After a bit of serious career advice - Engineering

[EgliHonda]

Oh dude, great question.
Also a professional engineer (Electrical, the real nerdy ones) but got into that after completing a sparky apprenticeship. Not a bad way to do it, as long as you realise you will be a few years older than most of your class, and will have no income for this period...

Perhaps a bit like you when at school, had no idea what I wanted to do, other than knowing I didn't want to do accounting (ended up marrying an accountant funnily enough). So picked the apprenticeship route and have lifelong skills/qualifications and the ability to interact with people at all levels because of it. I struggled at uni initially, as I did the whole thing from intermediate year on (without having done 7th form). You probably should look at the NZCE option during your apprenticeship, and then only have to do 2 yrs to gain BE, if that is still possible?

As mentioned, it is a hard degree, and you often feel unappreciated when accountants etc get paid a lot more for contributing much less, but you can always hold your head high knowing you have nailed one of the more difficult degree choices...

So, prob easier doing degree now, while your head still in the study phase, but there are advantages to having trade/life skills beforehand, plus when you graduate it can make you stand out from all the others when job hunting...

Now I am in a position where the day is filled with design, computer work, project management, and home is for spanner work on the bikes/projects (when the baby allows). Not a bad mix, get to knock bits of skin off the knuckles and work in the warm, bit of travel there too.

Good luck whatever you choose...

[chef]

Whats that?

you got to be kidding?

[BASS-TREBLE]

you got to be kidding?

I am.
I like chefs, they make yummy food

[Blackbird]

Whatever field you get into, make sure there is an ongoign career pathway that is recession proof,

Very good advice. Whatever you do, you shouldn't set your goals too tightly either as you never know what doors will open. The real key is to give 100% at whatever you're doing at the time and then doors will open for you.

In my case, I mentioned that I started as a fitting/turning apprentice and I was lucky enough to get sponsored by my company to study for a professional career in engineering. When we emigrated to NZ in '75, I worked in engineering in the pulp and paper industry and became maintenance manager for a pulp and paper mill. I got a fairly good reputation whilst in that job and the company subsequently moved me to senior positions implementing quality systems, productivity improvement and for the last 6 years before retirement as group technical marketing manager.

The point I'm making is that whatever you study, it's only the START of your working life. If you put your back into it, you'll be surprised what doors open; many of which you'll have never even thought about and some which don't even exist yet.

Best of luck, whatever path you choose.

[Pussy]

I worked in engineering in the pulp and paper industry and became maintenance manager for a pulp and paper mill. I got a fairly good reputation whilst in that job

And your reputation will improve, Blackbird, if you sign off my 6hrs CSW, 6hrs Heat and an extra meal ticket!.....

[Blackbird]

And your reputation will improve, Blackbird, if you sign off my 6hrs CSW, 6hrs Heat and an extra meal ticket!.....

You've been waiting nigh on 30 years for that, another decade won't hurt. I will buy you a beer a bit quicker than that though

[Flip]

The thing with Mechnical engineers they end up doing sooo many interesting things.

I started work in a marine engineering company, did a NZCE then did a BE and finally did a trade level qual as a gas network fitter, I was sitting on the board at the time and wanted to check what was being taught so I did the block courses.

I really did my "real engineering" as a pressure vessel and heat plant design engineer in the boiler industry. I did a 20 year stint in the petrochemical industry as the engineer for two oil and gas companies. Now I am the operations manager in a small fuel company. I do a little flow modeling design consulting work from time to time to keep my hand in.

When people ask what I do I still say I am an engineer even if it has been many years since I did any real engineering. I guess for me I was always going to be an engineer, its a hobby and a job.

By all means go the Trade-NZCE way you will learn heaps and earn while you study. You can then hopefully with sponsorship do a BE. You will find that with just the trade or NZCE a lot of higher level engineering positions will not be easily available to you. If you are good at maths and can survive for the next 4 years jump straight into the BE the sooner you get it the sooner you can earn the big bucks.

[Blackbird]

When people ask what I do I still say I am an engineer even if it has been many years since I did any real engineering. I guess for me I was always going to be an engineer, its a hobby and a job.

EXACTLY! Same with me and I suspect with most engineers. It never leaves you.

[jrandom]

Dont matter how clever you are if you don't get the feel for materials and tecniques you'll never design shit worth anything.

A very valid point, but I vote for knuckling down and doing the BE right away.

Auckland Uni's engineering faculty is good, and that bit of paper will make the rest of your life a lot easier and a lot more profitable.

It won't condemn you to an office job if you don't want it, but it will give you a lot more choices.

I've always thought that the basic function of a professional degree isn't to teach you anything useful so much as it is a way to prove to people who don't know you that you're capable of working hard and have a decent amount of IQ to throw at problems.

Get straight in there, do your four years and get good grades. You will never regret it, even if you take an unconventional path after you graduate.

For what it's worth, I dropped out halfway through a BSc, kicked around a bit and then talked my way into my first software engineering job in industry.

The lack of a degree never held my career back, but that was more down to luck and personality, I think. I wouldn't advise anyone else to take the same chances.

Anyway, after ten years in that career I wound up taking on boring work that I hated because the money was good, and burned out after a year doing it.

So now I'm taking a hipster sabbatical as a bicycle courier.

Funny how life goes sometimes.



But go get that BE, BASS-TREBLE.

[gatch]

Hullo, I'm nearly at the end of my 3rd year in a fitting/machining apprenticeship. It is not as cool as I thought still very interesting though as I do alot of rebuild/modification and repair kind of stuff. Machinig stuff from new is easy compared to fixing something old and fucked, but anyway..

Mate if you don't mind waiting around 8 years to really launch into a career, I would say start with an apprentice ship (if you can find one) in machining or similar, then have a go at a mechanical engineering degree, or like what I'm planning on, a diploma in the same.

Practical based engineers and office based have different opinions on the best ways to accomplish the same objective, in my opinion having knowledge in both would make you a better "engineer" than someone who has spent their entire lives seeing one side of the coin.

But after all that you might find you don't want to do this for a living and become a gay podium dancer ?

Have fun

[BASS-TREBLE]

Thanks a lot for everyones imput.

I'll start my path with uni and see where it takes me.

Closer to level 2 exams now and I find that my biggest struggle at the moment is chemistry, ugh, waikato uni etc have it as a compolsury entry criteria.

Does anyone know how tight they are with people that don't quite meet them?

[gatch]

Thanks a lot for everyones imput.

I'll start my path with uni and see where it takes me.

Closer to level 2 exams now and I find that my biggest struggle at the moment is chemistry, ugh, waikato uni etc have it as a compolsury entry criteria.

Does anyone know how tight they are with people that don't quite meet them?

To the best of my knowledge (which isn't 100% on uni matters) if you aren't up to scratch with one part of the entry standards but are above average in the rest they 'can' make an exception, but this is on a case by case basis, you have to show them you mean business..

I think..

[Animal]

The best engineerts I know started as hairy arsed fitters, or similar, then added terciary quals. Dont matter how clever you are if you don't get the feel for materials and tecniques you'll never design shit worth anything.

That's definitely the best way to do it. Well, an apprenticeship followed later by degree or two certainly worked for me! Earning an income as an apprentice gave me a good balance between studying and still having a life. In later years, I could afford to take a few years off here and there to gain further quals - with zero student loan. My two cents worth.