Engineering? (1 Viewer)

[Green Yoda]

Can anyone explain what all these different engineering courses are? just basically.
Also is there good job opportunities in engineering?

 

[astroman]

MAIN TYPES
Civil engineering comprises the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and natural built environments.
Electrical engineering comprises the study and application of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism.
Mechanical engineering comprises the design, analysis and usage of heat and mechanical power for the operation of machines and mechanical systems.

 

[astroman]

yes great job prospects but some degrees like aerospace are not promising in australia and one of the highest if not the highest graduate pay rate of any degree.

 

[Green Yoda]

how about the job opportunities?

 

[anomalousdecay]

If by job opportunities you mean the types of jobs available, it can vary from degree to discipline. Your skill set can play a factor into this too (previous experience mainly).

If by job opportunities you mean the volume of jobs available, you'll find some degrees can provide many jobs on one type role and others can provide little jobs on many different roles. It all depends on quite a few factors, including the state/country the jobs are in.

Mainly the job opportunities for Engineering are quite good in comparison to quite a few different jobs. However, this is all relative so I encourage you to read through this thread (http://community.boredofstudies.org/585/engineering/332493/engineering-job-prospects.html) and especially read through these for current trends http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/research/researchreports/gradstats/.

 

[Green Yoda]

by job opportunities i mean by the number of jobs available, the competitiveness and the money.

 

[anomalousdecay]

by job opportunities i mean by the number of jobs available, the competitiveness and the money.

Have a read through the thread I linked above. Generally, the competitiveness can vary from job to job. The money also varies.

On average for Engineers, they get paid above the average salary compared to other jobs.

For competitiveness and availability, there are quite a few jobs available (depends on what type of Engineering and the role) but when you start applying for better and better jobs, it gets a lot more competitive. Also, it's difficult to break into Engineering at first (due to the fact that most companies want you to have prior experience first), but once you have the experience it gets better.

Does this make sense?

 

[Green Yoda]

yes, but im still confused to which engineering will suit me and what has long term benefits. Im also open to all options, health, science, engineering

 

[Queenroot]

Might want to do a flexible one then

 

[anomalousdecay]

yes, but im still confused to which engineering will suit me and what has long term benefits. Im also open to all options, health, science, engineering

Well to start off, do your research (which you are currently doing right now by asking so you are on the right track). I say go with something you will like and find great for the long term. Look to what you think is interesting. Then from those that are interesting, look to the opportunities they give you and whether or not you see yourself being a person who has graduated with that degree.

I think if you want some more depth answers, you need to provide questions on some more specific programs. So have a look at the options, and start scoping into a few options which you really like. Then from there, look into them in depth and ask specific questions about those areas you really like.

 

[Green Yoda]

What were your thought process before picking a course?

 

[anomalousdecay]

Hi. I'm doing electrical engineering but I can tell you from the engineering aspect what its like.

If you want to do engineering you have to see what type of work you enjoy most. Do you playing with gadgets and exploring what they could be used for? Do you think you would enjoy working in a team or by yourself on a specific design problem? Do you enjoy using maths to solve and interpret problems? Do you find looking at the principles and basics behind something as interesting?

These traits are important when considering engineering, because you have to enjoy the work you are doing. The only way to enjoy it is to enjoy what is involved in it all the time.

Aerospace engineering is integrated closely to mechanical engineering. The main difference would be that mechanical engineers work with solid materials and interactions more than aerospace engineers whom would work more with gaseous interactions and possibly electronics/communication.

I encourage you to do your research carefully about which engineering discipline you want to do. Engineering is so broad and there are so many specialisations that you can enter, which means that you should look at all the disciplines there are and research about them more.

Back when I was in your shoes, I was wanting to do Chemical. I was definitely going to do engineering as that was my aspiration, but I was not informed enough about each discipline. I did not start considering electrical until mid year 12, and when my eyes opened up to it I kept it short-listed as a possibility. In the end I can say I made the right choice after declining a scholarship for Chemical. I made the choice because I was informed of what each discipline was like and the possible job types it could land me which I had always dreamt of doing one day.

So at this stage the most important thing for you is to find out about each discipline and pick the right one for you.

When researching, look at the content involved in each discipline, get to know where each can lead you and whether those jobs are the types of jobs you can imagine doing for years on end. Understand what you enjoy and which study/career (not only in engineering) best suits you.

I can tell you what is involved in electrical and maybe a little in other disciplines as I had done a lot of research into them. I enjoy what I'm doing now because its really interesting and it is study I enjoy. The best thing is to check what interests you most and what you would enjoy doing.

In NSW there are many Universities.

UNSW, USyd, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), University of Wollongong (UoW), University of Western Sydney (UWS) are just a few that come to mind that offer engineering. However I think only UNSW and USyd offer Aerospace engineering.

If you are doing engineering, it might be best for you to stick to UNSW, USyd or UTS. They tend to have the most comprehensive engineering degrees (notably UNSW, which is where most engineers come from).

This was how I was back in your shoes and also a bit of useful info here too.

 

[Squar3root]

Any engineering is a good choice except mining

 

[Green Yoda]

In the end i don't want to do any physically hard work, i love a mental challenge. (critical thinking)

 

[anomalousdecay]

In the end i don't want to do any physically hard work, i love a mental challenge. (critical thinking)

Well you can get that in Engineering, but you are limiting your own job opportunities with that mentality towards it. This is because in Engineering, you can get all sorts of types of jobs and critical thinking would most likely be one of the skills that your competition will have most of (that's what everyone learns to obtain during uni). Having hands on experience would do you quite a service for when you are looking for job opportunities.

 

[Flop21]

UNSW are having an engineering info day soonish. You pick 4 different types of engineering and I guess they give you an idea of what to expect in them.

 

[Green Yoda]

Might want to do a flexible one then

what do you mean?

 

[Squar3root]

what do you mean?

https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au...ring-right-for-me/flexible-first-year-program

 

[Amundies]

Been keeping an eye on this thread, decided to chip in my 0.02 now.

There are a whole lot of engineering courses, but it's generally accepted that there's around 4 major ones.
Chemical Engineering is the application of physical and biological sciences to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms. E.g. a chemical engineer can be tasked with improving the process of converting raw materials into a useful form, or can be tasked with researching how to improve current materials.
Civil Engineering comprises the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and natural built environments. As a civil engineer you can work on skyscrapers, airports, houses, bridges, etc.
Electrical Engineering comprises the study and application of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. As an electrical engineer you can work pretty much anywhere since technology (and electricity) is playing an increasing role in society. You can work for electricity companies, aircraft companies, tech companies, etc.
Mechanical Engineering comprises the design, analysis and usage of heat and mechanical power for the operation of machines and mechanical systems. Basically, if something has a moving part then chances are a mechanical engineer worked on it.
Universities of course offer more than these 4 courses, but they are all basically just some combination of these 4 (but go deeper in their field of study).

As AD posted, this website is great for seeing which courses have the highest employment rates, but keep in mind that they just look at general full-time employment, not employment in that field of study. For example, a lot of aeronautical engineers who are employed full-time don't actually work in the aviation industry.

Regarding pay, graduate engineering salaries tend to be quite high (think around $60k). This of course varies depending on the company.

Another thing to keep in mind about doing an engineering degree is that it doesn't mean that you're only capable of doing engineering after you graduate. A number of people who study engineering end up becoming bankers or traders.

 

[Anthel]

If you're looking for a combination of health and engineering, Biomedical engineering would be it? Or am I wrong...