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Will professional engineering ever be respected/understood in the UK?

Do you think that anything will ever be done to protect the title engineer like in other countries? You can design jet engines/nuclear reactors and are given the same job title as the primary school handyman that unblocks the gutter.

I graduated with a Masters degree in engineering which involved learning advanced scientific subjects like maths, programming and electronics and then applying it to complex projects. It's very frustrating that most of the public aren't educated on this and there's no respect like there is with other fields which are arguably equally if not less challenging. The other issue is that salaries at small/medium engineering firms are often less than many unskilled jobs in the UK.

Most of the people I come across have no idea and assume that I go round fixing boilers with a spanner. At the job centre all the personal advisors I had would just recommend jobs such as electrician apprenticeships for school leavers, maintenance engineer (usually meaning handyman), or gas meter installers.

Why is it so hard to have protected job titles and edcuate people that engineers design things, technicians build or repair them and electricians install them?

Reply 1

alex282

I'm glad I left the field and now live an easier and more financially rewarding life and would advise anyone else who is thinking of studying engineering to be prepared for a high-stress, low-respect, low-job security and low-pay life

Reply 2

Chris2892

I studied mechanical engineering and have published research. If someone asks if I fix cars, I just say yes.

I can’t see why there’s any need to go into any detail with someone who doesn’t know what an engineer is, other than to feed your own ego. The same goes for employers, if they undervalue an engineers ability, then I doubt the role would have been any good anyway.

Reply 3

ajj2000

Why should it be protected? My understanding is that the term 'engineer' become widely used in the UK to reference the people who maintained engines in mines, locamotives etc. So not designers using calculus at all. Wouldn't a better answer be to use the term Chartered Engineer more?

What job is that?

Original post by KrashMoney

What job is that?

The maintenance engineer handyman gutter-unblockerer

Reply 6

0le

In my opinion it is not really about respect. I think it is more about the fact that the UK has changed into a services country which focuses more on management consultancy and finance rather than design engineering and manufacturing. Most of the science work in the UK is also focused on biology and life science as well.