Any Engineers In The Building?

[Jp]

So iv finally decided to get off my **** and get myself a career.

Iv gone back to a sort of childhood dream and applied to my local council/contracting company to become a Trainee Technical Engineer.

While that sounds very vague it is cased in Civil Engineering, and by trainee im presuming apprenticeship.

Anyway, this morning i got a letter inviting me to an interview.

Any advice for a budding engineer from anybody, because im absolutely dowsing my knickers over this interview which could make or break me?? :lol: :lol:

Thanks folks

[Razor]

Tell them you make a cracking cup of tea. All I ever see civils folk do is drink tea...

[linco]

So iv finally decided to get off my @rse and get myself a career.

Iv gone back to a sort of childhood dream and applied to my local council/contracting company to become a Trainee Technical Engineer.

While that sounds very vague it is cased in Civil Engineering, and by trainee im presuming apprenticeship.

Anyway, this morning i got a letter inviting me to an interview.

Any advice for a budding engineer from anybody, because im absolutely dowsing my knickers over this interview which could make or break me?? :lol: :lol:

Thanks folks

Relax and be yourself. Take your time to answer questions and dont try too hard. It'll be obvious.

Oh and the thing about the tea will go down well too!

[furrybean]

When I had the interview for my job I had to show any previous engineering accomplishments I'd done. There was guys there with mini jet engines and stuff but all I said was I was academically minded and brought up on a farm but that was for elec. eng. Surely you could just talk about how "hands on" you are with your bike etc.

Hth

[Jdubya]

I used to work in civil engineering...
So any questions just PM me and I'll try and answer them :wink: Who is your interview with :?:

[carlos]

Iv gone back to a sort of childhood dream and applied to my local council/contracting company to become a Trainee Technical Engineer.


What exactly are the company specialising in? If the council are involved then Technical Engineer could be anything from manning the stop/go board on the roads to high tech design on bridge gantries, and anything in between.
What i'm trying to say is make sure you read up on the company you are applying for and have lots of questions to ask them, I mean lots. If they are taking you on as a trainee then they are not really expecting you know the job inside out are they? They won't be asking you how to redesign national infrastructure systems, but you can bet your ass they'll ask the simple things like how you react to new situations, past experiences, etc. They will also want to see you keen and eager to learn.

Go in, be confident, relax and be honest. They'll tell from a mile if you're bull****ing.

But most importantly, good luck and let us know how you get on.

:)

[empty]

My Dad has been a civil engineer for 30 something years, first with a local council, then the water board and has just retired (after working out it was far more profitable to do so and go into consultancy). If you'd like to chat with him I can put you in touch.

I'm an Electronics Engineer, currently doing Sound and Broadcast Engineering as I find it more interesting, and have been lucky enough to find a route in. And I love it. The best part of being an engineer is problem solving. Thinking of a way to sort something out is great.

Absolutely the best of luck. A lot of it will be Maths based, if this isn't a good subject I'd look into doing a course as you will need it sooner or later.

The world needs more engineers. Sadly in Britain it does not garner the respect it does in other countries.

MT

[SV Ste]

Hi mate

All the previous comments are true, except britain not respecting its engineers. This is probably the best country to train / serve / be an engineer.
If its something that you feel you could be good at then go for it. I can only say this because i have learnt the hard way. Anybody can be an engineer. there is no great gift only paitence is needed. i say this because engineering is one of the only subjects that if you do not know something then you simply learn.
How? by academic studies, experience, others experiences.
The thing that gets on my nerves is people that say or think they are great because they have a title containing engineer. The fact is that you are already an engineer, everybody is. Every day you face decisions and challenges that you have to think about and decide what you think the best cousre of action is.
Well my friend welcome to engineering. thats all you have to do. Ok you have to understand basic principles of items and depending on your field then you may need to have a deeper understanding. But its all achievable.
A lot of your character will determine how far you make it, be good at what you do but not a b*ll sh***er then you will be fine.

Chow for now, rant over

[timwilky]

Sorry wrong sort of engineer, I am supposed to have been a mechanical engineer. But got out of the profession 22 years ago when they started calling domestic appliance technicians and car mechanics "engineers".

Go to Germany and Switzerland and see that engineers are respected professionals and well rewarded for their knowledge, ability and responsibility. In the UK any engineer is treated like a suit that should really be in overalls. Poorly payed and at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to opinion. Design and construction is led by accountants and bureaucrats. Function, form and purpose are secondary processes in any project.

So forget engineering unless you are very keen, extremely ambitious and bloody clever, become a solicitor or bean counter. Far easier.

As empty said, you need a good maths ability, but also understanding of physics and chemestry. when you have to start doing stress calcs on structural members etc. you suddenly realise that understanding how materials deform, what they are made of and how they work is important. Then once built you need to understand the design life, how it will wear. corrosion, elements, impact effects etc.

Particularly in civil engineering, design life can be in excess of a 100 years. God help you if it falls down in 35.

[Jdubya]

The trouble with civil engineering is that it is a very very very broad field and depending on who you work for would pretty much decide what you do. I worked on the construction side of things and although I used some of my training, not a great deal of it was required. For the greater part of my job I was site based setting out where the buildings/railway line/bridge/road/whatever we were building had to go. Yes, I enjoyed it but it all became very monotonous and I realised that among other things that was going on, I couldn't see myself doing that or whatever progressed after, for the rest of my life. I could have stayed and worked for a consulting engineer doing design and project management but that was something I realised that I was not cut out to do. Yes, engineers are in short supply but like being a vicar, I believe to a greater degree it is also a calling. I was unfortunately forced into it to a greater degree.

[Stormspiel]

Tell them you make a cracking cup of tea. All I ever see civils folk do is drink tea...

I drink coffee i'll have you know.

When i went for my interview i was basically asked a few questions n what i knew about civil engineering.

Find out a bit on Levelling (http://www.levelling.uhi.ac.uk/tutorial1_6a.html) using a tripod and automatic level and staff
Be brief about Theodolites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodolite) ( basically a posh auto level that does elevation angles and horizontal angles.

Working in council (assuming manchester have same setup as barnsley) you'll get moved every 6 month into a different section to gain experience, e.g traffic management, structures, highway maintenance etc etc so mention traffic surveys and public complaints ( like 'theres a huge puddle infront of my path and i nearly drown in it last night' :roll: )

If you have any sort of physics/maths qualfication go into depth about the use of formulae and working with trig etc. these are te main things you'll use at college/ in work

HTH

[Jp]

Thanks for all the advice guys its much appreciated.

Im looking forward to it, i hope its not as negative as some people have portrayed, i dont mind taking the rough with the smooth though.

I have studied physics at A level but i never went onto uni, i didnt want to encrue (sp?) the debt.

So basically, demonstrate some knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject and no BS'ing, puts my mind to rest.

I might send some PM's out in the next few days while im researching things.

Thanks everyone