• Question: how long does it take to train to become an engineer

    Asked by padda006 to Al, Emma, Ivanka, James, Omar on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Ivanka Brown

      Ivanka Brown answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      A professional civil engineer aspires to become chartered with the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

      My route to becoming a chartered engineer is to get a MEng civil engineering degree from university and then do some on-the-job training. The degree takes 4 years and the on-the-job training depends on what you work you do and what you get out of it so this bit varies. Some people can get chartered in 4 years following university training.

      Others go through a different route that takes longer to get chartered, but gets more hands-on practical site experience. This can take 10-15 years but you start straight out of school.

      Getting chartered as a civil engineer is important in the construction industry, but it isn’t the same in all engineering fields. I hear that chartership is less important for computer engineers – although they would get chartered with a different institution – the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Maybe James can comment.

    • Photo: James Vokes

      James Vokes answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I agree with Ivanka’s answer but I’ll just add that in my field, Software Engineering, being chartered isn’t as important as the range of skills you can present and demonstrate like Computer languages, software tools you’ve used, development styles you’ve used. you can get “qualifications” to prove you know a certain tool set but it’s not necessary. For the engineers I’ve talked to (not civil) they got chartership to bump up their pay.

    • Photo: Emma Bould

      Emma Bould answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I spent 4 years at universty. I then spent 3 more years training to be a Naval Engineer Officer, which was both engineer training and also other skills like Leadership and also Naval History. Although I am an Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy, I am also expected to do lots of thing that aren’t just engineering!

      Engineers never stop learning! Like Ivanka said, if you aspire to be a Chartered Engineer (it’s another qualification where you have to show other engineers that you are competent in your specialist area), then part of that is about showing them you are continuing to learn. That’s because technology never stands still, and there are always new and improved ways of doing things and it is important to keep up with those developments if you are going to do the best you can.

    • Photo: Al Bartlett

      Al Bartlett answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Hello padda006,

      I was a modern apprentice which took four years to complete then i studied at the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering for another two years. Im sure all of the other engineers will agree that you never really stop training or learning when you’re an engineer!!

    • Photo: Omar Mustufvi

      Omar Mustufvi answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      I spent 4 years at university, and I guess I am now an engineer but to be fully accredited like Ivanka has said it is recommended to become chartered and this takes about 4 years. In this time you write reports about what you are doing at work and then at the end you have an interview.

      Also like the others have said, there isn’t just one route into engineering and generally the more qualifications you get the more others will respect you in your field.

      I have only just started so I have a long career and probably much more training ahead of me yet!

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