Technical and Exciting Careers

Engineering covers a multitude of career options and skill levels. If either automotive or aeronautical engineering appeal to you, you're probably the sort of person who enjoys a technical challenge.

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. Well over a quarter of a million people work in the automotive industry, and the UK motorsport industry is acknowledged around the world.

Reputable Training

There are many internationally recognised British university degree courses that train students to a very high level in both auto and aero engineering. Students can also go on to do post grad work at many institutions. At a lower level, vocational training can be found up and down the country. University students can choose from full-time three, four or five year courses, some with a year out in industry or at an alternative overseas university or learning establishment.

Those who need the facility to work alongside their study programme may find they can do a sandwich course. Equally, it's also possible for some students to arrange sponsorship (for example from the Army) if they're prepared to commit to them after training. Whatever your circumstances and ambitions, look into as many training alternatives as possible.

The Automotive Industry

This area involves everything to do with the production of motorised vehicles. Today, it incorporates elements not only of mechanical and electrical engineering, but also electronic, safety and software engineering. 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. Development engineers are concerned with the attributes or qualities of the complete vehicle. These people often provide information to design engineers to regulate performance etc. Last of all come the manufacturers, who determine how to put the vehicle together.

There are a great deal of product disciplines for the auto engineering student to take on board. In addition to gaining comprehensive knowledge of automotive engineering and design, students should also learn transferable skills on a graduate programme. 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.

It's one thing for a component or system to work in isolation, but quite another for it to work in harmony with everything else on the vehicle. Therefore students need to learn about systems, or development engineering. Sometimes systems or components have conflicting aims, and a trade-off has to be made to deliver both satisfactorily. Finally the development engineer has to conduct tests on the full vehicle, such as level testing, validation and certification.

When the design and development work are completed, the vehicle is ready for the manufacturing process. Engineers involved in this stage of the build use statistics and process controls to ensure every stage of the manufacture meets rigorous quality standards. This complex discipline is sometimes regarded as the most esteemed area of automotive engineering.

Aeronautical Engineering

Aeronautical engineers are involved in the research, design, manufacture and maintenance of all forms of aircraft. If you are very analytical by nature and have a great capacity for highly technical and innovative thinking, you could do very well building a career for yourself in the aerospace industry.

You could also choose a career in motor racing, as aircraft engineering is the basis for Formula One design.

Many severe conditions have to be endured for an aircraft to fly safely, with immense structural loads being placed upon them. Due to the complexity of flight vehicle development and design, it would be impossible to learn enough about all the technologies involved, so teams of engineers deal in their own specialisations.

University students will be introduced to aircraft design techniques early on in their training, with modules on key analytical subjects. Analytics is essentially problem-solving, and deals with things like dynamics and fluid mechanics.

Study is divided into theoretical mathematical elements and empirical testing - much of which is done by computerised simulations in commercial environments. Even so, huge structural testing machines and indeed wind tunnels are actually important teaching aids for student engineers.

Group ventures are important when learning engineering skills. You can expect a group project that requires students to design a complete vehicle or aircraft, along with significant individual projects. Aeronautical and Automotive Student Engineers are often also taught a variety of soft skills that will be useful for their career. Such areas as time-management, writing skills and presenting can all help at interview.

The UK aerospace industry attracts the very best graduates, and the work is both compelling and highly remunerated. 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.