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Engineering Careers & Engineering Degrees

When we talk about Engineers, we can mean many things. Those looking for a career in aeronautical engineering or automotive engineering are likely to be seeking work with challenge and innovation. The United Kingdom boasts a very technically advanced aerospace sector comprising of over six hundred companies turning over more than seventeen billion between them, according to Loughborough University. Automotive design, development and production are significant employers, and the UK motorsport industry is recognised globally.

Courses Of Repute

There are approximately 32 UK Universities providing Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering Degrees in Automotive or Aeronautical Engineering. Plus some go on to provide postgraduate-level study as well. (Other colleges and institutions offer training in the subjects as well). Most degree courses last from between three and five years, depending on whether the student is working towards BEng or MEng, and whether a year in industry is opted for.

Part-time sandwich training is also an option for those who prefer to split their time between studying and working. If you're prepared to agree to work for a particular organisation following graduation, you may be able to negotiate a sponsorship deal. Whatever your circumstances and ambitions, look into as many training alternatives as possible.

Automotive Engineering

Every facet of a motorised machine has been developed because of automotive engineering. As well as the traditional disciplines, automotive engineers now need to incorporate electronics, safety and software engineering into their skill-sets. There's a lot to take on board, and new technologies are being developed all the time - often to deal with government environmental standards.

We can split auto engineering into product or design engineering, development engineering and manufacturing engineering. Design engineers obviously come up with the vehicle's design, but they also have to check each component part. The development engineers' co-ordinate the engineering attributes of vehicles. They liaise with designers with regard to technical specifications and so on. With all the design and development work complete, the manufacturing engineers have to build the vehicle.

There are a great deal of product disciplines for the auto engineering student to take on board. Throughout your training you will learn about all three stages of the automotive engineering processes. Safety engineering is one of the most important disciplines for the automotive engineer, and students will learn how assessments are carried out with various methods and tools.

Whilst each individual system has to perform its job properly, it also has to complement the rest of the vehicle. So an understanding of development engineering is necessary. This can also involve understanding tradeoffs, a process which ensures that all the vehicle attributes are delivered at an acceptable level. In the end, developers must have carried out sufficient checks and tests to verify that the finished automobile will be street legal and in line with the manufacturers' demands.

The manufacturing process takes over once all the design and development work has been done. Automotive manufacturing engineers plan both the building of the component parts and the entire vehicle. This complex discipline is sometimes regarded as the most esteemed area of automotive engineering.

Aeronautical Engineering

Aeronautical engineering covers all things to do with flight technology - the design, construction and science of aircraft. Studying for an aeronautical engineering degree will prepare you for a successful and highly respected career within the aerospace industry. As an aside - Formula One racing cars share a common technological base with modern airliners.

Flight vehicles are faced with huge stresses on take-off, flight and landing. As such, aircraft vehicles are usually the product of many aerospace engineering technologies, for example avionics, propulsion and aerodynamics. The aeronautical engineer will choose his or her speciality.

Aeronautical engineering students will be taught design principles throughout their training, and receive a thorough insight into analytical subjects. Modules that deal with solving problems, like thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, are what we mean by analytical subjects. In recent years advances in computing mean that simulations can be used to test the behaviour of fluid, which lessens the need for expensive wind tunnel research. Even so, huge structural testing machines and indeed wind tunnels are actually important teaching aids for student engineers.

Practical application is an important element of training to be an engineer. Whichever programme you choose to follow, as a student engineer you will be involved with a major group design project at some time throughout your training. Training courses in these engineering disciplines will also introduce students to other transferable skills. Employers often expect graduate entrants to have additional soft skills when they get into industry.

The aerospace industry provides excellent career development into a variety of technical and managerial roles. For information about joining a professional body upon completion of your training, refer to the Engineering Council, or SARTOR (the Standards and Routes to Registration).