If you’re looking at our website and starting to explore the possibility of changing school or college then you’re already starting to think about what’s best for your future. However, you may not really understand what engineering is, whether it suits you or would be a good career path to take. The information below will hopefully help you answer those questions and give you confidence that by learning engineering at South Devon UTC it opens up lots of opportunities beyond engineering so you aren’t narrowing your future to a single career choice but giving yourself some great skills that can be transferred and applied to many different industries and careers.
Skills and Aptitude
You are likely to enjoy engineering if you wonder how things work, did you often play with building blocks when you were younger or build and take things apart? Do you like puzzles, games, problem solving and mind challenges? Are you creative and do you like to invent things or come up with new ways of doing things? Do you have an aptitude for maths and science and enjoy working with computers? Are you starting to think about the world around you and wish you could make it better?
What is Engineering?
Engineers apply the principles of maths and science to solve problems. They find ways to overcome challenges, enhance and develop systems and come up with new ways of doing things, all to help improve peoples’ lives and make a difference in the world.
Engineering at South Devon UTC will teach you maths and science and how to apply it in engineering, you will design solutions to problems and get the opportunity to bring that solution to life in the workshops. It is both classroom based and practical with workshop time but can be tailored to the individual, dependent upon their skills and aptitude, enabling you to focus on the aspects you enjoy and excel at.
Engineering Categories
Engineering can be used in many industries and applied in lots of different ways but there are key categories you can explore:
• Mechanical Engineer
• Electrical Engineer
• Civil Engineer
• Aviation Engineer
• Architectural Engineer
• Geotechnical Engineer
• Environmental Engineer
• Bio Engineer
• Chemical Engineer
• Computing Engineer
• Engineering Management
• Project Management
Follow this link here to find out more information on the categories listed and career possibilities, including alternative careers that could utilise your engineering knowledge: COMING SOON
There are over 5000 engineering degree courses available in the UK at the moment and plentiful apprenticeship and job opportunities.
Transferable Skills
If you decide not to pursue a career in engineering then what you will have learnt at South Devon UTC will still give you a great start to your future. You will study a range of core curriculum courses to support your learning, such as English, Science, Maths and your choice from a variety of optional courses (please review our curriculum information pages for more details) but by studying engineering you will develop critical skills that you can transfer to other industries:
• Problem Solving
• Creative thinking
• Critical thinking
• Innovation
• Team work (please don’t worry if this causes anxiety for you, we can work around this and support you to find a comfortable way of working to complete projects)
• Understanding client briefs
• Understanding budgets and resourcing
• Time management
• Project management
• Applied maths and science knowledge
• Technical design
• Presentation skills (this doesn’t necessarily mean standing up in front of your peers to deliver a presentation, again we can support you if this triggers anxiety)
• Quality testing and systems
• Understanding of Health and Safety and conducting risk assessments
Further Research
We recommend you visit these websites if you wish to find out more about careers in engineering:
