How useful is an aeronautical engineering degree?
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Original post by + polarity -
No. If you want some chemistry, you don't do chemical engineering, as it isn't chemistry and there is very little chemistry in it. 
I agree, but the point I wanted to make was that if you had to choose between only aero eng and chem eng, and you wanted some chemistry, chem eng would be the obvious pick. Of course, if you're after a major chemistry element you'd pick chemistry as a course.
If you do Aeronautical Engineering, you're not limiting yourself to aviation. You open up many, many paths, such as finance, maths, I know some people who have even gone onto Law from this course (don't ask...). But yeah, any engineering degree sets you up well for many different choices, most of the people I've spoken to in higher years have already decided against carrying on with the aero path, and are going down the business/finance route.
Depending which university you are going. Aeronautical is only good in a few universities. Best choice are Imperial, Bristol and Bath. If its queen mary, city, brunel or alike universities, dnt dare going. Grad prospects and teaching are RUBBISH, all exams are the same every year with different numbers, hence you dnt learn anything apart from copying, finding exam patterns and a 2:1 without any effort.
Chemical engineers are paid well above aeronautical engineers. After some experience, chemical engineers earn twice as much as aero engineers. Both subjects are very likely to lead you in a job to be located in remote and not near a city. Chemical engineering leads to most oil and gas companies (BIG PAY) and 40% of UK jobs are located in Aberdeen. Aeronautical engineers usually have jobs mainly in Bristol or South West England. As an Engineer be prepared to move far places and remote areas. As an Aeronautical engineer be prepared to work for defence. As a chemical engineer for oil and gas be prepared to work offshore.
According to reed average salary: Aero Eng= £36k while Chem Eng=£66k
The above is a rough figure as i cant remember the exact. Also they are based on more than 500 candidates, hence quite accurate. If mathematics and physics are your favourite subjects, you'll find both subjects interesting. My aerospace degree was 80-90% mechanical based.
Chemical engineers are paid well above aeronautical engineers. After some experience, chemical engineers earn twice as much as aero engineers. Both subjects are very likely to lead you in a job to be located in remote and not near a city. Chemical engineering leads to most oil and gas companies (BIG PAY) and 40% of UK jobs are located in Aberdeen. Aeronautical engineers usually have jobs mainly in Bristol or South West England. As an Engineer be prepared to move far places and remote areas. As an Aeronautical engineer be prepared to work for defence. As a chemical engineer for oil and gas be prepared to work offshore.
According to reed average salary: Aero Eng= £36k while Chem Eng=£66k
The above is a rough figure as i cant remember the exact. Also they are based on more than 500 candidates, hence quite accurate. If mathematics and physics are your favourite subjects, you'll find both subjects interesting. My aerospace degree was 80-90% mechanical based.
As with ALL styles of engineering, they're HIGHLY transferable from one industry to another. Naturally if you want to specialise, then do the specialisation in the area you're interested in. As a rule, the chemical/oil/gas industry pays well - there are additional hazards which aren't present in an aerospace factory, travel is expected, and the rest, which means salaries are higher.
That said, if you are an aerospace engineer, which is essentially a mechanical engineer with a few more fluids modules, there is NOTHING stopping you working for the chemical/ oil/ gas industry, and being on the same pay as they are. It's just that most people do not do this - they go and work for Boeing, Airbus, aerospace parts manufacturers, where the risks, and hence the pay, aren't as high. The roles you can go into are within reason - An aerospace engineer is not going to be designing microprocessor architectures, and an electrical engineer isn't going to be doing structural analysis for an oil rig, but working in the same industry is entirely possible, and indeed, you'll learn a lot about chemical engineering if you work for a chemical company.
I for instance, work in the aerospace/marine industry, as an electronic engineer, doing nothing to do with electronics, for the majority of the time. I didn't study thermo or fluid dynamics at uni, but I use it in my job all the time - the whole point of studying engineering, is that you learn how to teach yourself. who do I work with? aero eng, yes, but also mech eng, elec eng, physics grads, even nuclear grads. My course mates went into the semiconductor industry, finance (investment banking), communications, mobile telephony, aerospace, oil, and one even went to work for Lidl. on £40k starting. hahaha
Studying chemical engineering because "you get paid the most" is a bit of a red herring. If you want to be paid well, then go into finance, investment banking, or insurance as an engineer, in a non-engineering role. If you can stay there, and make yourself useful (read, irreplaceable), then you can easily be on twice what a chemical engineer working for oil is on. And again, ANY engineering discipline will do for this. Most engineering students realise this around year 3 of their course, so this is an early heads-up.
