Poor Guy

Im currently on this course http://www.don.ac.uk/courses/techpdfs/tec189a.pdf
for engineering.

with this qualification what sort of jobs can i get?
would it be worth me taking this course and will it lead to good pay?

they peoples at the college say they are desperate for Mech Engineers and the class is tiny. is there a big demand for the mech engineers?


cheers for any advice

ScoobyDriverWannabe

I did a similar sort of qualification, intermediate GNVQ followed by an AVCE (vocational A level) engineering which replaced the national diploma you are doing before they brought it back. I also did various City & Guilds and other NVQ's.

I only found out after 3 years of doing it that I was over qualified for a aprentaship as companies like to train their own apprentices for the job will be doing, but on the other side I had no working engineering experience so I was under qualified to get a job, they prefer to have time served peeps.

As for them being desperate for mech engineers we were told the opposite wile I was studying. They said it was a dying industry. That may not be the case around the area where you live but it certainly seems to be up here with all the ship yard closures etc.

Brendan Hughes

Next time I advise you to ask these kinds of questions BEFORE you start the course.

Sorry, but you did ask...

Poor Guy

uh-oh.

logiclee

Very difficult to say really, we are short of craftsmen, technicians and engineers but we will only set on people who have done a timed served apprenticeship. You may know how to work out the tensile strength and shear capacity of a bolt but unless you have the ability and experience to strip and repair the machinery you won't be much use to most firms.
By all means do the course but you will need to get the most practicle experience under your belt as well.
Have you asked what modern apprenticeships are available in your area?

Cheers
Lee

Jap2Scrap

Try typing in 'engineer' in the search bar at fish4jobs or similar. You'll get 1000's of hits. By the time you've filtered out the Buildings engineers, RF engineers, Software engineers, HVAC engineers and Electrical engineers you'll be left with about 3 jobs nationwide on a shedload of money but wanting years of experience.

logiclee

Also remember the word "Engineer" is totaly over used in todays work place. Work in a chipshop and you are a potatoe engineer nowdays.

To be a fully qualified Chartered Engineer takes around six to eight years of college, university and praticle experience.

We would class someone with a BTech Diploma as a Fitter/Electrician.

Cheers
Lee

andrewdelvard

LoL! But then again maybe not
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=366348

ScoobyDriverWannabe

When i finished my AVCE engineering i tried looking for a job for ages with no luck, so i decided to go to uni and get engineering degree.
Was told that this was the best way to go, where the money is in engineering. As you do a years works placement as part of your course, which gives you some working experience and apparently 9 times out of 10 the company you do the placement with end up keeping you on after you have graduated.

Unfortunately i hated uni and quite half way through the 1st year, worst thing i ever did.

But i loved the 2 years at college doing , was a great experience (espechially the all expenses paid month i spent touring italy going to various car manufacturers factorys).

If you really want to go into engineering id advise you to try and get a aprentaship, if you cant find one how about uni, but make sure its what you want too do 1st and dont make same mistake i did.

LMRnav2

Poor guy, how old are you? if you've just left school you can do the first year (or even the 2nd year) of the OND AND still apply for apprenticeships.

Most apprenticeships are open to 16-21 year olds...the one I did was and there were people who had already done a mech OND and people like me straight from school.

Are there many places in the Doncaster area that do apprenticeships? Just keep an eye on the local papers between march and august next year, or maybe the college already has links with industry.

Depending on the company, Apprenticeships are by far the best way to go fo engineering. I got to HNC level and I am an "engineer" (I'm currently project engineering 3 x £300k M&E contracts for a large water company). Other people I did my apprenticeship with are still shop floor workers or draughtsman.

ScoobyDriverWannabe

Oh yer i forgpt to mention. When i was at college a number of companies got in contact with the college asking for recomemdations of people for aprentaships. So stick in with college maybe that will happen too you

Poor Guy

thanks. im 18.
Got 11GCSEs 2 AS/GCE

LMRnav2

get looking for an apprenticeship next year then! Good luck!

Greeny01

Well I went to college to do and NC (National Certificate) then went on to do an HND (higher national diploma) in mechanical engineering. I picked up a job as a triainee piping designer for an oil sevice, maintainance & engineering comapny while I was still at college and finished my HND part time through the company (i.e they paid!). There are plenty of job opportunities around for the sort of thing you're studying in the oil industry. Your best bet (well I did anyway) is to find an apprenticeship or traineeship through a company (start applying now) and they will no doubt put you through college and pay you at the same time. Being a trainee is a good way to gain experience and the qualifications you need to move on to bigger things or up the ladder in the company if they decide to keep you on. I'm doing alright for myself now as I'm only 23 own my own flat and drive a 2 year old scooby which proves you dont have to go to uni (I hated studying) to get a decent job.

Iain

pslewis

Electronic Engineers earn about £20k MORE than Mechies!

Degree is essential these days, as they are now very, very common (easier to get than they were 30 years ago too!)

Pete

Gutmann pug

Sorry guys but a degree is not a necessity. An ability to show that you have a reasonable qualification, therefore proving your ability to learn is necessary, but most important by a country mile is to have COMMON SENSE.
I have employed people with degrees in the past and their heads are often in the clouds. They spend ages engineering weird and wonderfull concepts, using space technology when what was actually required was a piece of bent sheetmetal.

So dont be down heartened poor guy. Find a good reputable company, get a foot in the door, and prove your worth and that you have a bit of savey. An apprenticeship is a good way of doing this but low payed and hard to come by these days. It will take a while to work your way up to earning good money, but its worth it.
Remember robots and such like may be the way forward but someone has to design, prototype and manufacture these too.

Please excuse my bad English but i dont have a degree but I do have a good job in Engineering. I have completed a 5 year apprenticeship though, although I finished college with nothing more than an ONC, many many years ago

Oh and lastly and most controversial of all ...... dont worry too much about qualifications when you get older, just blag it ''yes I have a degree, yes I have an ONC or whatever you want'' ........ they wont ask to see a copy of it anyway
I didnt say that though