ENGINEER yourself a secure future.
Whether you’re an IT engineer or a traditional engineer, all engineering roles involve inventing, designing, building and maintaining something, either machines and structures or IT and data systems.
As the people who design the systems society relies on, engineers are sought-after and can command high salaries – but the UK isn’t training enough new workers.
Just under half of traditional engineering firms say they are struggling to recruit staff and one in five engineers currently working in the UK are due to retire by 2026, making the shortages more pressing.
In the digital sector, a quarter of firms cannot find enough IT and software engineers.
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So if you’re looking for an exciting new career path which offers job security and good pay, here’s how to enter engineering.
What is the difference between a traditional and digital engineer?
Say the word ‘engineer’ and you’ll probably think of someone working building a machine or a road. That’s a traditional engineer’s role.
It’s usually split into sub-disciplines including civil engineers who create buildings, roads and other infrastructure, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and even nuclear engineers.
Digital engineers also create but they design and build software systems so organisations can run their IT programmes.
What kind of pay can I make as an engineer?
The average pay for a traditional engineer is £38,900.
Starting pay for qualified engineers is around £25,000 but chief engineers can comfortably make over £100,000.
The average software engineer salary is £52,500 but entry-level pay is high too, at around £42,000. Experienced workers make up to £75,000 a year.
What are the routes to working as an engineer?
Most traditional engineering jobs require a degree, so you can either study engineering at University then move into a job, or take a degree apprenticeship and ‘earn as you learn’.
To get on to an engineering-related degree, you will usually require a minimum of two A levels, with three A levels and A/B grades required for the most popular courses.
Entry requirements range from CCC to AAA, with the universities and colleges most commonly asking for ABB.
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Find out more at: www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/engineering-and-manufacturing/how-to-become-an-engineer.
To become a software engineer, you could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or a degree in computer science. Discover the best route for you at: nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/software-developer.
What prospects are there for climbing the career ladder?
Plenty! Engineers create the systems we all need to live and work, so there will always be high-quality jobs in the sector.
Software engineers can move up to become senior developers or move into related areas, such as systems design, IT architecture and business systems analysis.
There is a high demand for well-paid consulting roles or you could even start your own business.
For traditional engineers, the next step up is Senior Engineer, then a direct route through related roles such as Technical Manager, Principal Engineer or Programme Manager. The most senior role is a Director of Engineering.
Ready to build your own future? Here are the best engineering jobs on offer this week, from Sun Jobs.
Software Engineer – Full Stack, Aviva, London
Looking for stacks of cash? This exciting opportunity is for you.
The Job: Aviva is hiring a Software Engineer – Full Stack, with a strong programming background, based in Bristol, Norwich or London, with travel to the London office at least once a fortnight required.
What You’ll Do: You will deliver excellent and timely customer outcomes through continuous development and delivery, contributing improvements to development standards and practices with a goal of increasing the quality and efficiency of delivery.
You’ll Need: You will have experience developing across a wide variety of programming languages, with an appetite to learn and implement new languages. You’ll have a good working knowledge of Agile and continuous deployments, DevOps and AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
Apply Now: See further details of this role, along with other jobs at Aviva.
Production Engineer, Babcock International, Plymouth
Can you produce the goods? Then this is an outstanding first or second job.
The Job: Babcock International is hiring a Production Engineer at its Davenport site.
What You’ll Do: You’ll support maintenance repair and overhaul activities, inventory management, technical and through life support.
You’ll Need: You’ll have proven production experience, good knowledge of engineering and production processes, and high levels of computer literacy. You will be educated to Degree/ONC/HNS level, or be studying towards a degree in an engineering discipline, and have the ability to achieve security clearance for this role.
Apply Now: Find out more, or discover more opportunities with Babcock International.
Cloud Engineer, ubs, London
This cloud engineering role job has much more to offer than a silver lining!
The Job: Global wealth manager UBS is hiring a Cloud Engineer.
What You’ll Do: Working collaboratively across the organisation, you will help design and build next-generation business applications, you will write high-quality, reusable code, write professional, clear and comprehensive documentation; and apply best development and DevOps practices, effectively utilising available technologies.
You’ll Need: A background in development using a major language such as Python, Golang, Java, C# or JavaScript, and proven experience using tools such as Terraform, Azure DevOps, GitLab Cl, Maven, Gradle, Jenkins and TeamCity. You will be used to making contributions to open- or inner-source projects and have worked with scripting languages including Windows PowerShell and Bash.
Apply Now: Apply for this position, along with other opportunities at UBS.
Discover thousands of open vacancies for jobs all across the UK now on The Sun Job Board.