• Question: How long did it take to become an engineer?

    Asked by Anna to Ainz, Hannah, Norbert, Simon, Siu on 21 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by bw, ....
    • Photo: Hannah Pearlman

      Hannah Pearlman answered on 21 Jun 2015:

      For me I did 4 years at university before getting a job as an engineer, I also then did 4 years worth of work before I applied to become a chartered engineer – this is basically when an Engineering Institution review your work and interview you to decide if you are able to work as an independent reliable engineer.

      However, it depends what route you take, if you become an apprentice for example you will be working as an engineer at the same time as doing your studies.

    • Photo: Simon Lay

      Simon Lay answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      Trick one this. I spent 4 years as an apprentice but wouldn’t of classed myself as an engineer at the end of the 4 years. I became a technician and then carried on studying. I guess it wasn’t until i had a degree and proffesional registration with the Institute of Electrical Engineers that i considere myslef to be an engineer. This took another 5 years!

    • Photo: Norbert Gogiel

      Norbert Gogiel answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      Hi!

      Usually it would be three years at the university to get a Bachelor’s degree. I am on a year placement at the moment and I will go onto my fourth year in September.

      However, there are apprentice placements with big companies that take about 4 years to develop you as an engineer, but you need just GCSEs for it and A-Level is not a requirement like for the university. So, there is plenty of choices as you can see :).

    • Photo: Craig Ainslie

      Craig Ainslie answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      I completed my engineering apprenticeship in 3 years and then it took me another 2 to gain my foundation degree so about 5 in terms of qualifications. Aircraft engineering is also about experience and even after 13 years – I’m still learning now!

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