Design Engineering Career Opportunities

Hello All,

I Currently just completing an Advanced Apprenticeship in design and mechanical Engineering. I am now unsure which path to take and what career opportunities may arise .

My first option would be to complete an HND in mechanical engineering however I am unsure what career opportunities this may open.Can anyone assist?

My second option would be to complete a mechanical engineering degree however what advantages would this be over a HND and does this open at all any further career opportunities

HNC/D are technician qualifications, which means, 9 times out of 10 you'll be drawing up someone else's design or picking up all the little jobs that no one else has time for. These will get you Eng.Tech and IEng (about 5 yrs for IEng; 2 if you get lucky with your portfolio) membership with the institutions but without about 10 yrs working experience, they'll just be fancy titles to employers.

The B.Eng will get you a better starting wage and you'll start as a junior design engineer, rather than a junior technician and your starting projects will be a bit more involved than a tech's projects. With a good push you can qualify for C.Eng, meaning you can sign off your own and others work. More responsibility = loads 'a' money. Or great power. Or something.

You could go for careers in: oil & gas, HVAC, process machinery design, pipeline engineering, R & D (with good experience), thermal engineering and pressure vessel engineering. With the right supervision you could also cross into structural and temporary works.

That is in no way a complete list. There is loads of specialist and niche sectors you could move into.

Agree with Cake of Doom... Also you can look at different Engineering (vacancies) website or Recruitment Agencies with open positions.


You can ask the consultants for advice which career path you should choose, because they are specialized in the mediation of Engineers.. It worked for me.