A degree in engineering provides graduates with numerous career opportunities
Nicole Chidrawi
Mention the word engineer and the picture of a person in a hard hat, building a bridge or surveying a piece of land, comes to mind. This image is sometimes far from the truth as engineers are involved in myriad projects: while some can be found on a construction site, many are in the office, at a computer terminal or in the boardroom making management decisions.
Engineers come in many guises. A mechanical engineer recently lent his expertise to a procedure that saved the leg of a young cancer patient. The engineer designed and produced a titanium “stem” (rod) to replace the cancerous part of the thigh bone that doctors had planned to remove.
Another example is the geomatic engineers currently involved in a project to capture images of Africa’s most important heritage sites. By using digital photogrammetry and related techniques to develop reconstructions in a virtual environment, the team is determined to create an awareness of the importance of these sites.
If you want to pursue a career in engineering, you should primarily be a problem-solver, able to analyse or break things down into logical steps and to form concepts and ideas from observation and experience.
Today we live in a built environment that relies on the development and application of technology. Almost everything we need for daily life housing, clothing, food, water, transport and energy is manufactured in some way. In order to develop, design, build and maintain these we need engineers, architects and construction personnel. The growth and economic viability of South Africa and its people depend, to a large extent, on the availability of sufficient, professionally qualified people in these disciplines.
Engineering is historically a male-dominated profession, but statistics show that women are carving a place for themselves in all branches of engineering. At the University of Cape Town 14 women graduated with engineering bachelor degrees in 1985. By 1995 this number had risen to 21, and last year 57 women engineers graduated from the university.
Engineering has various branches. These include the traditional engineering disciplines such as chemical, mechanical and electrical, and those disciplines that encompass the “built environment” namely, civil engineering, architecture and planning, construction economics and management, and geomatics. The trend has been to incorporate all these disciplines in one faculty.
Almost everything you use in your day-to-day living has been made with the help of chemical engineers, who are involved with the conversion of raw materials into marketable products in the most environmentally friendly way. Chemical engineers can be involved at any stage of a materials processing project, from its conception and research through to plant operation and the sale of the product.
Ensuring that electricity is generated and distributed is the job of electrical engineers. They are at the forefront of the design and production of items needed to propel society into the future. Opportunities in electrical engineering include medical electronics, remote sensing of underground rock structures, acoustic designs for large buildings and the design of computer hardware. Increasingly the trend is to combine electrical and computer engineering. This combination covers the domain of analysis, design and application of information systems in areas of communications, signal processing, electronics and control, and power systems.
Mechatronics is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that combines the study of mechanical engineering with light-current engineering. It is increasingly recognised that a combination of these disciplines equips graduates with an excellent basis upon which to build valuable roles in modern industry. The mechatronics engineer will be suited to a career in light manufacturing or process control, pursuing fields such as instrumentation, robotics, automation or machine vision.
Mechanical engineering involves the understanding and harnessing of forces and energy in machines and materials. Whether the machine is a steam turbine, a robot-controlled production line or an iron rod, the mechanical engineer oversees the design, manufacture and utilisation of such machinery. The discipline provides career opportunities in fields such as biomedical engineering, hydraulics, machine design, nuclear engineering, computer-aided manufacturing, mining engineering, fluid mechanics, aircraft engineering and naval architecture.
South African manufacturing, mining, service and process industries often need graduates who have a different specialisation than is offered in traditional engineering disciplines. Such employers prefer graduates who have had exposure to a wide range of subjects in both mechanical and electrical engineering. Certain degree programmes in electro-mechanical engineering have been developed to meet this need.
The civil engineer of today may be a technically oriented designer, a public-minded planner of services, a protector of public health and the environment or a practical leader of construction teams. Examples of civil engineering include the planning, design, construction and management of roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, harbours, airports and heavy construction of every kind.
It is predicted that in 15 years’ time 80% of the world’s population will be living in cities. Architects, planners, urban designers and landscape architects will design these environments. Students can start their studies with a general, design-based degree that provides a basis for a range of career options such as architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, interior design, and city and regional planning. Students can then choose a three-year postgraduate degree in architecture that enables professional registration as an architect.
A qualification in construction economics and management offers career options within the property and construction industries at a professional and managerial level. Degree programmes ensure students acquire sound knowledge of economic, financial, legal and managerial concepts. These degrees provide an excellent educational background for employment in quantity surveying and project management consultancy firms; building and civil engineering contracting organisations; housing and financial institutions; education and research institutions; and government, provincial or local authorities.
Geomatics engineering applications vary: building large structures, assisting with land development or tracking stolen cars through the use of satellite technology. Geomatics degree programmes include surveying, computer modelling, analysis of satellite images, land law and development planning. The geomatics engineer is involved in cadastral surveying (surveying property boundaries) and surveying the earth’s coastlines and continental shelves as sources of oil, minerals and fish.
Their work extends to determining the size and shape of the earth and the movement of land masses. Geomatics opens career paths where numeric skills are combined with spatial data and management skills, such as information and resource management. There is currently a shortage of professional surveyors in South Africa so employment prospects are good.
Nicole Chidrawi is the communications coordinator for the faculty of engineering and the built environment at UCT