Getting into engineering with a philosophy degree

Hi there,

So yes, I have a 2:1 philosophy degree from King's College London. How would I become an engineer?

I know what you'll say - I need an engineering degree. That might be a problem for me since I would have to self-fund a second degree. Would apprenticeships be a suitable option?

Here's a little about me, if you don't believe a philosopher can become an engineer! (TLDR - I'm smart with good grades and technically minded - I'm currently employed as a programmer):


Any help greatly appreciated!!

Yes, an apprenticeship would also be a suitable option, if you can get onto one. I think self-funding a second degree is a much more likely option, though, unfortunately. Could you maybe continue working as a programmer for a few years to fund it?

They're certainly much more difficult to get onto than many suspect, given how much we keep going on about how we need to stop sending so many school leavers to university and create more on the job learning.

Does it have to be in England? I know universities in Scotland can be cheaper.

Maybe getting into a Master for programmers with your background is the easier option? Because engineering is much more than programming and if you primarly want to program later, there may be faster ways, than a degree or apprenticeship. Getting experience and saving up money won't hurt. Going abroad to save tuition fees could be also an option, e.g. the Netherlands have good engineering degrees and much lower tuition fees.

I don't know that much about engineering so forgive me if I give you flawed info but my father in law works in nuclear engineering (he is very high-up and runs employment on site) and the sort of thing employers want is not 'great brains' (well obviously to a certain extent) but they want site experience. He has banned employment on his sites of grads with no experience. In the industry they are not very well regarded at all. If you really want to become an engineer I would suggest gaining appropriate experience.

He actually is starting a programme employing assistant engineers to train on site, he will be employing individuals with site experience in roles such as these because it is far more valuable than pure intelligence alone.

I don't know that much about engineering so forgive me if I give you flawed info but my father in law works in nuclear engineering (he is very high-up and runs employment on site) and the sort of thing employers want is not 'great brains' (well obviously to a certain extent) but they want site experience. He has banned employment on his sites of grads with no experience. In the industry they are not very well regarded at all. If you really want to become an engineer I would suggest gaining appropriate experience.

He actually is starting a programme employing assistant engineers to train on site, he will be employing individuals with site experience in roles such as these because it is far more valuable than pure intelligence alone.

And how did those people got their experience? Through an entry level job. Your father is just to lazy to train them and as there are enough unemployed older engineers or engineers who where trained elsewhere wanting to change their job, he takes them. A grad with no experience is a grad with no experience, like your father once was, everybody started with no experience. Of course you have to train them. And knowing something about nuclear engineering, I assure you a simple train on the job with no experience, not even the experience of an apprenticeship or university education is NOT SUFFICIENT. We aren't giving advice to somebody with a related degree and years of experience in a related field or less well paid job in the same field, but someone who has no qualification at all.

You completely misunderstood my comment, he employs grads with experience. The assistant engineers he is employing will probably meet be engineers but they are individuals with relevant work experience.

I was merely pointing out that the most valuable thing to the majority of employers is work experience. This is very very very true. What I was intending to highlight was the fact that OP does not have any relevant experience an a degree in psychology and programming experience means jack-all. I attempted to do this in a polite manner, perhaps you need to learn some manners also.

Yes, I have to admit I have been a bit over the top, but the problem is, what you don't seem to understand is, that while no one will say a graduate student can have the same level of professional experience than an engineer with 3-5 years of experience, this does not help AT ALL and is very naive to say, as you advise somebody to get experience as an engineer before thinking about studying engineering, because that is what counts, while you can't get that experience without an engineering degree.(Only in those engineering roles, you don't need to study for and are only called engineering, because the UK doesn't know another word for it. But these are then no real engineering jobs.) Especially in a field like nuclear engineering, which is definitely NOT the field for creative self-employers, but requires a degree in physics or engineering, mostly thermodynamics, nuclear engineering, etc.

I understood very well, that you meant experienced graduates. That is exactly, why your answer is not helpful and not related to the thread starter's problem.

With a philosophy degree you can't get work experience and all those unemployed young students will never have the chance to make the career of those, refusing to train them, because they can do it. When they were young, this would have been unthinkable. On the other hand you have unemployed experienced people, because they are "too old" and more and more jobs requirering a PHD. As you see, purely economic reasons, but sadly not the sign, that young people could work their way up without spending money for a university education.

No no no I think I was still not clear, I did not mean experience as an engineer I said 'on site' experience. What this means is working on sites which utilise engineers - not as an engineer.

I don't think OP is particularly going to want to give up a job in programming to be a labourer. However if you were passionate and determined then that on site experience would be more relevant to future employers - possibly opening the door for apprenticeships?

I don't see what individuals who are too old have to do with anything. My father in law doesn't have any degree just 40 years of on site experience and NVQs.

I did say at the beginning I my post that I do not know very much about engineering as whole but I still think that most avenues for apprenticeships (I don't even know if you can do apprenticeships but everyone is talking about it on this thread?) would require on site experience. It would also allow you to make connections in the industry. It would also look good on a university application if OP really wanted to do it as it would show a passion for the subject.