• Question: What subject was your first degree on?

    Asked by 658satm27 to Helen, Hollie, Matt, Phil, Steve, Sylwia on 9 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Hollie Heard

      Hollie Heard answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      I did an integrated Master of Engineering degree in Aerospace engineer, astronautics and space technology at Kingston University, the same as Phil. We actually studied together! It was a great course that taught me the basics of a lot of different areas on engineering before specialising in the space stuff where we learnt about areas such as astrodynamics, spacecraft design and mission planning, and different propulsion systems to name but a few! What I am currently doing my doctorate in is micro and nanomaterials and technology, so it’s always possible to shift the focus of what you study along the way whilst still using all the skills you’ve learnt along the way. Your job may also end up being in a different branch of engineering than where you first started. What are you thinking about studying if you go to university? There’s also different options for getting into engineering such as apprentiships that can offer both and the job and formal training.

    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 10 Mar 2018:

      I didn’t do a first degree as my journey is not conventional. Once I have taken my GCSEs at sixteen I left school and went to a technical college. There I did a course on radio, television and electronics. It was on this course that I really started to make progress because I love the subject and had a very practical side. But the theory was vital. I did this course for three years full time and then started work repairing televisions and radio. The company I worked for made television and after about 12 years I had moved their research and development department.

      Now my big point here is that learning should be for life so when I was in my 30s I did 3 Open University postgraduate courses (in Software Engineering) which was leading towards a postgraduate diploma. However I then got the opportunity to do a Masters degree in Software Engineering which I did.

    • Photo: Sylwia Nikel

      Sylwia Nikel answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      I didn’t do the first degree, similarly to Stephen.
      After college in banking, I went to do part-time BSc in banking as well. In the meantime, I was introduced to digitising. I didn’t know then this was called GIS. I found it so interesting that I decided to drop out after the first term. I was working in GIS for about 7 years before deciding this is what I want to do for my professional career. I tried to find a part-time BSc course in GIS but it was hard because as a contractor you are likely going to be moving around a lot.
      I found out that some of the universities allow to enroll to MSc, if you prove you have enough work experience that will cover the knowledge you would get from BSc. I enrolled to UNIGIS UK, which is an MSc distance learning course in GIS and I’m now in my last year of studies.

Comments