• Question: What type of engineering do you do?

    Asked by Anya A to Sophie, Abigail on 7 Jun 2021.
    • Photo: Abigail Seager

      Abigail Seager answered on 7 Jun 2021:

      Great question – I’d say my job is a little bit of a mixture. I’m a Systems Engineer which means I help build and look after a few different systems. I do some broadcast engineering (solving problems to do with making telly and radio shows), but I also do some network engineering (finding ways to get computers talking to eachother) and sometimes even a little bit of software engineering (coding). It’s a real mixture, which is one of the things I think makes it really fun!

    • Photo: Sophie Dawson

      Sophie Dawson answered on 10 Jun 2021:

      My job title is Mechanical Design Engineer, but my degree was in medical engineering. They’re largely the same sort of job, but one just has a focus on the body instead. If you decided to do either at uni, you could easily switch between the two in future jobs – I’d recommend going for the one you’d enjoy most if this is something you’re interested in. Day to day, I design parts and products, I write the training material to teach surgeons about how to use the products that the company make, and I also get to test and break different components. The job changes a lot each day, so it’s always really interesting!

Comments

  • Photo: Mark

    Mark commented on :

    Hi Abigail, it is a good question and I could answer in several ways. In my experience when you become an Engineer I think it is often the case that you engage in engineering generally. Engineers will have a specialist topic, mine is Mechanical-Engineering, but projects often include multiple disciplines and Engineers of all disciplines can’t help but engage in discussion. Engineering is about solving problems and offering solutions, Engineers want to be part of the solution regardless of their specialist topic. In a nutshell – I get involved in as many areas of engineered solutions as opportunity presents.

  • Photo: Ruth

    Ruth commented on :

    I’m a mechanical engineer and I look after existing equipment! What that means is that we have a site that is designed for making chemicals that go into plastic, and it takes a lot of difficult equipment to do that! I look after each bit of equipment, and make sure that everything stays on and runs as it should. Sometimes I have to fix things that have broken, sometimes I have to improve things! It’s all about keeping things going, the job never ends and I’m always busy, which is just how I like it

  • Photo: Helen

    Helen commented on :

    I’m a Civil Engineer but i’ve worked on things from Water Treatment Works to roads to big masts to Energy from Waste plans so even within one type of engineering there is lots of different things you can do. I currently work trying to make infrastructure (buildings/roads etc) more sustainable.