CareerChangeHelp.co.uk

Engineering: Automotive & Aerospace Engineer Careers

When we talk about Engineers, we can mean many things. If either automotive or aeronautical engineering appeal to you, you're probably the sort of person who enjoys a technical challenge. Great Britain is renowned for its aeronautical engineering excellence, and its aerospace industry turns over many billions of pounds every year. In addition, the auto industry also has a global influence, not least from a design and development point of view.

Getting The Right Qualifications

There are many internationally recognised British university degree courses that train students to a very high level in both auto and aero engineering. Also more advanced PhD courses are offered on some campuses. At a lower level, vocational training can be found up and down the country.

Undergraduates can take the opportunity to put the knowledge and experience they've gained in the first two years of their degree programme into practice by taking a one year industrial placement in year three.

There may also be options for part-time study in some educational establishments. Engineering students can also look into sponsorship options which are provided by both private industry and the Armed Forces. It's important to take your time and really explore all the different training possibilities that are available.

The Automotive Industry

Auto engineering concerns all aspects of motor vehicles, from conception to assembly. As well as the traditional disciplines, automotive engineers now need to incorporate electronics, safety and software engineering into their skill-sets. Things are changing all the time and modern engineers need to lead those changes, for example to produce greater efficiencies in materials and emissions.

Generally speaking, we can separate the automotive engineering processes into three distinct fields. First comes design. These engineers have to design all the component parts and systems on a vehicle. Development engineers are concerned with the attributes or qualities of the complete vehicle. They may stipulate certain requirements to the design engineers. Last of all come the manufacturers, who determine how to put the vehicle together.

An automotive engineering student will be taught many product disciplines. Modules will cover all aspects of design, development and manufacture - and use examples to illustrate principles such as fluid mechanics. One of the most crucial areas of auto engineering is safety engineering. All aspects of a vehicle are stringently tested in both partial and full vehicle crashes and simulations.

As well as performing well by themselves, each component and system has to work in synergy with everything else. And so training must include elements of development engineering. Sometimes systems or components have conflicting aims, and a trade-off has to be made to deliver both satisfactorily. In the end, developers must have carried out sufficient checks and tests to verify that the finished automobile will be street legal and in line with the manufacturers' demands.

Once the designers and developers are absolutely satisfied that everything is ready, the manufacturing engineers take over. Engineers involved in this stage of the build use statistics and process controls to ensure every stage of the manufacture meets rigorous quality standards. At every assembly plant, manufacturing engineers have to plan out the body shop, the area for engine and transmission placement and the chassis and trim area.

Aeronautical-Engineering

Man's desire for flight has led to momentous developments in aircraft technology. Students who train as aeronautical engineers would be preparing themselves for a career in the aerospace industry -a most interesting industry at the forefront of science and technological developments. (Some aerospace engineers go into Formula One design and development as well.)

Flight vehicles are faced with huge stresses on take-off, flight and landing. An understanding of technologies such as aerodynamics, materials science, avionics and propulsion is needed, and each are very specialist subjects in their own right.

Aeronautical engineering students will be taught design principles throughout their training, and receive a thorough insight into analytical subjects. Lectures will be given on subjects such as fluid mechanics, with laboratory sessions to back them up. Much of what you will learn is based on theoretical mathematics, but empirical testing also comes into it - admittedly largely in the form of simulations. Nonetheless, university students will still benefit from wind-tunnel experiments and other physical testing methods.

Group ventures are important when learning engineering skills. All academic programmes will involve a mixture of group and individual assignments to design and build actual machines or components. Undergraduate engineering training programmes also provide other useful skill-sets for their students. These could include time management, teamwork, organisational techniques, leadership and foreign languages.

Aeronautical and automotive engineers are at the forefront of technological advances, and can make a valuable contribution to society. Refer to the Engineering Council for details on becoming a Chartered Engineer (CEng) or an Incorporated Engineer (IEng).