Any engineers around?

[TheGander]

I’d really value any information from engineers/ parents of engineering students. DS has had trouble settling on a course. It was gong to be Medicine, then he discarded the idea, then PPE , also discarded. Now he’s thinking of engineering. He got 3 A s a A level ( bio, chem, maths). I’m out of my depth as know v little about the discipline. Are there any institutions/ places he can visit to get a better understanding of engineering? I’m thinking the engineering equivalent of RIBA for architects, or the Wellcome institute for medicine. We live in London. Thanks for any ideas!

I am not an engineer (not good enough maths) but there are lots in my family. It’s a very varied discipline. So I know a mech and elec one (mechanical and electrical) who runs the electrical systems in a factory. A chemical engineer who ran an oil refinery (making crude oil into petrol, diesel, jet fuel, heavy fuel oil…). A civil engineer who also got into the oil business but who designs and repairs the pipework systems. A different civil engineer who works on roads, designing car parks, and now building bus routes and cycle routes. And have a student doing industrial engineering, which is about organising systems to allow people move most efficiently and safely (around airports, sports events etc) or manufacturing systems work most efficiently.

There is an Insitute of Engineers which might be useful to look at.

I’m one. It would be unusual to go into some types of engineering without physics, but there are lots of different flavours (eg chemical engineering). I’m a mechanical engineer so can only speak to that really, and the main chartered institute is the iMechE.

https://www.imeche.org/

https://www.ice.org.uk/

Mechanical, Civil and Aeronautical are the main disciplines you will see MEng degrees for but there are plenty of other specialisms.

To become chartered a Masters degree is needed and this is the standard 4-year degree. It is possible to graduate with BEng after 3 years.

Lack of Physics A level will limit options, but some engineering courses would be doable.

Most degrees would need Physics except Chemical Engineering. Most engineering disciplines have their own institutions e.g. Institution of Civil Engineers and an overall body which is the Engineering Council which awards professional status e.g. Chartered Engineer.

He could probably sit A level physics privately or just study it on the side, it’s not that hard if he’s already done maths. Further maths and mechanics would probably be more useful.

https://thisisengineering.org.uk/become-an-engineer/

Thank you everyone for the useful replies and resources. Have forwarded them to DS. I see also that the science museum has an Objects Room which is all about engineering. I haven’t had the guts to mention the lack of Physics A level to him. He’s heard that electronics and electrical engineering is future proof and weirdly there are courses which don’t require A level physics. He got an 8 in his GCSE so could contemplate A level if really necessary. Thanks again everyone.

Hi there are more options with physics but many unis offer places without physics if you have other sciences which he has. My ds is doing mechanical engineering with no physics (Russell group uni, no foundation year). You'd have to trawl through courses entry requirements to find them but it's about 50/50 now. He hasn't found the lack of physics much of an issue this year.

Have a look at theiet.org as the relevant institution for electrical/electronic engineering. There are some courses that don't require physics A level and some do a common first year or general engineering degree. Also foundation years if you have the wrong A levels.

@TheGander UCL Civil Engineering doesn't require physics A level: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/degrees/civil-engineering-meng

Many thanks, I hope your DS is enjoying his course @MountainofWashing . Good to know there are choices available for those without a Physics A level. Thank you for the link to electrical engineering @ConBatulations . As a public sector worker I like the idea of Civil Engineering although DS seems to have discounted it @razbrysorbet but I will show him the UCL course, thanks for posting.

Sounds like a very similar path to my DS, right down to the A’Levels choices. He's currently doing Civil at UoN and is really enjoying the course.

Sounds great. Is that Newcastle? I’m

It strikes me that your DS is uncertain about his future direction, hence the swing from Med to PPE to Eng. He might find it useful to browse the Prospects.ac.uk report on graduate destinations by degree (link below) as this shows the breakdown by Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering courses (as well as other subject areas).

MEng engineering degrees are typically 4-5 years, so he needs to be sure he will actually enjoy the content. A deep dive into the descriptions of course modules at unis accepting his grades and subjects would be a good starting point

luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do

@PerpetualOptimist that is true. Hence I am in agreement with him taking a year out , although it would have been nice to have the extra space if he’d gone to university now! Thank you for the link I will show it to him today.

if you live in London have you been to Tim Hunkins World of automation? He had a good series in the 1980s on channel 4 called the Secret world of washing machine/ sewing machines etc. bit dated now but was excellent.

how about visiting a local power station? I been to visit quite a few around the country.

does he watch Colin Furze on YouTube?

scrap heap challenge on channel 4:
it’s coming back on YouTube with Robert leweyllen and Colin Furze but it going to be all electric.

everything electric podcast with Robert leweyllen and imogen Bogle.

everything electric roadshow in farnborough next month, would be good for your son to visit.
https://uk.everythingelectric.show/south

iron bridge museum, Telford.

My dd had a swing from medicine to engineering.
Was a straight A student (English, maths, Spanish, biology and chemistry) but no physics since her 3rd year at high school; but was able to crash higher physics in her final year at school as well as computer studies (lots of coding in electrical & electronic does your son like to code?).
Was given conditional offers for all her integrated master university choices.
she picked the university she liked best rather than content, which is very much dependent on lecturers’ interests and they come and go all then time.
she worked hard got a first, won prizes and secured internships for 3 summers.
She starts her graduate engineering job down south next month.

wishing your son all the very best.

Get him to try and get some work experience/shadow, even if it for just one day.

If he is taking a year out, get a part time job: somewhere like screwfix or b&q would be ideal but anything really.

can he drive? If not then get those lessons going.

formula student carries quite a lot of status in the engineering world and my daughter was always asked about it in interviews. It’s a very good society to be involved in-team work, deadlines, answering to sponsors, sourcing, resilience, knowledge sharing and the competition at knock hill- even if you are not going into the automotive industry.

Could he do physics in his gap year?

I’m going to discuss it with him. He’ll need to get his skates on! Might not agree to
it.

Just checked in with him. He said he’d thought about it, then said “ not going to lie, I’m not going to do it , it would be a ridiculous amount of work and I can get on several engineering courses without it”.

There are a few engineers in our family. My brother and son both did a MSc in Mech Eng. Bro works in the water industry and son in the Rail industry so it’s quite a broad degree. Both had Maths and Physics A levels. My niece did Biomedical engineering which might suit? She didn’t have Biology A level which would have helped but it didn’t hold her back.

https://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/improving-practice/resources/

These resources are aimed at schools but are downloadable and give an idea of the range of options available

I’m a civil-structural engineer. May not be relevant if he’s discounted civil engineering but it’s a very broad range of careers. I have a BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering and an MSc Structural Engineering. Need the masters to become chartered although most people will do an MEng rather than the route I took.

I work in the maritime sector, but civil engineers can end up working in transport, energy, infrastructure, bridges, etc. Pay and pay rises are competitive, especially in good companies who want to keep their staff and avoid them being poached! We had a guy who was going to join our team but his current company offered him a massive pay rise to stay with them, so he did. Similarly, I just had a 6% pay rise just to keep up with competitor salaries. This is on top of the normal annual pay rises. Benefits are good too.

I love my job. I’d always recommend engineering to people who are interested. If he does go into engineering, I’d highly recommend degrees which involve work experience - or that he looks for summer placements - cause that makes a graduate candidate stand out from pure theory.

I’m 10 years into my career, no regrets, and I’m still learning every day!

My eldest is studying Electrical engineering at Imperial and it is very maths and physics based and my middle child is due to start chemical engineering at same uni as wasn’t interested in physics at Alevels and didn’t need for this course. Both have FM, maths and 2 science Alevels.