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Original poster

Dd 12 wants to be an engineer.. What should we be encouraging?

60 replies

Explodingatomickittens · 08/02/2023 13:03

Dd wants to be an engineer. She loves drawing, designing & creating. Since she was very small she loved trying to discover how things work. She loves maths & anything involving STEM..
Is engineering in the broad sense a good career & how do we help her? I know she's young & may change her mind a million times but we want to encourage her the best we can...

OP posts:
Yarrawonga · 08/02/2023 13:03

Maths, maths and more maths.

TeenDivided · 08/02/2023 13:04

Maths
Tinkering. Encourage fixing of broken things, mechanical & electronic.

OhmygodDont · 08/02/2023 13:04

Agree with above maths and math. We have also selected a stem secondary but I know not everywhere has these. Fingers crossed we get in my dd is 11.

Twizbe · 08/02/2023 13:06

Encourage the science and maths.

Help her to see how engineering has impacted the world around her.

Look at the various types of engineering and see if she has any preferences.

There's loads of good engineering and STEM resources. My dad and brother are both engineers and my son has a strong interest that way too. My brother finds him all these great books and toys related. For Xmas he got him a usborn lift the flap book about engineering and an engineering activity book. The activity book is a bit advanced for him at the moment (he's 6) but in a couple of years it will be perfect.

PuttingDownRoots · 08/02/2023 13:06

Maths. Problem solving. Computing.

Original poster
Explodingatomickittens · 08/02/2023 13:07

Great thank you so much, she's always tinkering with things & saves up her pocket money for the more advanced lego architect sets...

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 08/02/2023 13:08

Maths, Lego/k'nex, electronics kits, writing code ...
I've got a 24 yo electronics design engineer DD, I'll post some more when I'm not in a carSmile

Picturesonthewall123 · 08/02/2023 13:09

Problem solving skills are needed so anything with critical thinking. Sciences are also normally needed. If you look up entry requirements for uni courses that will give you a good steer.

Communication is key so verbal reasoning and debating can be useful.

There are specific STEM workshops and days across the country, visiting STEM museums will also help broaden their knowledge and thinking skills.

omnishambles · 08/02/2023 13:09

Maths, being at a girls school would help as well (possibility for A-levels?) but failing that getting used to environments where she may be the only girl.

OddBoots · 08/02/2023 13:11

It would be worth looking at www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/

CoffeeBeansGalore · 08/02/2023 13:11

At school take the highest exams possible in Maths, physics, graph comm.

OhmygodDont · 08/02/2023 13:12

I agree with the tinkering. Ours takes apart broken work machines/no longer needed for fun just to see what connects where and why and then builds it back together again or strips it for parts.

Warspite · 08/02/2023 13:14

See if a local engineering company will allow her a visit to speak to their engineers? There are all sorts of engineers, mechanical, chemical, motor engineers, and so on. Get an intro into as many as you can. If you don’t ask, you won’t get.
I have a female acquaintance (who menstruates, LoL) who is an engineer and was a key player when the bridge between England & Wales was being built. (Prince of Wales bridge?) She’s worked on some amazing high profile projects & earns really good money.
Gooc luck to your daughter. I hope she does well.

FenghuangHoyan · 08/02/2023 13:15

Maths, physics, computing. Possibly chemistry if interested in chemical engineering. Maybe art if they want to be a structural engineer. The term "engineer" covers a hell of a lot. I trained as a telecommunications engineer.

A lot of IT is being outsourced these days, so be aware of that. Personally, if I was looking at the market now, I would be looking to be a chemical engineer or bio chemist as those roles are only going to grow in importance as we meet nastier bugs and run out of resources.

SofiaSoFar · 08/02/2023 13:17

Engineering is a great direction for her to go - there are few better, in my opinion, especially in terms of not closing too many doors on the way through her education.

Graduates in engineering go into things like banking as well as the more traditional careers, which in itself is a vast area given that engineers work in everything from software, to food production, to medical appliances, to building skyscrapers, at any point in the process, from concept to design to actually bending metal yourself.

