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Do not go into engineering
Engineering is an awful career if you want to have a nice quality of life, be able to have kids,provide for a family then avoid engineering!
I've been in Aerospace since 2012 terrible pay you'll struggle to eat and pay your bills forget raising a family.
They say there's a shortage of engineers in UK
(Translation)
There's a shortage of people willing to work a High stress, high responsibility, high pressure for McDonald's level pay.
Your salary peaks in 3-5 years with zero further progression (more responsibility yes more pay no)
When your 25 knowing your current salary is what you can expect to get for the rest of Your career most years not even keeping up with inflation is pretty soul destroying.
After tution fees your worse of than if you just left school and started working in a supermarket.
Go into financial medical law instead. Hope someone heads this warning before you wake up 30 and it's too late
I've been in Aerospace since 2012 terrible pay you'll struggle to eat and pay your bills forget raising a family.
They say there's a shortage of engineers in UK
(Translation)
There's a shortage of people willing to work a High stress, high responsibility, high pressure for McDonald's level pay.
Your salary peaks in 3-5 years with zero further progression (more responsibility yes more pay no)
When your 25 knowing your current salary is what you can expect to get for the rest of Your career most years not even keeping up with inflation is pretty soul destroying.
After tution fees your worse of than if you just left school and started working in a supermarket.
Go into financial medical law instead. Hope someone heads this warning before you wake up 30 and it's too late
Scroll to see replies
Original post by kyfreak
I’m about to enter university for my degree in mechanical engineering in September 😱 can’t pick another course because I’m sponsored.
It depends on where you can get a job if you earn 30k in the North of England then it's ok you coico have a reasonable life not great but not bad. Down south your poverty stricken.
Still a good career abroad if you don't mind leaving. Me I don't want to leave for family reasons
My personal experience I've been working at a major aero company since 2012 my entire life saving right now £321 awesome right? Debt collection coming I'm behind on council tax!
Salary doesn't even cover cost of living where the company is based Mate who left school worked in Starbucks ever since got a house, savings nice lifestyle no tuition fees
If it's your passion then Go abroad it's still a respected profesion with good pay just not in UK
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by ----_----
Lol how **** did you do at uni lmao. Engineering is a safe bet in terms of getting a god paying job. Try doing a history or classics degree lmao then complain about low pay.
Come back in 5 years when you've real industry experience not the sales pitch your uni teacher preaches and let me know how it went.
You'll start on 27-8k couple years later you peak at 31-32k then watch your salary fail to keep up with inflation for the next 20 years. By 50 you'll have less real terms earnings.
The responsibility is high the pay isnt in line with it
That's why they keep telling you there a shortage, shortage of mugs to do this job for the money.
Abroad it's still quite good though
(edited 5 years ago)
Sounds right.
It's not just your industry though.
In my field they claim their is a shortage of skilled workers but the truth is the shortage is due to the skilled people not willing to work for peanuts.
Heck just look at teachers. All that extra studying and cost on top of daily unpaid work for pennies.
It's not just your industry though.
In my field they claim their is a shortage of skilled workers but the truth is the shortage is due to the skilled people not willing to work for peanuts.
Heck just look at teachers. All that extra studying and cost on top of daily unpaid work for pennies.
Original post by adam271
Sounds right.
It's not just your industry though.
In my field they claim their is a shortage of skilled workers but the truth is the shortage is due to the skilled people not willing to work for peanuts.
Heck just look at teachers. All that extra studying and cost on top of daily unpaid work for pennies.
It's not just your industry though.
In my field they claim their is a shortage of skilled workers but the truth is the shortage is due to the skilled people not willing to work for peanuts.
Heck just look at teachers. All that extra studying and cost on top of daily unpaid work for pennies.
Yeah skill shortage is often a codeword for wanting to pay less for skilled people... the people using the codeword are usually well paid but often don't seem objectively very skillful.
OP should look around for other jobs - you can usually either trade up with a different employer or negotiate a raise based on what you'd be able to get elsewhere... that's the game, especially in your 20s
Original post by adam271
Sounds right.
It's not just your industry though.
