• Question: do you think your qualifications help with your job

    Asked by qwerty1 to Al, Emma, Ivanka, James, Omar on 14 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by tonyyyg99.
    • Photo: Emma Bould

      Emma Bould answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Yes – they do because engineering qualifications generally teach you the principles of what you need to know. It’s only when you get into a job (unless you are going do specialist research and become a guru in a university) that you learn the the detail about your job or area of expertise.

      Before I joined the Navy, I worked in a Brewery…… that was great, but I didn’t know much about how a production line worked until I had worked there for a while. What was useful was understanding how a control system worked when I was looking at how to make a machine work better. I learnt about control systems principles at university, but only the specifics when we were trying to figure out what was wrong with the conveyor system.

      I have lots of other examples, maybe some of the other engineers have some too??

    • Photo: Omar Mustufvi

      Omar Mustufvi answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Yes definitely, all the basic principles I learned while at university still apply at work. And while at university I learnt so much more than just the geeky stuff in terms of life skills- since being at work I’ve realised that being an engineer is a lot more than just numbers- its so important to have excellent communication skills as well.

    • Photo: Al Bartlett

      Al Bartlett answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Hello qwerty1,

      Yes – definitely. My qualifications helped me to get the job i have today but you should remember that with every qualification there is a lot of studying that has gone in to getting that qualification. Qualifications help you to be recognised as competent at your job but also help to let you stand out from the other engineers that may not be as qualified!

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