Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineers are responsible for designing, analysing and testing aircraft, space shuttles and missiles. This career is often associated with space exploration and jets but can apply to anything that is moving in the air or in a liquid, for example: golf balls, racing cars and deep-sea vessels. An aerospace engineer might be asked to develop a simulation of an aerospace vehicle using advanced mathematical modelling or to co-ordinate the building of aircraft and spacecraft.
The field has progressed a long way since the Wright brothers first flew their plane 120 feet, to the age of supersonic jets and the development of new technology should continue to increase demand for aerospace engineers.
Maths and physics are essential subjects for anybody who wants to go on to study aerospace engineering. A bachelor’s degree in the field is the minimum requirement for most entry-level jobs in aerospace engineering.
Agricultural Engineering
Agricultural engineers use their knowledge of engineering technology and agriculture to increase the efficiency of agricultural systems and biological resources. As well as creating advances in farming and figuring out how to get the most from our resources, this means establishing systems of environmental control to help create a sustainable way of living.
This is becoming an increasingly important career as we face both a rapidly expanding population and growing concerns about the environment. As an agricultural engineer you could help find solutions to these problems.
Maths and all sciences are useful when applying for a degree in agricultural engineering. It is also important to show an interest in the outdoors. You will need at least a bachelor’s degree before you can work as an agricultural engineer.
Audio Engineering
The songs you download online, the sounds you hear on your TV and from the speakers at a concert; these are all, in part, created by an audio engineer. Audio engineers can be involved in the creative side of mixing different tracks to produce a CD or on the practical side of preparing a large venue for a concert. It is easy to take for granted the number of sounds that we hear every day that have been created by audio engineers – there are thousands of different jobs available.
Some small broadcasting companies offer on the job training but there are much better opportunities for career progression for those with a college degree in electrical or sound engineering. Physics and creative subjects are important.
Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
Bio-engineers are extremely important in protecting human health and the health of the environment. They help to ensure the safety of our food supplies and keep useful organisms alive during fermentation processes. They also work on the breakdown of waste and so can help clean up pollution from water and soil. Bioengineers may be called on to develop new medical technology, to find the source of an outbreak of disease or to help solve the problem of a toxic leak.
Biomedical engineers do largely similar work as well as developing new medical drugs, artificial organs and prosthetic devices. This really is a life-saving field of engineering.
Maths, chemistry and biology are important subjects to go on to study bioengineering or biochemistry. A medical degree can also lead to a career in bioengineering. Unlike some other fields of engineering, a master’s degree is often the minimum requirement for entry-level jobs.
Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineers play a big role in industry, creating improvements in plastics, fuels and fibres as well as the development of new medicines. They also do a lot of work to help the environment by creating cleaner technology and studying the environmental impact of different chemicals. Chemical engineers are often consulted for help in developing ways to mass-produce a product cheaply or how to use dangerous chemicals safely during the production phase.
Similarly, they can be involved in ensuring the safety of the final product using their knowledge of chemical reactions. As chemicals form the basis of everything around us chemical engineers are always in high demand.
Anybody wanting to become a chemical engineer must study maths and chemistry; physics is also useful. A bachelor’s degree in chemistry or chemical engineering is enough to begin your career but a lot of prior work experience from internships in industry is the norm.
Civil Engineering
Civil engineers work on infrastructure projects and so can be responsible for improving the lives of others by getting involved in building a road network or a new school. Civil Engineering also includes many high profile projects such as building bridges, dams or skyscrapers; they are the ones who face the challenge of finding ways to build plans that are dreamed up by architects. This is a field of engineering where it is very easy to see the results of your work around you.
Often civil engineers have to use ingenuity and creative solutions to solve problems rather than simply developing new technology. For example, the civil engineers of ancient Egypt succeeding in building the pyramids without the use of power tools or trucks.
Maths and physics are necessary subjects but social sciences and creative subjects can also be useful. A bachelor’s degree can get you a job in civil engineering but a graduate degree may be required before you can move on to a management level position.
