Exciting Technical Career Engineer Courses
Engineering covers a multitude of career options and skill levels. Those looking for a career in aeronautical engineering or automotive engineering are likely to be seeking work with challenge and innovation. In Britain we have a distinguished history in aeronautical engineering, with around six hundred companies working in the aerospace industry. In addition, the auto industry also has a global influence, not least from a design and development point of view.
Reputable Training
There are approximately 32 UK Universities providing Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering Degrees in Automotive or Aeronautical Engineering. Engineering graduates can also choose to take post-graduate qualifications. (There are of course less academic college courses available around the country).
The option of a one year placement in industry is available with most university degree courses, and most students choose to take this between the second and final year.
Part-time sandwich training is also an option for those who prefer to split their time between studying and working. The Armed Forces and certain private companies will sponsor students to qualify in both of these disciplines, in exchange for an agreed period of working time. Whatever your circumstances and ambitions, look into as many training alternatives as possible.
Automotive Engineers
All cars, bikes, coaches and heavy goods vehicles come under the remit of auto engineering. Today's auto engineers need to understand electronic and software engineering as well as mechanical and electrical. Modern vehicle engineers can utilise the latest technologies - for example in relation to electric cars or active suspensions.
If you take the critical path of a vehicle, you have design, development and then manufacture. Design engineers obviously come up with the vehicle's design, but they also have to check each component part. The second discipline is covered by development engineers, who engineer all the features of the vehicle. Developers supply designers with various specs they have to comply with. Finally, the manufacturing engineers will work out how to actually make the vehicle.
There's a terrific amount of knowledge for an automotive engineering student to learn. In addition to gaining comprehensive knowledge of automotive engineering and design, students should also learn transferable skills on a graduate programme. As safety is vital, designs have to go through various crash scenarios to test their impact on the vehicle occupants.
Design engineers test individual components, but they must also be tested to prove synchronicity with the vehicle as a whole. Thus students will be taken through aspects of development or systems engineering. This area also covers trade-offs - such as learning how to achieve performance whilst maintaining fuel economy.
Development engineers ultimately have to be sure that everything on the completed vehicle not only meets the manufacturers spec, but is also compliant with the latest regulations.
The process is ready for the manufacturing engineers once all the product design and development work has been done. Automotive manufacturing engineers plan both the building of the component parts and the entire vehicle. Tasks include equipment design and machine specifications as well as people layout and management.
Engineering - Aeronautical
Aero engineering is all about turning ideas into reality by applying scientific principles to produce sophisticated flight products. Individuals interested in aeronautical engineering must be intelligent self starters with the capacity for analytical, innovative and technical thought processes.
Only those who relish a challenge should consider a career in aeronautics. (That said, engineers working in Formula One use aerospace technology too!)
Contemporary flight vehicles must endure very severe conditions such as differences in temperature and atmospheric pressure. An understanding of technologies such as aerodynamics, materials science, avionics and propulsion is needed, and each are very specialist subjects in their own right.
Students will use software to learn about design and the layout of essential aeronautical systems. All studies will focus on analytical concepts. Lectures will be given on subjects such as fluid mechanics, with laboratory sessions to back them up. The behaviour of fluid can now be tested with computerised simulations, reducing the time and expense spent on wind tunnel testing. All the same, students shouldn't miss out on aeronautical projects that carry out tests in wind tunnels.
Applying yourself to practical applications is an important engineering principle. All academic programmes will involve a mixture of group and individual assignments to design and build actual machines or components. Training courses in these engineering disciplines will also introduce students to other transferable skills. They could include things like communication skills and time management.
Well paid, rewarding and financially attractive careers are available for qualified Automotive and Aeronautical Engineers. To apply for professional status following graduation, engineers should contact the Engineering Council - a national body that promotes and advances the science and practice of engineering.
