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The fruits of engineering are all around us – from the clean water we drink and the homes we live in, to the computers we use everyday and the cars, trains and planes we travel in.

There’s virtually no part of modern society that is not touched to some degree by technology and engineering, and the people behind such cutting edge projects are constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved, with incredible results.
Those who work in engineering and associated fields have a thirst for problem solving and lateral thinking, finding fiendishly clever solutions to seemingly impossible tasks. To many people, it’s an industry that is the preserve of men – with the sexist view that females can hardly change a car wheel, never mind design a complicated printed circuit board or draw up the blueprints for a cutting-edge jet engine.

But the truth is that women are easily the equal of men, capable of tackling the toughest engineering challenges in multi-billion pound projects and coming up with practical, efficient and effective results.

Despite this though, women are woefully underrepresented in the industry. Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that only 15 per cent of students on engineering and technology courses are women, and there are even fewer graduates going on to stay in engineering as a career. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, which promotes engineering excellence in the UK, only about five per cent of engineering practitioners are women.

In the job itself, the talents for communication, problem-solving, multi-tasking, creativity, innovation and adaptability that many women have are a tremendous boon, often putting them at a distinct advantage to their male counterparts.

Corinne Dauncey, from TipTopJob.com, says being female can actually be a great help in engineering. ‘The fact there are not that many women in the industry, means it allows women to stand out and where good work is achieved, it is noticed,’ she says.
‘Those working women engineers who have made it to the tops of organisation have become role models. They are extremely motivated to get other women on board and are actively tempting more women into the industry.’

Andrew Gordon, director of jobs.ac.uk, a specialist jobs board in research, science and academic related professions, adds that a candidate’s qualifications, skills and experience rather than gender are the crucial criteria firms will look at.

‘Engineering is typically seen as a male-only industry,’ he says. ‘But because of the change in society’s attitudes and the need for more skilled people, engineering employers will look more at the person rather than their gender. Good qualifications, an appreciation of the work involved and, if possible, practical experience will always help any candidate.’

As engineering cuts across virtually every industry, business and organisation, the variety and type of jobs available are almost endless – including many ‘non-engineering’ employers who still need the skills of engineers.
Private sector firms specialising in engineering services are the obvious employer, but the public sector requires thousands of engineers – including the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, as well as the police, local and national government and the NHS, to name but a few.

Engineering opens up a wide range of career opportunities. Previous research published by the Engineering Council UK and the Engineering and Technology Board, showed that 40 per cent of engineers are employed in manufacturing and 20 per cent work in finance and business. Engineers are also well represented in the transport and communication sector and hold important positions in major UK businesses – in 2006, 14 per cent of FTSE 100 top executives held engineering qualifications.

Defence, electronics and aerospace giant BAE Systems (www.graduates-baesystems.com) is the UK’s employer of engineers, with 11,600 engineers out of a total workforce of 30,000 people in Britain. In 2006 the firm recruited 147 graduates in total, 88 of which were engineering graduates, however only 11 of these were female.

BAE Systems' education partnership director Richard Hamer says the company wants to further improve on this to draw more women into the industry. He says: ‘A more diverse workplace is often a more creative workplace. BAE Systems is keen to encourage innovation in engineering and ensuring that it can draw upon the inspiration and creativity of women can only make us a stronger business.’
Management, engineering and consultancy firm Mouchel Parkman (www.mouchelparkman.com) took on approximately 105 graduates last year – with about one third of these being female – and will take on a similar number of university leavers this year.

Vicky Davies, graduate recruitment officer at Mott MacDonald (www.mottmac.com) – another management, engineering and development consultancy – says: ‘Last year 27 per cent of our graduate engineer in-take were women. As an equal opportunities employer, we'd love to see more apply. We believe all of our graduates make an important contribution to the success and future of our business.’

Qualifications
Professional engineering needs hands-on experience as well as a thorough understanding of the theory. Many professional engineers enter the profession through a university degree, although it’s also possible to progress through vocational, work-based training.

The Engineering Council UK sets standards for the registration of Chartered Engineers (CEng), Incorporated Engineers (IEng) and Engineering Technicians (EngTech) in all job disciplines.

Graduates with appropriate degrees and experience can work to achieving Chartered or Incorporated Engineer status. Those without relevant degrees but with appropriate relevant experience can also apply to become Chartered or Incorporated Engineers through an individual route.

Anyone working in an engineering or construction field with knowledge and understanding of technical matters at around NVQ3/ONC level (Level 3), or with an Advanced Apprenticeship, who can show competence and experience and commitment to professional standards can apply to be registered as an EngTech.

Getting a job
Competition for the very best jobs is fierce – last year BAE Systems received 4,900 applications for graduate posts – so it’s crucial that students and graduates make themselves as employable as possible.
Many of the top engineering firms look for a 2.1 or higher degree in engineering, although they may consider a 2.2 degree in excellent candidates. Very specialised jobs may even require an MSc or even a PhD in certain engineering subject areas.
Work experience is considered crucial – ideally you’ll have got industrial placements both before and during your degree to accumulate as much hands-on abilities as possible.
According to The Smallpeice Trust, a charity that promotes engineering careers to young people, especially women, 75 per cent of all UK engineering graduates find a job within six months of leaving university, one of the highest percentages of any sector.
If you don’t have an engineering degree, it doesn’t mean you can’t join the profession. There are engineering conversion courses available, particularly for those who have done a maths or science based first degree where they will already have picked up much of the basics.
For arts and languages graduates, it’s far trickier to convert as they’ll have much further to go in catching up. They might be able to join the profession at a lower level though, through vocational qualifications and an apprenticeship, and work their way up. Also most large engineering companies have lots of other managerial and support positions, often at graduate level.

