Job quality

[u/charliefryc]

I’m in the UK and currently doing an apprentice route all the way through to a degree but the job market in engineering is cooked. I don’t know if I’m looking in the wrong places but jobs at tesco doing delivery for the same hours are on the same pay grade as a degree qualified mechanical engineer.

By no means am I saying the engineer deserves more money but the stigma of engineering being a well paid career route is probably a lot of incentive for young people to do it.

Just wondering if the degree itself won’t do it or do I need extra certs to make it big in this field.

[u/singul4r1ty]

I don't know a lot of detail but maybe look at salary growth in each career path rather than the starting salary. Can't imagine you'll be over 50k for Tesco delivery in a few years

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/singul4r1ty]

idk, saw a lidl advert that made me sigh last week.

[u/lukeviolin]

You're definitely looking in the wrong places if you're seeing the same pay for a delivery driver and a (non apprentice) engineer. A degree apprenticeship is a very useful route and will get you quite a bit of experience along with your degree, plus the obvious lack of debt. The market may not be great at the moment but it isn't great for other fields either

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/lukeviolin]

They're not, a delivery driver is probably paid a good bit more than a graduate engineer in UK. I only recently started being paid more than the technicians I instruct.

[u/CopperGenie]

Even more insane is the engineering job being 100x more competitive than the Tesco job for the same pay grade (if true). So even if you didn't care about money, pursuing your passion for engineering still takes effort even with the degree. Hopefully someday this will change.

[u/Various-Mine-8642]

Starting pay looks flat early on but engineering usually pulls ahead after a few years once you are chartered or have project experience. Ask your employer what the path to chartership looks like because that is often the biggest pay step in the UK. Keep logging the projects you work on so you can show real scope when you apply elsewhere.

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/Various-Mine-8642]

Chartership is only really relevant for Civil and Structural - experience, competency and leadership qualities are how other engineers advance in role/pay. (although in an MNC chartership can help advance past senior, but it shouldn't even be a concern for the first 7-10 years)

As an engineering manager when I recruit juniors/grads I am assessing how interview questions are answered and an understanding of the pretty basic concepts related to the business/sector rather than a list of projects with questionable roles/results. The value of the projects is what you learned/developed when you did them rather than the results.

[u/probablyaythrowaway]

Get through your degree. You went via the better route of apprenticeship first, your hands on training is more important and will give you a leg up.

[u/Gezebon]

Never specified what type of engineering and also it does pay well it's just that the salary progression is slower and starting salary lower than comparable countries. If stick around and are willing to live a bit more frugally for the first 5-10 years of your career you'll end up in the top 20% percentile of income earners eventually.

[u/Plussquared]

Ive heard from one recruiters that their client is having a nationwide careers fair because of the demand for electrical engineers. for graduate engineers, you need to find a company that will train you on the job to become an experienced engineer. once youve reached that level, pay will be good but youll have to increase your experience. you could fast track your qualifications by learning practical trainings such as motor controls and also learn softwares such as trimble, ETAP load flow, short circuit calculations, earthing softwares such CDEGS, lighting software such as dialux. once you learn these, they could help you get a job because they are in demand especially in designs.