! I would definitely agree with lesley that ask yourself the question, what am I interested in? When I was choosing (because like yourself I wasn’t exactly sure which part of engineering I wanted to do), I thought which part of science do I like the most, and I realised that the electricity part of physics was the most interesting to me. Now of course this might be different for you, so maybe you really like cars, ooor you find space super exciting, ooor you really like the ocean. Basically figure out what gets you excited and see if there is an engineering discipline that could apply to that.

      I hope that helps in some way!

    • Photo: Graeme Burt

      Graeme Burt answered on 6 Mar 2019: last edited 10 Mar 2019 5:34 pm

      They are all good. Try to get some work experience or try some of them and see what you like best. You can learn a lot of mechanical engineering by fixing cars, electronics by getting a raspberry pi or Auduino, or building radios, chemistry and nuclear is a little harder to do at home but you get work experince.
      I love electronic and electrical engineering. Imagine what the future looks like, got it, now did anything you imagine not involve electronic and electric engineering? Electronic and electrical engineering is basically engineering the future.

    • Photo: Hannah Griffin

      Hannah Griffin answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      I think the more you learn about engineering then the more types you want to try out! Choose one you think you’ll love and one you think you’ll be good at then you’ve got a better chance of job satisfaction and you’ll be able to make a difference in the world 🙂

Comments

  • Photo: Julien Mary

    Julien Mary commented on :

    Well I have managed to get a work placement in July at a company that goes by the name of BAM. It’s all to do with engineering which was why I chose to apply for it really. In fact they offered to give me an experience that involved every type of engineering that they offer which was cool. Anyways, thanks for your responses guys. I enjoyed the live chat this morning. Cya

  • Photo: Lesley

    Lesley commented on :

    Ah amazing! that sounds perfect! you’ll be able to see lots of different types and decide what you like best.

    Good Luck! you’ll ace it!

  • Photo: Graeme

    Graeme commented on :

    Thats great news. If you still don’t know after that many Universities do general engineering where you can do them all for one year then specialise in the 2nd year