engineering?

[Rice_4_life]

after much thinking I've decided to drop out of the trade and pick up a engineers course which is a tafe course, would go uni but my I didn't really do all that great in high school. Question is anyone on the forum currently doing the course or employed as an engineer? pay like?
Thought I might get a bit of info before going head first into a new career like I did with mechanics.
Cheers, and yes I've googled it, jumped on to tafe sites to get information about

[IZY-10]

shouldn't this be in the lounge? Anyways im currently in my second year of electronic engineering (Adv Dip) and i love it. I plan to articulate (transfer into my third year uni next year) which is possible if you achieve high marks. Although i am thinking of getting into electrical engineering as there are more jobs available in Melbourne for it. It is a lot of hard work and alot of hours. Just a word of warning prepare to work hard for it even though it is only TAFE it is not easy. Also prepare to do alot of equations and studying. In the end its all worth it. Hope this helps you make your decision up

[AsH_]

i'd like to get into something different...

but hard when i'm married and having a baby soon...

i hope that i can move on from sales/customer service...

not much money in it...

[Rice_4_life]

thanks for the input guys. think I might take a day off and go to swinburne and see if I can chat to one of the careers advisors or someone like that.

[_FeRiO_]

what particular field in engineering are you planning to undertake??
As IZY-10 said before, there is alot of work involved and the drop out rate seems to be fairly high, (not sure with TAFE though) so make sure you put the time and effort in the work you do, and you should be fine. I am currently working as a graduate engineer and the money is great, you wont have to worry about that.

[IZY-10]

i can tell you that in TAFE the drop out rate is extremely high as well. When they start they think oh its only TAFE first semester you will be fine then everyone starts to drop out. Put it this way at the start of my first year i had around seventy people split into two classes. Now it is all in one class with about 20 students. Also check out RMIT open day i think it is on 11th or 12th of august

[quangsta]

swinburne ey...

tafe, the actual content is not that much easier only a bit but the teaching style is i feel better which makes it seems alot easier then it is. its pretty much like yr 9 where u have lik 2-3hr blocks of one subject and they just hammer it in to u...where as u know 1hr lecture here on tut there and ur on ur own.

[Hullabaloo]

What type of engineer do you want to be? electrical, mechanical, civil... also keep in mind that within those there are different types. I did a bachelor of engineering degree at uni and i'm working as a theoretical engineer rather than a technical/hands on type of engineer.

money isn't really an issue. the pay is decent enough. Grad engineers (bachelor degrees from uni) generally get paid between 50-55k TAP (total annual package).

[aimre]

so.... whats this got to do with cars?

[IZY-10]

maybe he wants to learn more on how his car works! should be in the loung though

[Rice_4_life]

I was planning on doing: diploma of mechanical engineering, after researching that a bit more I realised I did not have the pre-requisites to apply for the course so I jumped to the next best thing in hopes of getting the slighest chance of getting into the diploma course which was to spend a year in an engineerings course at tafe then see if I would be accepted at a later date.

[aimre]

if u get a mech enge degree, it HARD to get working with cars

[Rice_4_life]

if u get a mech enge degree, it HARD to get working with cars

uhh you saying it's hard to get work after getting the qualifications to work on cars?

[civicCXI]

if u want $$$, i'd go to WA and become a truck driver for one of the mining company (Rio)....my high school math teacher did that (was on 60 min the other week) and earn $110k+ FIFO.
Btw, i had fun @ uni....engineering @ uni is not hard and stressful if u r a team player, do the works/study together (aka copy and paste :) ) Would be even better if u made friend with postgrad students.
Civil/structural/mechanical/electrical(control) r ones that r in high demand these days.

[AsH_]

Fifo ???

[Rice_4_life]

nah, I enjoy working in the automotive industry I would love to continue and learn as a mechanic but as for my future I don't think mechanics is the way to go for me, pay wise.
hence why I am looking at a new career, I'm still young so returning to school isn't going to be a problem for me, and centre link will hopefully help me a bit finacially when I get accepted in to the course.

[civicCXI]

fifo = fly in fly out....u spend 4 weeks on site 2 weeks off something like that.

apply for hecs/helps? i survived high school and uni with centrelink as my only income.

[chockz]

Hmm.. I mean IMHO, an engineering degree is just and engineering degree. I'm currently studying telecommunication engine in UNSW, and i'm really not surprise that i will be working in a bank or as a mechanic in the future. A degree is just another door to more opportunities. May it be mechanical, electrical or civil, do something of interest. Helps u beat the grades =)

chock