Pay and benefits
Engineering as a profession has great career prospects, challenges and job security. In the best firms, training and career progression are usually excellent, with the opportunity to work on a wide range of exciting projects and often plenty of foreign travel as well.
Starting salary for graduate engineers can be anywhere between £18,000 to £27,000, depending on the size of the employer and its location. A survey by the Institution of Chemical Engineers found that chemical engineering graduates can expect to earn on average £24,000 with salaries exceeding £32,000 for the high flyers.
Salary expectations throughout an engineering career are good. The Engineering and Technology Board, a charity which aims to improve the perception of science, engineering and technology in the UK, found that the average gross earnings for registered Chartered Engineers in 2005 was £53,100.

Different engineering careers
Engineering touches just about every part of the economy, with jobs in a huge number of sectors and industries – here’s a selection of the main ones:

Aeronautical; Agricultural; Automobile; Biochemical; Biomedical; Building services; Chemical; Civil; Control; Electrical and electronic; Energy; Fire; Gas; Instrument; Manufacturing and systems; Marine; Mechanical; Military and defence; Mining; Municipal; Nuclear; Offshore; Operations; Petroleum; Production; Recording; Robotics; Structural; Transport; Water

Key attributes in engineering
• Ability to problem-solve
• Resourceful and practical
• Able to multitask on a variety of projects
• Good at understanding how things work
• A genuine desire to create solutions
• Good communication skills
• Team leader potential
• Ability to be flexible and adapt
• Focus and attention to detail

Contacts
Engineering Council UK - www.engc.org.uk
The Institution of Engineering and Technology - www.theiet.org
Royal Academy of Engineering – www.raeng.org.uk
The Engineering and Technology Board - www.etechb.co.uk
The Smallpeice Trust - www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/

Industry expert view
Dr Helen Meese, is a senior engineer working for Alstec (www.alstec.com), a large engineering firm with key market sectors in airports, nuclear and defence industries. She has been in the engineering sector for about 15 years, including time in academia, and as well as managing a team working on defence projects, she is also an ambassador for SETNET, an which encourages science and engineering in young people.

‘Engineering is a fantastic career to go into – I can’t think of a better one. The things I’ve seen and done and the places I’ve been are just incredible.
At the moment I’m working on defence projects, with state of the art engineering. It’s very exciting and brings huge responsibilities. There’s a real sense of day-to-day challenge – you thrive on it if it’s for you. When you get to the end of a problem you feel very proud. It’s a real achievement.
It’s not always easy for girls though. While on an industrial placement I once worked on an oil refinery – I was one of only two women engineers out of 600 men on the site. I had a run in with one of the men who thought I shouldn’t have been there – you have to be able to stand up for yourself.
A lot of women are put off by the thought that it’s a male dominated industry and that they don’t have an input but that’s completely untrue. However, it’s certainly not an easy ride – right the way through you have to really prove yourself and work twice as hard.
It takes determination and passion. It also helps to have an abiding interest for all things engineering – I’ve always liked big machines and right from an early age wanted to know how things worked.
There’s no doubt engineering is hard, but what you get out of it is a very versatile degree. Just because you’ve done a particular engineering degree course doesn’t stop you from moving around to different parts of the industry.’


Case studies

Sara Pullen
Sara, 26, was the winner of the 2005 Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award and says it was her passion for dismantling things led her to become a crew systems engineer with BAE Systems.
She has already made her mark by designing a revolutionary high-tech helmet for fighter pilots in the new Typhoon Eurofighter jet to prevent pilots receiving head injuries when ejecting from a plane.
In 2004 Sara graduated with a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical and Production Engineering. Before that she applied for a modern apprenticeship at BAE Systems during which she completed an ONC, HNC and HND and in 2001 she joined the Ground Support Equipment Team as a flight Systems Engineer.
Sara says: ‘At the end you have a product that you can put your name to - for me it was the first new Eurofighter helmet on its first maiden flight.’

Sarah Stiff
Sarah, 24, is on the engineering consultancy graduate scheme at E.ON UK, the UK’s largest power and gas company.
She joined E.ON in September 2005 after graduating from Manchester with a physics degree. She currently works at Power Technology, E.ON’s engineering and technical services consultancy and her role involves assessing air quality at power stations for the Environment Agency and researching the environmental impact of new technology.
Sarah believes it is competence, not gender, that is crucial to success at E.ON. She says: ‘The benefits of being a female engineer today is that the old barriers and perceptions of this traditionally male-dominant industry have opened up and you have the same opportunities and prospects as your male colleagues.
‘Engineers are in demand and it’s up individuals to make the most of it. Women just need to be aware that these opportunities exist for them as well.’

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