Computer Engineering
Computer engineers are responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of everything to do with computer technology. Computer hardware engineers work on developing faster and more powerful computer chips; early computers took up an entire room and it is due to the work of hardware engineers that technology like laptops can exist.
Software engineers develop programmes to run on computers that can allow them to complete new functions. This is a field that provides a lot of opportunity to create new technology. Think how new the concept of a personal computer is and how much computing has progressed since then to get some idea of how quickly this career is moving.
Many colleges combine their computer-engineering course with electrical engineering, as both fields require similar knowledge. Maths and physics are required to be admitted on a course like this; computer-programming classes may be useful but are not normally a necessity.
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is the largest field within engineering and plays a large part in the modern world. Electrical engineers can work on an incredible range of issues: from developing the latest MP3 player to providing electricity to an entire city to sending wireless communications across the world. There are also opportunities at the cutting-edge of new technology, such as in robotics and developing new software.
A qualification in electrical engineering can lead to a career in any branch of the whole engineering industry as so many different fields depend on electrical technology. If you have ever wondered how gadgets work and how you could use electricity to create your own devices then perhaps electrical engineering is the career for you.
Maths and physics are again the necessary subjects for anybody wishing to go on to study electrical engineering. A bachelor’s degree will qualify you to begin your career in the field of electrical engineering.
Environmental Engineering
Environmental engineers dedicate themselves to protecting the environment. If you care about the effect pollution has on the environment and on our health, then working as an environmental engineer is a way you could something about it. Environmental engineers can work alongside companies or cities to find ways to grow and develop without having a negative impact on the surrounding environment or they might work to clean up existing environmental problems, such as how to clean up an oil spill or treat wastewater. This is becoming an increasingly important career as we become more aware of the different problems facing the environment.
Maths and sciences are the necessary subjects to study environmental engineering but many university courses in environmental engineering include classes in social sciences to help understand the complex issues behind pollution and so experience in these subjects is helpful.
Geological and Geophysical Engineering
Geological and geophysical Engineers use their knowledge of geology to assess the suitability of different locations for buildings or mines. They study the movement of plate tectonics, the rocks and soils that make up the Earth and how the Earth’s surface may change in the future.
They can also be consulted to try and predict earthquakes and ensure that buildings will be able to withstand them. As an engineer in this field you may be asked to prepare recommendations regarding large building projects, protect groundwater flow from contamination or help discover new sources of minerals.
To become a geological or geophysical engineer you will need to take classes in chemistry, physics and maths. A degree in geology is as useful as one specialising in geophysical engineering when starting a career in this field. A bachelor’s degree is likely to be the minimum requirement for entry-level jobs.
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Industrial and systems engineers are known as efficiency experts because it is their job to establish the most productive use of people, machines, materials and energy. This is one of the most varied fields of engineering as efficiency is a goal in almost all economic activity. You may be asked to work on something technical, such as studying new machinery and recommending efficient combinations, or something much more strongly based around human psychology, such as how to predict what stock needs to be kept in reserve or how to simplify people’s jobs – it was industrial engineers who made surgeons’ jobs easier by creating the system where nurses pass them equipment during surgery.
You will need to study maths, physics and social sciences to get a bachelor’s degree in this field. As the work revolves around how to run a business, industrial engineers often progress to the management level of companies. This also means that there are regularly job openings lower down the ladder.
Manufacturing Engineering
Manufacturing engineers help to make things. They work on the production line to design the best possible production system. This means tackling issues such as what materials and machines to use and how the production process can be made cheaper without compromising on quality. This often leads to working with advanced technology such as machine vision and robotics as well as the complex computer systems that control them.
Manufacturing engineers can work in many different sectors of industry, including food and drink, oils, plastics and pharmaceuticals. Many manufacturing engineers becoming increasingly specialised as their career progresses and focus on the development of that particular field, while others take a broader management perspective.
Maths and physics are the required subjects to go on to study manufacturing engineering at university. It is becoming increasingly common for those first entering the field to first have a master’s degree in engineering.
