• Question: How many types if engineers are there?

    Asked by anon-73912 on 23 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Claire Brockett

      Claire Brockett answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      Oh goodness – so many! I guess we can start at the more general levels – so you could do mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical engineering – and then we could get more specific – automotive, aerospace, medical, fluids, robotics, AI… and then we could get more specific still.

      So tricky to put a number on!

    • Photo: Diana Mathew

      Diana Mathew answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      Quite a lot depending on specialisation. Typically, the main branches are Electrical, Civil, Mechanical and Chemical. Then there are newer fields derived from/related to these branches such as Structural Engineering (from Civil), Electronics (from Electrical), Telecommunications (from Electronics), Robotics (from Mechanical and Electronics), Environmental Engineering (from Chemical),etc.

    • Photo: Douglas Wragg

      Douglas Wragg answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      Hundreds of different types.
      Engineering covers such a wide range of different things.

    • Photo: Katie Sparks

      Katie Sparks answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      Engineering broadly comes under a few headings:
      mechanical – things that move or are dependent on how a material behaves
      electrical (and power)
      civil – this is structures like buildings and bridges, as well as the ground
      chemical (and possible materials)

      But within that you could work on all sorts of things as an engineer.
      I used to work on spacecraft – so you could say that I was a spacecraft engineer. Within that, I was a “thermal analyst”, which would come under “mechanical”. I worked with people who made sure we had power were we needed it (electrical engineers) and the people who worked out fuel would be classed as chemical engineers.

    • Photo: Alistair McConnell

      Alistair McConnell answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      I had this question in one of the live chats and think I ran out of space in the chatbox.
      As it has been said there are so many different types, mechanical, electrical, chemical, bio, software, robotics, aerospace, automotive, medical and it keeps going.

    • Photo: Louise France

      Louise France answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      Soooo many! I can’t keep up with how many there are and I teach engineering!

    • Photo: Reshma Vora

      Reshma Vora answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      So many, and i would say the number is rising as we learn we need different types of engineers and specialist for different things

    • Photo: Elizabeth Kapasa

      Elizabeth Kapasa answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      MANY! And new roles of engineering are being invented as technology grows and evolves!

Comments

  • Photo: Joy

    Joy commented on :

    Lots and lots of engineers – Im an engineer and I work in the NHS helping them with designing clinical flows, layouts and processes to improve services and care. There are lots of different types of healthcare engineers – some look after equipment like ventilators and blood flow monitors, others do management things like I do, and others look after all the buildings and services like electricity, water and oxygen supply and programme apps and computer systems. Some even help deliver care – for specialised cancer treatments and radiotherapy. Engineering is very broad and offers lots of fun and ways to make the world better and help make people better too.