So in response to the original question - all engineering degrees tend to be useful, and I'd stick with the ones which are the most common - i.e. Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronic and Aeronautical. All the others tend to be much more specialised, which is great if you want to be in that specific industry, but that's 3 - 4 years after you first start going to university, where you will discover a lot more about yourself and where you would want to work, and if you know at this stage where you are going to be working, then I'm interested in procuring your crystal ball and using it on the stock market.
Hope this helps,
Stu Haynes MEng MIET MIEEE
That said, if you are an aerospace engineer, which is essentially a mechanical engineer with a few more fluids modules, there is NOTHING stopping you working for the chemical/ oil/ gas industry, and being on the same pay as they are. It's just that most people do not do this - they go and work for Boeing, Airbus, aerospace parts manufacturers, where the risks, and hence the pay, aren't as high. The roles you can go into are within reason - An aerospace engineer is not going to be designing microprocessor architectures, and an electrical engineer isn't going to be doing structural analysis for an oil rig, but working in the same industry is entirely possible, and indeed, you'll learn a lot about chemical engineering if you work for a chemical company.
I for instance, work in the aerospace/marine industry, as an electronic engineer, doing nothing to do with electronics, for the majority of the time. I didn't study thermo or fluid dynamics at uni, but I use it in my job all the time - the whole point of studying engineering, is that you learn how to teach yourself. who do I work with? aero eng, yes, but also mech eng, elec eng, physics grads, even nuclear grads. My course mates went into the semiconductor industry, finance (investment banking), communications, mobile telephony, aerospace, oil, and one even went to work for Lidl. on £40k starting. hahaha
Studying chemical engineering because "you get paid the most" is a bit of a red herring. If you want to be paid well, then go into finance, investment banking, or insurance as an engineer, in a non-engineering role. If you can stay there, and make yourself useful (read, irreplaceable), then you can easily be on twice what a chemical engineer working for oil is on. And again, ANY engineering discipline will do for this. Most engineering students realise this around year 3 of their course, so this is an early heads-up.
So in response to the original question - all engineering degrees tend to be useful, and I'd stick with the ones which are the most common - i.e. Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronic and Aeronautical. All the others tend to be much more specialised, which is great if you want to be in that specific industry, but that's 3 - 4 years after you first start going to university, where you will discover a lot more about yourself and where you would want to work, and if you know at this stage where you are going to be working, then I'm interested in procuring your crystal ball and using it on the stock market.
Hope this helps,
Stu Haynes MEng MIET MIEEE
Original post by pheonix254
As with ALL styles of engineering, they're HIGHLY transferable from one industry to another. Naturally if you want to specialise, then do the specialisation in the area you're interested in. As a rule, the chemical/oil/gas industry pays well - there are additional hazards which aren't present in an aerospace factory, travel is expected, and the rest, which means salaries are higher.
That said, if you are an aerospace engineer, which is essentially a mechanical engineer with a few more fluids modules, there is NOTHING stopping you working for the chemical/ oil/ gas industry, and being on the same pay as they are. It's just that most people do not do this - they go and work for Boeing, Airbus, aerospace parts manufacturers, where the risks, and hence the pay, aren't as high. The roles you can go into are within reason - An aerospace engineer is not going to be designing microprocessor architectures, and an electrical engineer isn't going to be doing structural analysis for an oil rig, but working in the same industry is entirely possible, and indeed, you'll learn a lot about chemical engineering if you work for a chemical company.
I for instance, work in the aerospace/marine industry, as an electronic engineer, doing nothing to do with electronics, for the majority of the time. I didn't study thermo or fluid dynamics at uni, but I use it in my job all the time - the whole point of studying engineering, is that you learn how to teach yourself. who do I work with? aero eng, yes, but also mech eng, elec eng, physics grads, even nuclear grads. My course mates went into the semiconductor industry, finance (investment banking), communications, mobile telephony, aerospace, oil, and one even went to work for Lidl. on £40k starting. hahaha
Studying chemical engineering because "you get paid the most" is a bit of a red herring. If you want to be paid well, then go into finance, investment banking, or insurance as an engineer, in a non-engineering role. If you can stay there, and make yourself useful (read, irreplaceable), then you can easily be on twice what a chemical engineer working for oil is on. And again, ANY engineering discipline will do for this. Most engineering students realise this around year 3 of their course, so this is an early heads-up.
