To become the same kind of engineer as you, what should I study

April Redford answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I’m a Civil Engineer and I studied Civil Engineering Design and Management at the University of Dundee for 5 years. In school the subjects which helped me get into university were Maths, English, Physics, Graphic Communication and Technological Studies.

Sophie Louth answered on 3 Jun 2020:

There are lots of routes to becoming a medical engineer. I studied general engineering and then focused on medical engineering in my last two years, however you can study a medical engineering degree from the start or do an apprenticeship. Or do something else completely and then decide to become an engineer later in life.

Conor Tickner answered on 3 Jun 2020: last edited 3 Jun 2020 3:33 pm

All sorts. I’m an acoustician, or acoustic engineer. While there are some obvious subjects like maths and physics, a lot of people get into it through music or music technology. Others get into it through geography and environmental science, through architecture or buildings services careers, through biology (e.g. ears and human hearing) and psychology (studying sleep disturbance or noise annoyance) leading to audiology, zoology or ecology through studying animal acoustics, while some can simply have good technical writing skills from largely unrelated disciplines.
It’s a subject that is quite easy to get into if you’re interested in it, because there aren’t any firm entry requirements. You need a good brain and ability to pick things up as you go, a willingness to learn and get stuck in, and some prior useful skills are nice to have but not essential.

Jeni Spragg answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I am a chemical engineer (also called a process engineer), and I studied Chemical Engineering at university.
Chemical engineers take reactions and processes that scientists invent on a small scale (such as discovering a new vaccines) and scale it up so that it can be produced at a massive scale, in an affordable and safe way.
I started my career by going to university straight after school, but I’ve worked with people who started out as apprentices or technicians on industrial plants, and then their employers supported them to get an engineering qualification later on.

Alexander Soans answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I’m an automotive engineer, doing an apprenticeship. I studied Maths, Biology, Physics and Economics at A Level. I’d say having maths and one science subject is enough to get you on the vast majority of engineering degrees or apprenticeships, but pick the subjects that interest you most as it’s much easier to study and revise something you’re interested in!

anon answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I studied Mechanical Engineering as it is still a broad and generic field if you haven’t decided which route to pursue at the start of your course. Once I graduated a went into civil/structural engineering.

Florence Van Vaerenbergh answered on 3 Jun 2020:

For water engineering, there are quite a few possible routes. In my team, most of my colleagues come either from a more environmentally focused background (having studied geography, environmental sciences, etc.) or from a civil engineering background. I personally studied Civil and Environmental Engineering, which bridges both and actually led me to discover this section of engineering.
Civil engineering is very varied though, and it is quite often that your career takes you to places you would not expect. You definitely are never stuck in your first choice!

Asha Panchal answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I’m a civil engineer and took maths, physics, product design and economics for A-levels. I then went onto complete a degree in Civil Engineering. Although that is an obvious route, it is worth mentioning that engineers are problem solvers. So you might not need to have a formal engineering background to be a great engineer. To break it down in simple terms, you just need a good understanding of forces and how they are transferred – then you can come up with a solution to support those forces… simple!

Martin McKie answered on 4 Jun 2020:

As the other respondents have mentioned maths, science, design and technology.

I would say, it is more important to look at the engineering as a whole rather than those individual topics. Yes you need to be able to do them but what interests and motivates you?

If you are interested and motivated by how things work, you like to take things apart, put them back together. You like or you have liked playing with construction toys or have an interest in coding, then you will enjoy a role in engineering.

Martin McGuinness answered on 4 Jun 2020:

I’m a Civil Engineer and studied a Five year Civil Engineering Degree at Queens University Belfast. The five years included a year in industry which in my opinion is extremely beneficial and will aid in both your career and studies during your time at University. For my A-Levels i studied Maths, Physics, Geography and Technology & Design. I choose these subjects primarily as they would give me a good knowledge base for starting a Civil Engineering Degree.

Gillian Steele answered on 4 Jun 2020: last edited 4 Jun 2020 8:48 am

Good question. I am a Geotechnical Engineer which is a type of Civil Engineer who looks at earth materials like soil and rock. In school I think maths, geography and physics are a good start but I also think art is useful to be able to be creative and sketch out new ideas. At University I studied Civil Engineering but there are people in my team who studied geology too.

Conrad Manning answered on 4 Jun 2020:

I’m pretty specialised so easy to follow a route:
– Maths and Physics at school (A-Lvls are what I did)
– Ship science (or similar) at Southampton University, Solent University, Newcastle Uni and Strathclyde Uni

What are you looking to become?

Rohin Titmarsh answered on 4 Jun 2020:

For research you can study that topic and go into academics or a research organisation that works in that particular field. For me I work in research around battery manufacture. I studied Mechanical Engineering for my first degree and then did a Masters degree in Automotive Systems Engineering. In research some people also go on to do a doctorate or PhD.

Katie Sparks answered on 4 Jun 2020:

I worked on spacecraft and there are all sorts of ways you could get into that. As a starting point, you’ll want good Physics (and maybe Chemistry) knowledge and Maths skills, worth putting in the effort. It’s also good to practice the skills from English and History, as you’ll need to read reports to find out what is useful and then you’ll also have to write your own reports to tell other people what you’ve done.

There are all sorts of ways to get into the spacecraft industry:
• Apprenticeships
o You’d likely end up in manufacturing and project management that way, rather than design, but it’s not exclusive
• University – all sorts of degrees
o Physics (with or without astrophysics), would be worth aiming for an industrial placement or internship to support things, STFC/ Airbus/ Lockheed Martin/ ESA/ NASA/ Thales Alenia Space are the biggies that way
o Aerospace Engineering
o Electrical Engineering
o Chemical/ power – propulsion can be chemical, electrical is becoming more the norm, but solar and nuclear play a part
o Software Engineering – such a huge aspect of spacecraft as everything is automated (and low power)
o Mechanical Engineering – it’s still a structure!

Often people may also do a postgrad Masters, Cranfield do a fantastic one, many come from PhD backgrounds in instrument design. If you’re wanting to work on the continent, employment is very different, you’re unlikely to get a permanent post within 5 years of uni unless you have a PhD, ESA is a great place to look to see what sort of things are out there.

Marie-Louise Synnott answered on 11 Jun 2020:

I studied Aerospace Eng – although with my role you could study aerospace, mechanical, manufacturing engineering. Most engineering degrees have transferable skills so you may find your career doesn’t end up in the field you started out to do!

I studied maths, physics and chemistry at school, with a history AS level

Question: To become the same kind of engineer as you, what should I study

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