• Question: How did you get into your job, and how long did it take you to get to where you are now?

    Asked by M.Richards27 to Chris, Holly, Lyd, Mark, Michael on 8 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by 295prdn48, Jack C-W, Booney.
    • Photo: Mark Dougherty

      Mark Dougherty answered on 8 Nov 2015:


      After university in 2010 I started applying for engineering jobs. I had to go to a lot of interviews and assessment days that were pretty scary but got selected by Heinz and have been engineering ever since!

      I studied chemical engineering at university, this isn’t the only way to get into my job but as long as you take an interest in maths and science there are lots of engineering opportunities for you.

    • Photo: Chris Francis

      Chris Francis answered on 9 Nov 2015:


      The long way! I failed my GCSE’s except for French and Drama. Then I re-sat them and did a foundation course in engineering. The following year I enrolled upon a national diploma and was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship with Bosch. I made several mistakes along the way, the biggest being to not enrol upon a degree when I finished my apprenticeship. I then worked hard for several years until I had enough experience to get a job as an engineer. Even then I did another five years as a Senior Engineer before enrolling upon a degree this year! That is a total of 21 years. My advice to all young aspiring engineers would be to get that degree when you are young and have no commitments. It takes so much longer if you follow the experience route.

    • Photo: Holly Miller

      Holly Miller answered on 10 Nov 2015:


      I studied Chemical Engineering at University. When I finished my degree, in 2011, I decided to go travelling for a little bit around Australia. At the same time I started applying for jobs. I had decided by this point that I was interested in Process Engineering.
      It was two years, and a lot of interviews and assessment centres, before I was offered the job at Jaguar Land Rover. I was rejected after a lot of the interviews/applications but I had to remember that the right job would come along eventually.

    • Photo: Michael Sulu

      Michael Sulu answered on 20 Nov 2015:


      It took a while! It only takes 3-4 years to become and engineer but i chose to do another degree and then a PhD so it took me 9 years of education and this is my second research job!

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