So in response to the original question - all engineering degrees tend to be useful, and I'd stick with the ones which are the most common - i.e. Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronic and Aeronautical. All the others tend to be much more specialised, which is great if you want to be in that specific industry, but that's 3 - 4 years after you first start going to university, where you will discover a lot more about yourself and where you would want to work, and if you know at this stage where you are going to be working, then I'm interested in procuring your crystal ball and using it on the stock market.
Hope this helps,
Stu Haynes MEng MIET MIEEE
That said, if you are an aerospace engineer, which is essentially a mechanical engineer with a few more fluids modules, there is NOTHING stopping you working for the chemical/ oil/ gas industry, and being on the same pay as they are. It's just that most people do not do this - they go and work for Boeing, Airbus, aerospace parts manufacturers, where the risks, and hence the pay, aren't as high. The roles you can go into are within reason - An aerospace engineer is not going to be designing microprocessor architectures, and an electrical engineer isn't going to be doing structural analysis for an oil rig, but working in the same industry is entirely possible, and indeed, you'll learn a lot about chemical engineering if you work for a chemical company.
I for instance, work in the aerospace/marine industry, as an electronic engineer, doing nothing to do with electronics, for the majority of the time. I didn't study thermo or fluid dynamics at uni, but I use it in my job all the time - the whole point of studying engineering, is that you learn how to teach yourself. who do I work with? aero eng, yes, but also mech eng, elec eng, physics grads, even nuclear grads. My course mates went into the semiconductor industry, finance (investment banking), communications, mobile telephony, aerospace, oil, and one even went to work for Lidl. on £40k starting. hahaha
Studying chemical engineering because "you get paid the most" is a bit of a red herring. If you want to be paid well, then go into finance, investment banking, or insurance as an engineer, in a non-engineering role. If you can stay there, and make yourself useful (read, irreplaceable), then you can easily be on twice what a chemical engineer working for oil is on. And again, ANY engineering discipline will do for this. Most engineering students realise this around year 3 of their course, so this is an early heads-up.
So in response to the original question - all engineering degrees tend to be useful, and I'd stick with the ones which are the most common - i.e. Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronic and Aeronautical. All the others tend to be much more specialised, which is great if you want to be in that specific industry, but that's 3 - 4 years after you first start going to university, where you will discover a lot more about yourself and where you would want to work, and if you know at this stage where you are going to be working, then I'm interested in procuring your crystal ball and using it on the stock market.
Hope this helps,
Stu Haynes MEng MIET MIEEE
In your opinion, which engineering is the most enjoyable?
And which one is the best paying?
thanks.
I liked computers and nanotechnology during my time at school, so I did electronic engineering. The power industry sponsored me, and I specialised in power systems. Following a job offer, I now work in aerospace and marine.
So the path is by no means fixed - opportunities come, you can take them or leave them.
the best paying engineering is by completing the degree, and then working for a bank or hedge fund and not touching at again. (I had that opportunity as well, but declined.)
Therefore, I will go with what advice I found the most useful myself - Do what you enjoy, what you find the most interesting. Open yourself up to different opportunities, don't decline them on principle, or because they're not expected/out of your comfort zone.
Choosing a discipline because it "is the best paying" isn't a good way of thinking about it. Engineering, almost by definition, is highly transferable. Industries have different risks, and hence offer different salaries based on those risks. You want to be paid the highest average engineers salary? right now, in 2012, you need to go and work offshore, for an oil company. You DON'T have to be a chemical engineer to do this (though they're probably at the top of the league tables on salary at the moment) - they need civil, electrical, mechanical, electronics/controls, the works. And they're likely all going to be on similar pay. But the world changes - where were smartphones 10 years ago? nowhere - they barely existed, yet I see adverts every day for "app developers, 5 years experience required, top salaries paid." (ahhhh.. recruiters, bless them) So the best paid discipline now, might well be in another industry by the time you graduate, which might be 3, 4 ,5 years time.
So its a balance between what you enjoy, what you're good at and your future ambitions that should drive your degree choice, and that isn't an easy equation to balance, as it fluctuates constantly. trust me, I'm an engineer.
Stu Haynes, MEng MIET MIEEE
So the path is by no means fixed - opportunities come, you can take them or leave them.
the best paying engineering is by completing the degree, and then working for a bank or hedge fund and not touching at again. (I had that opportunity as well, but declined.)
Therefore, I will go with what advice I found the most useful myself - Do what you enjoy, what you find the most interesting. Open yourself up to different opportunities, don't decline them on principle, or because they're not expected/out of your comfort zone.