Marine and Ocean Engineering
The sea and the maritime industry play an extremely important part in the global economy. Marine and ocean engineers may work in the maritime and shipping industry designing ships, harbours and marine propulsion systems to help make world trade possible. Alternatively they may work in deep-sea exploration, developing underwater vessels or seeking out new resources from the sea.
Instead they could work on extracting known resources from the sea – ensuring structures such as oil drilling platforms will be able to survive the power of the ocean and help to preserve the strength of oil pipelines to prevent leaks and environmental disaster.
Maths and physics are the necessary subjects to go on to a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering. As this is quite a specialised field of engineering generally those with a bachelor’s degree in marine or ocean engineering will find good job prospects.
Materials Engineering
Materials engineers develop materials that are suited to different tasks. They work with metals, ceramics, plastics and other synthetic materials. Many of the materials required for everyday products are not found naturally and have to be created by materials engineers. Many of the materials that make up your household objects, clothing and cars were created in laboratories.
Materials engineers have to understand why different materials are suited to different tasks and which to use for different projects, for example, would you build an underwater tunnel with the same materials that you would use to build a tunnel through a mountain?
Maths and chemistry are the subjects required to study materials engineering. While a bachelor’s degree will qualify you for some entry-level jobs, a master’s degree is often preferred.
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineers work in almost every area of technology, in anything that involves moving parts. This can take them from developing simple and durable designs for machinery to be used in the developing world, to developing the latest nanotechnology and high performance devices the size of molecules.
As well as working at this micro level, mechanical engineers are also needed to work on larger machines – planes, roller coasters, cars and big industrial machines all have working parts that need to be able to run smoothly. Mechanical engineers will even have opportunities to develop their own machines or parts to help things to run more smoothly.
Physics and maths are essential subjects and some courses in mechanical engineering also require chemistry. A bachelor’s degree in engineering is enough to begin work in the field but a master’s degree may be needed to take advantage of opportunities being creating in biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Mining Engineering
Mining engineers are responsible for finding sources of coals, metals and minerals, building mines and managing them safely without damage to the environment. Mining engineers today have a wide range of tools at their disposal for locating new mineral deposits, for example by using satellite technology and examining differences in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Once a deposit has been located the area’s suitability for a mine must be tested – it is up to mining engineers to decide where and how a mine should be built. Mining engineers may also work on developing new mining equipment – the latest technology can remove up to 10.8 metric tonnes of coal a minute.
Maths, physics and chemistry are essential subjects at school level. Not many universities offer a specialised mining engineering degree so a degree in geology or related field of engineering is often the starting point for this career.
Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear engineers learn how to use the power of the atom. A large part of this involves working in nuclear power stations – already the source of electricity for many people. Nuclear power is also commonly used to power things such as space shuttles. Your career will centre around solving some of the problems around nuclear power, for example, how to improve safety and cut down on nuclear waste. You may even help to make nuclear fusion – a more powerful and sustainable form of nuclear energy – a practical reality.
Aside from the controversial development of nuclear power, nuclear engineers can be strongly involved in medicine, some colleges even offer a specialised nuclear medical technology degree, as radiation can be used in procedures ranging from x-rays to treatment that can destroy cancer cells.
Studying chemistry, maths and physics will allow you to go on to a degree in nuclear engineering. Those wanting to take the medical route may need to have a specific nuclear medical technology degree or degree in a health related field.
Petroleum Engineering
Petroleum engineers are experts in oil and gas resources. They help to locate new sources of oil and gas that have become so important in powering our world. They supervise the construction and development of oil and gas fields and are ensure that as much as possible is extracted from each well.
Petroleum engineers are also responsible for developing the safe storage and transportation of oil and gas across the world. Some work on developing new technologies to make locating and exploiting these resources more efficient and to reduce the environmental damage that they cause.
Maths, chemistry and physics are again the important subjects for anybody who wants to be a petroleum engineer. A bachelor’s degree in geology or related field of engineering will allow you to begin your career as a petroleum engineer.
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