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Engineering as Physics grad?

Does anyone know how long it would take and what the route would be like if I wanted to become an engineer after completing a physics degree?

Reply 1

WrexhamUniReps

Official Rep

Hi there 👋

I think a physics degree will help you in your goal to pursue a career in engineering as many of the knowledge and skills you have gained will intertwine. There are some considerations you should make:

1. Which field of engineering would you like to go in to? (E.g electrical, mechanical, etc)

2. Gain relevant skills - whilst physics will equip you with some of the skills, you may require more specific skills depending on the field of engineering you’d like to go in to. Consider gaining certifications / online classes to build knowledge in your chosen field.

3. Experience - try to gain some experience in the field. Consider internships or volunteering opportunities in the field.

4. If you feel that you need additional knowledge and skills and want to stand out, consider doing a masters degree in your chosen field. Most masters are only one year, so this is an effective way to build your knowledge and skills in a quick time frame, and obtain any accreditations/ experience you may need.

I hope this helps. Best of luck with your journey to becoming an engineer! 😊

Lauren
WrexhamUniReps

Reply 2

sound-famous-

Hi Lauren, thanks for the reply. My situation isn't that I currently want to be an engineer, as in that case I would opt for an engineering degree. I don't know what I want to do later on and I am going to start university doing a physics degree and figure out later on what I want to do. My question is that, in the case that I decide after my degree that I want to go into engineering, what would I have to do then to become a qualified engineer?

Reply 3

ThatguyAl

Original post by sound-famous-

Engineering is way more hands on, while physics would be more theory, math and simulations focused.

A qualified engineer in the UK is formally known as CEng, or Chartered Engineer. You can read about the requirements to acquire such status on the IMechE (for mechanical engineering) and the IET (for elec engineering, although it's multi-disciplinary) websites. One of the mandatory requirements is to have completed Masters in Engineering, which you could do after your bachelors in physics.

Bear in mind that it's not that common to be required to have a CEng status to be able to work, unless it's a construction, Rail systems, or some sort of consultancy company. Every other industry don't really care about this and as long as you have developed some hands on skills in the engineering domain (electrical, electronics, mechanical or software) you should be fine.

If the reason to do physics course is only because you don't know which engineering domain you want to focus on you can always do mechatronics engineering.
If you are just exploring options then - if you stick with physics degree it's also fine, check out gradcracker to see what internship and graduate options you may have - https://www.gradcracker.com/

With physics degree only it may be a little more challenging (although not impossible) to get into engineering, so as Lauren has already suggested you may want to do a 12-month engineering placement before you graduate. Again, see gradcracker for that - https://www.gradcracker.com/search/all-disciplines/engineering-work-placements-internships

As someone who hires STEM students for engineering internships and graduate roles every year, I wouldn't mind a candidate with a physics degree at all, but I'd need some evidence of hands on work for such candidate to stand out from the other candidates who are almost always on an engineering degree course.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 4

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by sound-famous-

Does anyone know how long it would take and what the route would be like if I wanted to become an engineer after completing a physics degree?

Yea I see it fairly regularly & have worked with a few. No doubt the overwhelming majority of engineers come the “conventional academic path” but its definitely possible & in some industries more common.

Ive seen three paths:
- direct entry, you have specific skills that can be applied, ive seen this mostly in the nuclear industry but I wouldn’t rule out other industries
- masters: do a 1 year MSc in engineering then try and move into a graduate role, seen this a fair few times
- PhD/post-PhD: quite specific stuff but often where the boundaries of applied physics & mechanical engineering are blurry anyway

Id note a previous post mentions engineering is way more hands on, the reality is engineering is an eclectic mix of many different roles and whilst some roles are “hands on” there are many engineers who work entirely on digital analysis (on simulations & modelling) & a lot who work in between to correlate & understand how simulation or digital twins are represented in real applications. Id say now high performance computing is cheaper then ever, as well as much more sophisticated methods to easily correlate simulations and the advent of AI means I wouldn’t be worried about not being a “hands on” engineer if you have no interest in it. Although it’s important to note physics in totality is also “hands on” telescopes/particle colliders/MRI machines etc. are physical experiments (and in engineering as with physics the hands on roles rely on extensive support from technicians who are way better at experiment construction & maintenance then professional engineers).

Nobody really cares what undergraduate degree you have, they care what you are capable of doing. Ive seen a lot cross pollination & people changing disciplines.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 5

Smack

Volunteer Team

Original post by sound-famous-

Does anyone know how long it would take and what the route would be like if I wanted to become an engineer after completing a physics degree?

What type of engineering are you interested in?

Reply 6

sound-famous-

Original post by Smack

What type of engineering are you interested in?

I don't know this is all just thinking about my options for after I do a physics degree (i'm applying to uni this year). I guess something like mechanical or environmental engineering something like that.

Reply 7

Smack

Volunteer Team

Original post by sound-famous-

Mechanical or environmental could be quite challenging from physics. Software and electronics are probably more accessible. However, if you're looking to do engineering, an engineering degree is always a better option than physics.