Choosing a discipline because it "is the best paying" isn't a good way of thinking about it. Engineering, almost by definition, is highly transferable. Industries have different risks, and hence offer different salaries based on those risks. You want to be paid the highest average engineers salary? right now, in 2012, you need to go and work offshore, for an oil company. You DON'T have to be a chemical engineer to do this (though they're probably at the top of the league tables on salary at the moment) - they need civil, electrical, mechanical, electronics/controls, the works. And they're likely all going to be on similar pay. But the world changes - where were smartphones 10 years ago? nowhere - they barely existed, yet I see adverts every day for "app developers, 5 years experience required, top salaries paid." (ahhhh.. recruiters, bless them) So the best paid discipline now, might well be in another industry by the time you graduate, which might be 3, 4 ,5 years time.
So its a balance between what you enjoy, what you're good at and your future ambitions that should drive your degree choice, and that isn't an easy equation to balance, as it fluctuates constantly. trust me, I'm an engineer.
Stu Haynes, MEng MIET MIEEE
Original post by pheonix254
I liked computers and nanotechnology during my time at school, so I did electronic engineering. The power industry sponsored me, and I specialised in power systems. Following a job offer, I now work in aerospace and marine.
So the path is by no means fixed - opportunities come, you can take them or leave them.
the best paying engineering is by completing the degree, and then working for a bank or hedge fund and not touching at again. (I had that opportunity as well, but declined.)
Therefore, I will go with what advice I found the most useful myself - Do what you enjoy, what you find the most interesting. Open yourself up to different opportunities, don't decline them on principle, or because they're not expected/out of your comfort zone.
Choosing a discipline because it "is the best paying" isn't a good way of thinking about it. Engineering, almost by definition, is highly transferable. Industries have different risks, and hence offer different salaries based on those risks. You want to be paid the highest average engineers salary? right now, in 2012, you need to go and work offshore, for an oil company. You DON'T have to be a chemical engineer to do this (though they're probably at the top of the league tables on salary at the moment) - they need civil, electrical, mechanical, electronics/controls, the works. And they're likely all going to be on similar pay. But the world changes - where were smartphones 10 years ago? nowhere - they barely existed, yet I see adverts every day for "app developers, 5 years experience required, top salaries paid." (ahhhh.. recruiters, bless them) So the best paid discipline now, might well be in another industry by the time you graduate, which might be 3, 4 ,5 years time.
So its a balance between what you enjoy, what you're good at and your future ambitions that should drive your degree choice, and that isn't an easy equation to balance, as it fluctuates constantly. trust me, I'm an engineer.
Stu Haynes, MEng MIET MIEEE
So the path is by no means fixed - opportunities come, you can take them or leave them.
the best paying engineering is by completing the degree, and then working for a bank or hedge fund and not touching at again. (I had that opportunity as well, but declined.)
Therefore, I will go with what advice I found the most useful myself - Do what you enjoy, what you find the most interesting. Open yourself up to different opportunities, don't decline them on principle, or because they're not expected/out of your comfort zone.
Choosing a discipline because it "is the best paying" isn't a good way of thinking about it. Engineering, almost by definition, is highly transferable. Industries have different risks, and hence offer different salaries based on those risks. You want to be paid the highest average engineers salary? right now, in 2012, you need to go and work offshore, for an oil company. You DON'T have to be a chemical engineer to do this (though they're probably at the top of the league tables on salary at the moment) - they need civil, electrical, mechanical, electronics/controls, the works. And they're likely all going to be on similar pay. But the world changes - where were smartphones 10 years ago? nowhere - they barely existed, yet I see adverts every day for "app developers, 5 years experience required, top salaries paid." (ahhhh.. recruiters, bless them) So the best paid discipline now, might well be in another industry by the time you graduate, which might be 3, 4 ,5 years time.
So its a balance between what you enjoy, what you're good at and your future ambitions that should drive your degree choice, and that isn't an easy equation to balance, as it fluctuates constantly. trust me, I'm an engineer.
Stu Haynes, MEng MIET MIEEE
confused me,
im starting a levels next month lol.
but thanks for the awesome advice !
thinking of doing comp science and then working for some rich mofo's?
isn't that what most comp sc grads do?
Original post by Joseph-
confused me,
im starting a levels next month lol.
but thanks for the awesome advice !
thinking of doing comp science and then working for some rich mofo's?
isn't that what most comp sc grads do?
im starting a levels next month lol.
but thanks for the awesome advice !
thinking of doing comp science and then working for some rich mofo's?
isn't that what most comp sc grads do?
what do you mean? by working for some rich mofos because you are a cs grad.
Original post by non
what do you mean? by working for some rich mofos because you are a cs grad.
sorry i was high.
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