In my field they claim their is a shortage of skilled workers but the truth is the shortage is due to the skilled people not willing to work for peanuts.
Heck just look at teachers. All that extra studying and cost on top of daily unpaid work for pennies.
It's not just your industry though.
In my field they claim their is a shortage of skilled workers but the truth is the shortage is due to the skilled people not willing to work for peanuts.
Heck just look at teachers. All that extra studying and cost on top of daily unpaid work for pennies.
In the UK there's the added problem of every Tom **** and harry Being called "engineer" the man who plugs in your Wifi router is an "engineer"
"personal telecommunication service engineer" aka the greasy fat bloke who sells Dodgy phones on the market it has de valued the profession.
Most people think of an engineer as some kind of low level blue collar fitter or technician rather than a science based educated professional. The job has no presige in UK and this leads to lower wages ,poorer conditions etc.
The only shortage in UK is due to engineers going abroad where they are respecred as professionals and paid accordingly.
If it's your passion finish your degree and go abroad.
The UK is all about finances industry these days that's where the money is
(edited 5 years ago)
My father has a degree in engineering and has been incredibly successful in his career. It took him a long time to get there (I was born when he was 19 and throughout his 20s he earned very little) but his strong work ethic and willingness to take every opportunity that came his way (one of those included moving us to another country for 2 years) paid off.
Original post by Poverty eng
Engineering is an awful career if you want to have a nice quality of life, be able to have kids,provide for a family then avoid engineering!
I've been in Aerospace since 2012 terrible pay you'll struggle to eat and pay your bills forget raising a family.
They say there's a shortage of engineers in UK
(Translation)
There's a shortage of people willing to work a High stress, high responsibility, high pressure for McDonald's level pay.
Your salary peaks in 3-5 years with zero further progression (more responsibility yes more pay no)
When your 25 knowing your current salary is what you can expect to get for the rest of Your career most years not even keeping up with inflation is pretty soul destroying.
After tution fees your worse of than if you just left school and started working in a supermarket.
Go into financial medical law instead. Hope someone heads this warning before you wake up 30 and it's too late
I've been in Aerospace since 2012 terrible pay you'll struggle to eat and pay your bills forget raising a family.
They say there's a shortage of engineers in UK
(Translation)
There's a shortage of people willing to work a High stress, high responsibility, high pressure for McDonald's level pay.
Your salary peaks in 3-5 years with zero further progression (more responsibility yes more pay no)
When your 25 knowing your current salary is what you can expect to get for the rest of Your career most years not even keeping up with inflation is pretty soul destroying.
After tution fees your worse of than if you just left school and started working in a supermarket.
Go into financial medical law instead. Hope someone heads this warning before you wake up 30 and it's too late
Emigrate abroad. If I had half your knowledge and skill I would not be on TSR talking about it. If you can work in aerospace then any other industry below it should be childsplay.
Think outside the box. I know three people who started out with a path similar to yours. One of them is now in Indonesia working in oil production, another is in Australia playing with big earth moving equipment and mining, and third worked for the marketing department of Ferrari in China and is now moved on to the next gold-mine in the making.
Go for it.
Original post by modifiedgenes
Emigrate abroad. If I had half your knowledge and skill I would not be on TSR talking about it. If you can work in aerospace then any other industry below it should be childsplay.
Think outside the box. I know three people who started out with a path similar to yours. One of them is now in Indonesia working in oil production, another is in Australia playing with big earth moving equipment and mining, and third worked for the marketing department of Ferrari in China and is now moved on to the next gold-mine in the making.
Go for it.
Think outside the box. I know three people who started out with a path similar to yours. One of them is now in Indonesia working in oil production, another is in Australia playing with big earth moving equipment and mining, and third worked for the marketing department of Ferrari in China and is now moved on to the next gold-mine in the making.
Go for it.
I am! UmI looking at oil and gas however idI rather not relocate.
I'm also thinking of studying an IMC and changing careers into investments/banking that's what the UK economy is based on these days and that's where the money is.
Think about it logically the UK once used to be a manufacturing power house from ships to shoddy UK was an engineering nation but what's left? It's been sold off, the lot of it and now the economy runs on financial services city of London traders and banking.
