career in civil engineering and no driving license?

[shabadada]

dd has asked me to post here to ask
for your advice. She's got a first class Masters (MEng) from a top Uni, but despite taking her driving test three times, (nearly passed
first two times, then 3 majors in last test) has failed each time. She's worried that she'll be disadvantaged as a geotechnical engineer (what she does now) if she doesn't have a driving license. For those of you in the industry, is it possible to do this career without a driving license? She's very intelligent but also has slow processing skills and is worried that she's just not got the confidence to pass the practical test.

Keep at the driving. You must have already spent hundreds on lessons and tests. There is no point giving up now your DD has got this far.

Dd finally passed 4th time and that's not great, but not particularly unusual. Now she has her license, the problem has evaporated until she turns 70!

yeah, so much
money! She's thinking of trying automatic now too.

I passed at my fifth attempt! I think I was so convinced I would fail again I just relaxed and stopped being nervous.

Take an automatic only test. DS failed 3 times on a manual and passed first time on an automatic.

PS DW passed on the 7th attempt on a manual but doesn't like to be reminded of the fact.

Trying automatic is a good idea.

Just keep going.

I am sure there are plenty of jobs where you could do geo engineering that do not require you to drive. From what i see when I am out and about these days the amount of work done on a lot of sites by actual people is minimal !

And always remember. It is one hell of a lot harder to get a good geotechnical engineer than it is to get someone who drives.

Also consider going to a specialist driving instructor to help. Some people just have a mental block or need to have the teaching done in a different way in order to pass. It seems like she is intelligent, so it probably means her brain doesn't work in a normal way as regards things like driving. A specialist instructor may understand that and be able to find a way of teaching her that works for her. For example there are some driving schools that specialise in teaching autistic people.

I am having thoughts about automatic for DS who is dyslexic with slow processing speeds. He had started to learn to drive but was making slow progress. It’s now several years since he stopped learning but not driving is impacting his career options. He lives in a city with excellent public transport so hasn’t felt the need to learn again until now.

thanks @GasPanic and not to drip feed but she is autistic!

I think she will limit herself tbh. Lots of industry is purposely in remote locations, so she will find it tricky to get there and visibility is important, particularly early career. (Both for promotion opportunities and to be able to learn)

But if she is happy only working for firms within London for example, she could get away with it

I used to work as a geotechnical engineer and driving was a prerequisite of the job. This was a few years back but all the company vehicles were manual (large vans for equipment) for no option for automatic licenses.

There are plenty of office based design/consultancy roles in the industry that don't require travelling to sites frequently. Even when you have a visit there are often public transport alternatives or you can lift share with colleagues. Most large consultancies have city centre offices in London, Birmingham, Leeds etc. She would be better to carve out a bit of a niche maybe focusing on analysis or modelling (more desk based) than to give up on the career completely.

Don't give up on learning to drive but honestly, engineering needs you!

Agree that maybe trying a few lessons in an automatic may help with commuting to remote locations if needed.

Is this the sort of career where she could work on oil rigs/ships, so no driving needed 'at work'?

If she's autistic then a reasonable adjustment could be made due to her disability, paired with another driver or expenses for taxi etc. worth looking at Access to Work schemes

I failed three times at 18 @shabadada - I then passed 10 years later with no faults at all!
My field wasn't geotechnical, but I was travelling to construction sites in my graduate job; granted I was in London which perhaps made it easier, but I went out to sites in the Home Counties by train. I don’t think she’d be at a massive disadvantage?

@Singleandproud thank you,
didn't know about that scheme.
Sent her the details.

Specialist instructor will have experience in teaching people who think differently and will be able to apply those methods.

Problem is she now probably feels like she is in a downward spiral and is making less progress. Specialist instructors should be able to stop this and help her regain her confidence. It sounds like she is very close so should not be too hard a task.

It may cost more per lesson. But it will cost less overall because she will actually have a better chance of passing so should take fewer lessons to do so.

Get the automatic first and have some experience at that. If she needs to get manual for work purposes she can do that further down the line when she has more experience.

Edit : And it is important to remember that if she really was bad and had no chance of passing then the tester would stop the test and return to the centre !

So she is clearly close to getting the result she needs ...

thank you. Yes, she's on a bit of a downward spiral. She needs a confidence boost and also a change of instructor, I think.

Automatic is a good call and change instructor potentially. I failed twice stopped for a while then found another instructor who I gelled with, a further year of lessons and I passed on manual