Designer Jekyll and Engineer Hyde?

A couple of weeks ago I tried an experiment, at a party full of 'professional people'. When asked, "what do you do?" I bit my tongue and suppressed the usual Engineer title, and said "Oh, I'm an electronics designer." What a difference in attitude! Well, we all know that designers are creative, imaginative, interesting people, don't we?

My first reaction was that I was dodging the issue or being dishonest in some way, but then design is what most engineers are trained to do, and are engaged in for much of their working life. So why not present this as the primary description? As a profession, it is not only highly rewarding in a creative sense, but carries an extremely good salary package, with graduates starting on £16-22,000, with current adverts for experienced personnel in the region of £40-50,000.

So how do you move into this interesting and lucrative career? This needs a little explanation, as there are several degree qualifications offered by universities. BSc, BEng, MEng. All of these may have a full-time route, or contain an extra year spent in employment where you can gain experience in your chosen discipline, known as a 'sandwich' route. BSc and BEng courses are usually three years full-time, four year sandwich, while the MEng is four years full-time, five years sandwich. In the current climate, all of these courses will suffice to obtain employment in this sector.

What can you expect from a typical course? In my own department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Nottingham Trent University, we believe that engineering is predominantly a creative subject (hence my comment about design). Students are challenged at every level of the course with practical projects, beginning in the first year with a slightly less aggressive version of 'Robot Wars', moving through group projects based on industrially-generated problems in year two, and culminating in individual or group projects in the final year. Most courses will provide an element of choice or specialisation in a particular aspect of the discipline, usually in the final or second year.
Our students are challenged by not only having to absorb and apply engineering principles, but also to develop an understanding of management and interpersonal skills, including written and verbal presentations. Interaction with students of other disciplines, such as Multimedia Production and Multimedia Technology, which also run in the department, are encouraged.

We have always prided ourselves on our record of graduate employment and progression, and we believe strongly that the industrial placement year is an important developmental element in the maturity and effectiveness of our graduates. Students are therefore encouraged to take up this option, and we support this by arranging placements with a wide variety of national and international companies. This has several benefits to the students - for example, over half of those placed in industry returned with substantial financial support for their final year, and most returned with a firm offer of employment on graduation. In addition, it has been noticeable that those taking up industrial placement tend to be in the upper classifications when graduating. Most students will have accrued some financial debt during their studies. This industrial placement year is on full salary, and students can expect to earn in the region of £12-14,000, which goes some way to alleviating the situation.

How can you be assured of the quality of the courses? Well it's rather like buying an egg! Some eggs carry a quality mark (lion), which guarantees that they have been checked and are fresh, while others do not have the mark but may be just as good. The Professional Engineering Institutions, which represent the engineering sector, regularly check university engineering departments for quality and appropriateness of their degree courses. My own department has once again successfully completed this process, which is called Accreditation. This guarantees that the degrees will count towards the educational element of the professional qualification of Chartered Engineer (CEng). Although not essential to employment, this chartered status may be important to certain sectors of the industry, defence contractors and construction, and is mainly recognized in Europe as the professional qualification.

The BSc and BEng route require an additional professional development programme equivalent to one academic year, which is normally carried out within your employment, plus suitable industrial responsibility whilst the MEng programmes only require the industrial responsibility to qualify for Chartered status. Remember that you will be spending three years or so at your chosen university, so take any opportunity to visit prospective departments and choose somewhere that you feel comfortable. Talk to current students, look around the campus, check the facilities, speak to academic staff, ask questions, take your time, try to get a good idea of what the place is like. My department organizes open days from November onwards for those who wish to see what we have to offer. Unfortunately, Admissions Tutors such as myself usually have contact with applicants after they have made their choices through UCAS, so we are unable to invite interested parties prior to application. Consider this an invitation! So just phone up and ask if you can visit before you fill in the UCAS form. Be pro-active!

How do you apply? All UK universities are required to recruit undergraduates through the UCAS organization. This restricts your applications to six, and finally narrows it down to one firm and one insurance offer. For accreditation engineering degrees, the normal entry requirement will be at least CCC at A-level or equivalent, including mathematics (normally two full A-levels plus A/S levels are required; EDEXCEL certificates and diplomas and AGNVQ equivalents will be quoted in prospectuses). Be realistic in your aspirations, but also be tenacious - if you do not quite achieve the grades asked but really want your first choice, then contact them. Remember that admissions tutors will be bombarded with clearance applications by phone, and would prefer to make an offer to an applicant considered previously than an unknown one.

Finally, remember that engineering is a highly creative and vital element in business and our society. It is about ingenuity, but has a major impact on the social order and is a highly rewarding career.

Author: David Morley, BSc, MSc, PhD, MIEE, CEng, Dept. Electrical Engineering, Nottingham Trent University

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