• Question: Why Did You Choose The Type Of Engineering You Chose Over All The Others?

    Asked by EngineeringDevil666 to Sylwia, Steve, Phil, Matt, Hollie, Helen on 8 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Helen O'Brien

      Helen O'Brien answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      I did an Engineering degree at Cambridge University, which is general engineering for 2 years and then specialising into a certain area (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Aeronautics). This worked well for me because when I started I thought I wanted to do Mechanical Engineering, but actually after studying to 2 years, I decided to specialise more in Fluid Dynamics and Aeronautics.
      Now what I do is mostly manage electrical and electronics engineering projects – this often happens, that you don’t always end up working in exactly the area of your studies.
      I have always followed what I found most interesting. It is easier to study and work in things that interest you. But it is good to remember that you don’t always have to get stuck on one speciality. Engineering has lots of transferable skills – things that are useful to lots of different jobs.

    • Photo: Hollie Heard

      Hollie Heard answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      What I chose to study at university, (astronautical engineering or what I like to call rocket science), I did because that was my passion and where my interests where. It also involved a lot of planes that didn’t interest me as much, but taught me a lot the basic principles and skills that can be applied to all different types of engineering. What I do now, is materials science which definitely wasn’t where I thought I’d be. This was an area that we had studied as part of my degree that I found interesting and was an amazing opportunity for me to go into further study and work at the same time. It also allows me to apply my knowledge in so many different fields whether it be space, aerospace, mechanical, chemical or still having to think about environmental and renewable energy applications. There’s so many types of engineering that I didn’t really know about until I started learning and working that you may find yourself following a constantly changing path from where you started to where you end up. The important thing is what you learn along the way and being able to apply it to all different types of problems.

    • Photo: Sylwia Nikel

      Sylwia Nikel answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      This is what I simply found interesting. I loved geography and maths at school. I thought I will be bank manager because I had no idea what I can do after geography and by coincidence I discovered GIS. This is where my passion for geography came back to life. Like a child, I was discovering it again and learning more about its possibilities with new software tools.
      Once I knew this is what I want to do for my career, I decided to do a degree in it.

      I think the choice is not an easy thing to do and I believe it’s beneficial to have a chance to try few different things first. Apprenticeship and work experience give that opportunity and I would advise to consider it.

    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 20 Mar 2018:

      I think Software Engineering choose me. Many years ago when I was an electronic engineer I saw a TV documentary which was all about a new (as it was then) branch of engineer that was going to change all our lives completely – software engineering. This program made many predictions most of which have now come true. It described how microprocessors would start to appear in most of our everyday items such as cars, washing machines, TVs etc. All of this has come true. I could see at the time that there was going to be a technological revolution and I wanted very much to be part of it. If anything this program underestimated just how big the changes would be as it didn’t predict personal computers, mobile phones or the internet.

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