engineering

Dahecall

I've been recently wondering what I would like to study in college. I'm in fifth year ( didn't do Ty as school don't offer it ) in a small country school. Due to this my options for subjects were limited. I do maths Irish English geography chemistry accounting and French ( my least favourite subject due to teacher . I would have liked to do physics or biology aswell however one clashes with French and the other chemistry and due to matriculation purposes I picked those instead. My favourite subjects are maths and chemistry. I am quite intelligent. I got 4 As and 7 Bs in the jc without doing much study. However I was disappointed with some of the results specifically Irish and maths which I and my teacher feel I should have got an A in due to my ability in the subjects. I am considering engineering as it combines both science and maths. What is an engineering course like ( probably either UCD or NUIG )? Which of these two are best? Are there many job opportunities opening in next few years? What field would be best to study ( most interested in electronic chemical and civil ) based on jobs and pay? I would like to emigrate also so which of these would be best for getting jobs abroad ( Oz NZ Canada or US )? Thanks

tom tom 55

UCD withiut doubt. The best in Ireland with a wide range of resources available. UCD also have alot of connections abroad with many top collages . You would get a job east. Good luck

Dahecall

tom tom 55 wrote: »

UCD withiut doubt. The best in Ireland with a wide range of resources available. UCD also have alot of connections abroad with many top collages . You would get a job east. Good luck

When you say east do you mean places like Dubai for exampl. I've been giving it more thought and think civil would be my preferred route. Is there many jobs out there for civil engineers atm. Also what sort of pay would be expected when you first graduate and then say after 15 years?

tom tom 55

Very little jobs to be got in the government departments at the moment. By the time you graduate they will be recruiting but their will be less pay . I reckon only thirty to forthy thousand per year this rising with experience and excellent qualifications to about 60 thousand max. Good luck with your future.

bren2001

You are 6 years away from qualifying. You don't know exactly which field of engineering you want to do. Nobody can tell you if there will be a job or not. Obviously at the moment there are very few (if any) civil jobs going around. There is a shortage of good graduate electronic engineers and there are mechanical engineering jobs available at the moment. The starting pay is around 27k for mechanical, 33k for electronic and about 36k for manufacturing (purely based on what my friends have been offered). This will all change by 2019!

Where is the best college? There is no such thing as "the best college". UCD has a good reputation, NUI Galway has a good reputation for electronic (considering Power Electronics Ireland is located there), however, Limerick is considered the best electronic engineering university. Ultimately whether you go to DCU or TCD they all cover the same material.

Don't pick your course based on job expectation as they change. Pick what subjects you like doing a see which course best suits them. You are going to be doing it for the next 40+ years. Don't pick your College because person X told you it is the best. Go to the open days and see do you like the college, the atmosphere, the people and pick it that way. It will be at least 4 years of your life, no point in dreading going there.

tom tom 55

bren2001 wrote: »

You are 6 years away from qualifying. You don't know exactly which field of engineering you want to do. Nobody can tell you if there will be a job or not. Obviously at the moment there are very few (if any) civil jobs going around. There is a shortage of good graduate electronic engineers and there are mechanical engineering jobs available at the moment. The starting pay is around 27k for mechanical, 33k for electronic and about 36k for manufacturing (purely based on what my friends have been offered). This will all change by 2019!

Where is the best college? There is no such thing as "the best college". UCD has a good reputation, NUI Galway has a good reputation for electronic (considering Power Electronics Ireland is located there), however, Limerick is considered the best electronic engineering university. Ultimately whether you go to DCU or TCD they all cover the same material.

Don't pick your course based on job expectation as they change. Pick what subjects you like doing a see which course best suits them. You are going to be doing it for the next 40+ years. Don't pick your College because person X told you it is the best. Go to the open days and see do you like the college, the atmosphere, the people and pick it that way. It will be at least 4 years of your life, no point in dreading going there.

I know what im talking about. I have a degree in this area. I am working with a firm in Dublin may i add. Dont be so quick to judge.

bren2001

tom tom 55 wrote: »

I know what im talking about. I have a degree in this area. I am working with a firm in Dublin may i add. Dont be so quick to judge.

Do you? This suggests otherwise:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=87263652&postcount=1

I actually do have a degree in this area, have worked as an Engineer and am currently doing a PhD in Engineering. If you want to waste this persons time go ahead, don't waste mine.

kingcobra

I'm a first year engineer in UCD so I think I can be of somewhat help to you. It certainly helps to be good at maths, as three or four of the six modules require a fairly good standard of HL maths - not just scraping the C3 but possibly in the C1-B range and beyond. I really think you should do applied maths or physics though as it certainly helps very much so to have a good foundation in each of those before going in.

I can't really say which course is better, as I never considered NUIG since I'm the other side of the country. All that I can say about UCD and its course is that it's a great big college, and plenty of support is offered to 1st year students, which helps a lot.

And it's almost cliched in saying this, but you should just end up picking the field you like as to be honest, if you're good in your respective field, you'll be paid well regardless.

It's common entry for both colleges in first year so you don't need to decide straight away I reckon UCD is probably more globally recognised than NUIG so it might slightly help your chances of getting a job abroad, if at all. I think you should really just go to each campus and then decide on which place is the place you'd want to be in every day for 4+ years. UCD's open day is next Saturday (9th) so it'll benefit you greatly if you came up!

And by the way, you can PM if you want more details on the modules I do or any other information on the engineering course.