Careers Advice – Structural Engineering

I have been working for the structural engineering consultancy for 3 years during which time the company has paid for me to go to college 1 day a week to gain an HNC and then an HND qualification. I have just finished the courses and don't feel the desire to go to Uni next year for another 2-4 years part time. This is for a number of reasons but the main one is I am currently a Senior Structural Technician and don't really want to be an engineer because i like doing the drawings etc that I wouldn't get to do if I was an engineer.

During my studies I was a Student Member of the IStructE and that will come to an end at the end of 2010. If I want to become professionally qualified the obvious qualification is Technician Member (TIStructE, EngTech) as this seems to be the best suited to the job I am currently doing and want to be doing in the future.

My questions to you are these:

1. Should I go for the TIStrucE qualification or just not bother?

2. Would having TIStructE be that much better than not when going for other jobs in the future?

3. Should I be going for Associate-Member instead or is that more Engineer' than 'Technician'?

4. How much more pay does TIStructE comand? (obviously depends on company)

5. How long does the TIStructE process take?

Thanks a lot guys, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Swoosh,

I'm nit a structural engineer but I am achartered civil engineer so hopefully I can help. My answers would be:

1. Yes, definitely.

2. Absolutely – apart from the committment you will have shown to get it, it, decent structural technicians are rare and this will stand you out immediately.

3. Stick with technician for now – you can always change later if you feel you want to do more engineering than draughting.

4. Not sure – probably not a lot to be honest.

5. Also not sure – 2 to 3 years – it will say on their website. You may already have the experience you need and just have to write it up or do an exam.

Have you got a mentor at work? If not the IStructE could probably find you one in another company. It's worthwhile.

To be honest, although I don't know all your reasons for not wanting to pursue a degree, I would do it. You will probably be thankful in a few years…. You may not be happy still doing drawings in a few years time. Even if you just work for a year now and then go back, I would still do it. Doing it while at work will make it much easier as well.

Hope this helps.

thanks Poopsies, that helps a lot. I was also considering the Technician Member of ICE.

Do many jobs get advertised as looking for TIStructE/TMICE in your experience? I've had a look and not found much.

I'm an an engineer (love saying that in a proper context 🙂 )

Have you considdered an OU course? Takes longer but you could probably do a uni course at the same rate as a proper uni if you could comit 2 hours a day to it.

Drawings are fun to do occasionaly, but I get bored after a while. At least if your one step up you get to pick and choose which of the bits you delegate.

Profesional qualifications are always worthwhile, always go for the highest you can get, especialy if the companys paying, you never know, you could be out of work and suddenly need it :p

I'm EngTech TMICE, and work for a large multi-disciplinary consultancy. My experience of being EngTech would be:

1. If I didn't already have it, I'd probably not bother. Especially as it's now much more involved then when I did mine, when all I had to do was submit two reports. Reasons why – see answers to 2 and 4.

2. Possibly, although that's not been my experience. A lot of employers I've come across are familiar with IEng and CEng, but not so much with EngTech. And the qualification isn't particularly well supported by civils technicians, or particularly well promoted by the ICE. IN the 20 odd years that I've been working, I've come across 2 EngTech TMICE – me and the guy that sits 10 feet away that did his a couple of years ago.

3. With the ICE, both now involve submissions and interviews, altough you'll need to be able to demonstrate that you're operating as an Engineer rather than a Technician, which may be difficult if you've predominantly been drawing, and would involve a commitment from your employer to give you specific experience. Also, does your HND permit you to apply for IEng with the level of experience you have? As suggested, a mentor would be the best place to start. The ICE also have Regional Liaison Officers that can offer advice – I'm sure the IStructE would be similar.

4. My experience from being TMICE is sod all.

5. Well, mine took about a week to write the reports, but I had a lot of the supporting information already that demonstrated I met the standard at the time. Again, there should be a guide to routes to membership on the IStructE site.

I was in the same position as you when I finished my HNC, in that I really couldn't face another 4 years of part time degree course. If I could go back 15 years to when I finished ny HNC, I'd probably stick it out.

Edit/

Just read that back and it comes across as a bit negative. It's not intended that way – IMO a professional qualification is better than no professional qualification. I've just had 10 years of trying to get this place to promote EngTech as a worthwhile and recognised qualification, and you tend to get a bid jaded…