As an example, a friend of mine from school studied mechanical engineering at university and became a patent attorney specialising in medical products.

Another did electronic architecture but went straight into financial software.

Maths and sciences in terms of studying, for sure.

watchfulwishes · 08/02/2023 13:20

Just encourage her to do what she is already doing. Talk about the need for maths and tell her she can do it.

Take her to great exhibitions and to visit amazing engineering projects. Falkirk wheel, jodrell bank, bridges, buildings, canals, boats are all inspiring. Are you near London? There is so much in London of course - but the whole country has great examples.

Don't make it too work-focused at this young age, focus on inspiration.

MagpiePi · 08/02/2023 13:23

Art won't be much use to a structural engineer! Concentrate on maths, and you're never too old for Lego.

'Engineering' covers such a broad range of careers and its not like you can easily flit between say chemical engineering and mechanical engineering .

If she likes building with lego then look at Civil engineering - this covers loads from mining, dams, roads, railways, geotechnics, and structural engineering (which is buildings and bridges) etc.

I went on a 2 day course at a local university run by WISE (Women into Science and Engineering) for girls who were doing maths and physics A levels. I don't know if this kind of thing still exists but it convinced me to choose civil engineering rather than doing a fine art degree.

BarbaraofSeville · 08/02/2023 13:25

WISE might have some good resources, at the very least you can see the sorts of employers she might end up working with.

My work involves meeting lots of engineers and women engineers aren't the rare species they once were.

It's an incredibly varied discipline and working environments can be absolutely anything you could imagine and then some from nano technology in clean rooms to traditional heavy industry where you're designing, building and maintaining a machine so large it would barely fit in the average football stadium.

Something else that might be worth looking into is employers where she can start as an apprentice at 18 rather than the traditional higher education route. This offers employment combined with further education so she'll be able to learn on the job and get a degree at the same time so she won't have any student loans.

MrsJamin · 08/02/2023 13:27

As someone who probably should have done engineering or computer science at uni, I would say the biggest threat to your daughter not going ahead with engineering is the fact that a lot of her female peers will be more into the more person-centred subjects and that she might find herself in a minority of girls who are doing stem. So if she can find herself in a group of friends who are interested in stem, this will help her stick with it. This might mean a girls school, it might mean additional stem clubs that might be with other schools, just anything to make her feel like she can be with people she gets on with and do a subject she loves. I avoided the stem subjects because it was just the geeky boys who did it, such a stupid reason not to go for that career choice but when you're a teen it's a big deal.

eggandonion · 08/02/2023 13:27

Maths, physics and a design/construction subject. Architecture and architectural technology might interest her if she likes the design side.

KangarooKenny · 08/02/2023 13:28

Be careful that she doesn’t go too far one way, then change her mind in the future. A friend of mine spent lots of money on private education for her DD who said she wanted to be a Dr in primary and secondary school. She started her A levels and then changed her mind.

JustKeepSlimming · 08/02/2023 13:33

I'd also steer her towards trying out computer coding a bit (in addition to buying her tons of Lego) - she might find she enjoys it and it would give her another good career option. Maybe buy her a raspberry Pi computer - I believe they can be used to control motorised Lego, but I'm not sure how - I'm sure there are tutorials online though.

Other than that, loads of maths, design, building etc!

Original poster
Explodingatomickittens · 08/02/2023 13:38

My hubby (dd's dad!!) is actually a maintenence engineer but qualified & worked as an electrician for many years. He went back to uni to do his course & now works in phama as a maintenence engineer.. I think he'll be more helpful when she's older😅

OP posts:
Original poster
Explodingatomickittens · 08/02/2023 13:39

KangarooKenny · 08/02/2023 13:28

Be careful that she doesn’t go too far one way, then change her mind in the future. A friend of mine spent lots of money on private education for her DD who said she wanted to be a Dr in primary and secondary school. She started her A levels and then changed her mind.

@KangarooKenny what did she end up doing?

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