Why would engineering be valued, respected, well paid in current time? It's old hat it's last century's good job
Original post by Poverty eng
I am! UmI looking at oil and gas however idI rather not relocate.
I'm also thinking of studying an IMC and changing careers into investments/banking that's what the UK economy is based on these days and that's where the money is.
Think about it logically the UK once used to be a manufacturing power house from ships to shoddy UK was an engineering nation but what's left? It's been sold off, the lot of it and now the economy runs on financial services city of London traders and banking.
Why would engineering be valued, respected, well paid in current time? It's old hat it's last century's good job
I'm also thinking of studying an IMC and changing careers into investments/banking that's what the UK economy is based on these days and that's where the money is.
Think about it logically the UK once used to be a manufacturing power house from ships to shoddy UK was an engineering nation but what's left? It's been sold off, the lot of it and now the economy runs on financial services city of London traders and banking.
Why would engineering be valued, respected, well paid in current time? It's old hat it's last century's good job
With all respect and I don't want to appear irksome: that has been the case for many decades in the UK. It doesn't matter though, the money is made when products are designed and when they are marketed. The value is not added during manufacture.
Get yourself abroad.
Original post by Poverty eng
I am! UmI looking at oil and gas however idI rather not relocate.
I'm also thinking of studying an IMC and changing careers into investments/banking that's what the UK economy is based on these days and that's where the money is.
Think about it logically the UK once used to be a manufacturing power house from ships to shoddy UK was an engineering nation but what's left? It's been sold off, the lot of it and now the economy runs on financial services city of London traders and banking.
Why would engineering be valued, respected, well paid in current time? It's old hat it's last century's good job
I'm also thinking of studying an IMC and changing careers into investments/banking that's what the UK economy is based on these days and that's where the money is.
Think about it logically the UK once used to be a manufacturing power house from ships to shoddy UK was an engineering nation but what's left? It's been sold off, the lot of it and now the economy runs on financial services city of London traders and banking.
Why would engineering be valued, respected, well paid in current time? It's old hat it's last century's good job
You sound very defeatist. You know where the money is in your field you just have to find it. No one said it was gonna be easy. :P
Original post by modifiedgenes
With all respect and I don't want to appear irksome: that has been the case for many decades in the UK. It doesn't matter though, the money is made when products are designed and when they are marketed. The value is not added during manufacture.
Get yourself abroad.
Get yourself abroad.
It has your right I'm daft for not realizin earlier only when I started studying financial markets and stocks and shares did I realize. I suddenly saw everything in a new light like never before.
The economy runs on investment banking that is this centuries new "good job"/respected profesion since it's what is powering the country kinda how eng was in the late 19th early 20th century aka last centuries good job
(edited 5 years ago)
I'm pretty sure OP is either trolling or is very much seeing everything through rose tinted glasses.
OP complains that Engineering is soul destroying then offers IB as an alternative which while earning noticeably more involves working double the hours or more each week and is generally not considered to be a particularly skilled or fulfilling job.
I grew up in the finance world and all the earnings that come with it, even more actually as I come from a higher income area than the UK. But actually you don't make that much more than what OP is saying unless you're in the Big 4 or really climbing ladders. My friends are now on 6 years of experience in the industry, working at major companies albeit not Big 4 and they are making just over the £30k mark. It's also worth noting that the typical route to a finance career is not via a degree and so to an extent you have already made a mistake if you've gone the degree route akin to the side of engineering that most people will come here for.
I had a pretty good life offered to me working for a medium sized company in the finance/business sector, with salaries most people making this choice could only dream of, travel opportunities with first class tickets across the world, access to the company's helicopter, being on the board before I turned 25 let alone 40 which would already be an incredible feat for most. That's what the right engineering expertise and the right job seeking expertise at the right place and time will get you in that industry, you can turn their millions into much more and they will return the favour in kind. That life wasn't my cup of tea however, of course it will be for some people but you really need to be in the situation before you know. It's also far from the norm, you get that when you run circles around the current people running things, not being a bog standard graduate.
