Energy and Environmental Engineer.

ChriisM

So just redoing my CAO and this course it at the top of my list , TA 215

Could anyone shed some light on this course? Ive goine to 2 open days and have had speakers in my school explaining engineering courses. Both of them couldnt tell me anything on this course.

Hopefully someone here can answer my questions.

Ages of people taking the course?
Is it interesting?
Have people seen any opportunities openings for this qualification?

Thanks in advanced.

Monkeybonkers

I've just finished the first year of this course and will address your questions.

Ages of people taking the course?
Last year we had about 25% mature students and the rest were straight from school. A nice mix.

Is it interesting?
This is a personal opinion as what one person finds interesting another may not. This course is mostly an Energy based course with only a cursory nod to the environmental side of things. In fact if you look through the prospectus for next year you will see that there is a course starting called Energy Systems Engineering which is a four year Honours Batchelor of Science degree. This is a four year honours degree course and interestingly has the exact same syllabus as the Energy and Environmental Engineering for the first three years. So if you want an honours degree I would recommend the Energy Systems course as it is exactly the same course but with an extra year to get an honours degree. I guess what I'm saying is do not be fooled by the 'Environmental' in the title as it has no more focus on the environment than the Energy Systems course.
Most of this course is maths and physics based so if you find those topics interesting then you will probably find the course interesting. There is a maths module every semester of this course so be prepared to put in a lot of work on maths if it is not one of your strong points.

Have people seen any opportunities openings for this qualification?
Here is a website which is probably where you will be looking for jobs in this sector. It is definitely an up and coming area and hopefully there will be jobs available in the future. www.greenjobs.ie





I hope this is of some use to you and good luck with the course if you decide to pursue it.

ChriisM

Thanks for the Reply mate.

Thats sounds grand. Im not particularly great at maths, So how would you class the maths against say leaving cert mathematics?

How are you finding the course? Exams difficult?

Monkeybonkers

Not sure what LC maths is like now (its 20+ years since I did mine!) but I didn't think it was too difficult. Most of the others were of the same opinion as me so you should be OK.

Exams weren't particularly difficult. This might sound obvious but if you attend class regularly during the year you should pass the exams handy enough. Everything is geared towards helping you to pass. Put in a bit of effort and you'll be fine.

ChriisM

Ahh i see.
2 more questions

Are the classes regular and times ok? Is it a full time is basically what im asking?

And is it mixed classes like men and women or is it just men?

Monkeybonkers

Yeah, classes are regular and the timetable is pretty good. In our second semester we had no classes on Mondays which was pretty good. It is full time, yeah. Not overly taxing though, something like 22 hours a week which by anyones standards is a doddle.

Classes are mixed but we started the year with three girls and finished with a grand total of none so unfortunately its a bit of a cockfest