Any Mechanical Engineers on here

puppypants

I disagree that 13 is too young to decide your future. My son, from the age of 9 wanted to be a physicist. He has now just completed his PhD. x

FBaby

puppypants wrote: »

I disagree that 13 is too young to decide your future. My son, from the age of 9 wanted to be a physicist. He has now just completed his PhD. x

I agree with that. My DD decided mid year 7 that she wanted to go to medical school. I laughted then because she seemed much too girlie for such a career. However, she has become more and more determined and now mid year 9, she is incredibly focus on it and I am starting to take her decision more seriously. She has already inquired about doing a placement at our local hospital (and is frustrated that she has to be 16), she is planning on doing work experience in a nursing home, and to my surprise, is starting to really enjoy watching medical programmes (not casualty!). She is choosing her GCSEs around this aim.

Of course she could still change her mind (which would be absolutely fine), but I am starting to believe that it could indeed very much become her future career.

Mankysteve

Maths maths and more maths should be the key if he wants to do design work rather than say repair work.

Design engineering is all about mathematics if he's math skills are not strong he'll struggle.

I know this from my experience tries to do and engineering degree and failed misbery because my maths skills where not a strong enough.

onlyroz

I think it's a bit early to be saying precisely what career he wants to follow at age 13. However, if he's got an interest in science and maths then by all means encourage him. A degree in engineering will certainly open doors for him, as will a degree in maths or physics - but there's no rush to make a decision now.

caitlyn22

Mankysteve wrote: »

Maths maths and more maths should be the key if he wants to do design work rather than say repair work.

Definitely agree with this. We see lots of young people who decide 'too late' that they want to do engineering, and unless they've really stuck at maths, it can be a disaster. We also get a lot of second year drop-outs in engineering and it's broadly because the student struggles with maths. The rule is maths and science keep all kinds of doors open!

There's http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/ if you want to do some comparisons, or the Times Higher rank universities according to all manner of criteria, including academic reputation.

Agree what's been said about apprenticeships being a really valuable route in and I know lots of people who've then been sponsored to complete a degree, but in my experience the apprenticeship route rarely presents the same career opportunities - the chance to work abroad and the chance to move between engineering sectors are far greater for graduates. And while there are exceptions to every rule, the stats say the difference between graduate and non-graduate salary over a lifetime can be up to £252,000. Universities regularly hear that companies would like graduates to be more world-ready (book-smart but not able to weld...or even answer an office telephone :rotfl:) so most uni courses now offer industry placements but make sure any your son might apply for does, any course now should have every bell and whistle going to make it good value for your son.

Contact your local colleges/universities and find out what summer schools/STEM events they run, most will have some form of STEM activity happening that is designed to give young people a flavour of further study and lots will involve engineering companies so he'll be able to chat to the people themselves! National Science and Engineering Week is also coming up so check out what might be happening in your area.

theoretica

Just remembered these: http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/crest

pleasedelete

Where do you live? there are university technical colleges opening all over the country- many have an engineering specialism. You can start in y10 or y12.

http://www.utcolleges.org

Torndao01

Thank you for all the replies. A couple of people have asked where we are, we live in Lincolnshire. We have just recently returned from living in the US and I think school here in the UK and how much he is enjoying learning has stimulated his interest in a future.

I know some people will think we are probably pushing him, but not at all. I'm still at the stage that I'm happy he finishes his homework and are completely shocked by how interested he has become on researching the subject. Actually, I'm getting a bit fed up of him talking about it (I don't tell him:-)

The way I am looking at the situation is, I will support and encourage him as much as I can. I also think that the subjects that he will have take such as Maths and Sciences will still be good A levels to take even if he changes his mine.

I wish I could bottle his enthusiasm and get it out again, when or I should say if, he gets to that stage of 'can't be bothered'.

For now I am just trying to channel his enthusiasm, into finished homework and not messing around at school; by taking him seriously and helping him research possibilities for the future.

Thank you again for all the replies, you have given me a number of areas to start to look at.

HHarry

Don't think the apprenticeships and degrees have to be mutually exclusive.

I did a four year apprenticeship with Thames Water, who also paid, and gave me a day a week off, for me to do my degree part time.
Overall they paid for 8 years of education (2x HNC's and my degree). Can't fault their scheme, and would suggest looking at local utility companies to see what they offer.

Jon

rpc

Clive_Woody wrote: »

I am not an engineer (although I did play rugby for the engineering dept in Cardiff as they had the best Christmas parties and were a great bunch for socialising with), but I would be cautious about deciding not to do a degree.

A lot of industries if you want to progress to the higher levels a degree is essential and in many cases a higher degree also comes into the equation.

But that comes down to the person, what style of learning suits them and what sort of career they have. For some, the idea of not being practical and hands on is just boring - they don't want to sit at a computer most days. I actually prefer modelling to lab work these days so I'm happy to leave the practical work to others.

We will put our best apprentices through a BEng. Our graduate requirement (and the CEng requirement) is MEng. So the two routes of entry do lead to different career paths.

I did an MEng and later on an EngD (followed by gaining my CEng). I work more on the research side, so looking at future products and technologies. It really is a job for a graduate and the skills I picked up in my doctorate are invaluable. That said, my soldering skills are nothing like they were and I don't have the experience laying out complex PCBs so if I need something like that done it would be someone who has likely come through the apprentice route because they are better at it than I am. Take either one of us out of the equation and we wouldn't be able to do the work.

If we had nobody coming in at the apprentice level our company would grind to a halt. If we had nobody coming in at the graduate level, our company would grind to a halt. Both are needed, neither is better but the route to seniority needs a degree.

There are exceptions to every rule - some apprentices do reach very high levels and plenty of grads don't progress all that far.

Apprenticeships are less daunting to some and university learning isn't for everyone. These days, you might also consider the impact of tuition fees if the career path you want doesn't look for a degree at the start.