It's also worth noting that engineering jobs tend to be in areas with lower cost of living so while you may be earning less you will have a lot more disposable income. For context I'm currently on my PhD stipend of £15k (~£17k taxable income equivalent) plus a little extra from other work in a major city, I have my own apartment, I eat out at good restaurants, and I'm on track to have about £5k leftover this year (or I would have if I wasn't travelling a lot). The main difference is I don't drive which would add about £3k per year from what I've seen and no council tax for ~£1.5k per year, but also I'm living in a more expensive area than many engineers would so even £20k as a salary can afford a pretty good life in these kinds of areas. Once you get past that, if you don't have a family to support then you are just giving yourself more disposable income. For good finance jobs you will be in much more expensive areas where the value of your salary quickly diminishes.
OP complains that Engineering is soul destroying then offers IB as an alternative which while earning noticeably more involves working double the hours or more each week and is generally not considered to be a particularly skilled or fulfilling job.
I grew up in the finance world and all the earnings that come with it, even more actually as I come from a higher income area than the UK. But actually you don't make that much more than what OP is saying unless you're in the Big 4 or really climbing ladders. My friends are now on 6 years of experience in the industry, working at major companies albeit not Big 4 and they are making just over the £30k mark. It's also worth noting that the typical route to a finance career is not via a degree and so to an extent you have already made a mistake if you've gone the degree route akin to the side of engineering that most people will come here for.
I had a pretty good life offered to me working for a medium sized company in the finance/business sector, with salaries most people making this choice could only dream of, travel opportunities with first class tickets across the world, access to the company's helicopter, being on the board before I turned 25 let alone 40 which would already be an incredible feat for most. That's what the right engineering expertise and the right job seeking expertise at the right place and time will get you in that industry, you can turn their millions into much more and they will return the favour in kind. That life wasn't my cup of tea however, of course it will be for some people but you really need to be in the situation before you know. It's also far from the norm, you get that when you run circles around the current people running things, not being a bog standard graduate.
It's also worth noting that engineering jobs tend to be in areas with lower cost of living so while you may be earning less you will have a lot more disposable income. For context I'm currently on my PhD stipend of £15k (~£17k taxable income equivalent) plus a little extra from other work in a major city, I have my own apartment, I eat out at good restaurants, and I'm on track to have about £5k leftover this year (or I would have if I wasn't travelling a lot). The main difference is I don't drive which would add about £3k per year from what I've seen and no council tax for ~£1.5k per year, but also I'm living in a more expensive area than many engineers would so even £20k as a salary can afford a pretty good life in these kinds of areas. Once you get past that, if you don't have a family to support then you are just giving yourself more disposable income. For good finance jobs you will be in much more expensive areas where the value of your salary quickly diminishes.
Sounds like you are not an Engineer 
Original post by Poverty eng
Engineering is an awful career if you want to have a nice quality of life, be able to have kids,provide for a family then avoid engineering!
I've been in Aerospace since 2012 terrible pay you'll struggle to eat and pay your bills forget raising a family.
They say there's a shortage of engineers in UK
(Translation)
There's a shortage of people willing to work a High stress, high responsibility, high pressure for McDonald's level pay.
Your salary peaks in 3-5 years with zero further progression (more responsibility yes more pay no)
When your 25 knowing your current salary is what you can expect to get for the rest of Your career most years not even keeping up with inflation is pretty soul destroying.
After tution fees your worse of than if you just left school and started working in a supermarket.
Go into financial medical law instead. Hope someone heads this warning before you wake up 30 and it's too late
I've been in Aerospace since 2012 terrible pay you'll struggle to eat and pay your bills forget raising a family.
They say there's a shortage of engineers in UK
(Translation)
There's a shortage of people willing to work a High stress, high responsibility, high pressure for McDonald's level pay.
Your salary peaks in 3-5 years with zero further progression (more responsibility yes more pay no)
When your 25 knowing your current salary is what you can expect to get for the rest of Your career most years not even keeping up with inflation is pretty soul destroying.
After tution fees your worse of than if you just left school and started working in a supermarket.
Go into financial medical law instead. Hope someone heads this warning before you wake up 30 and it's too late
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