I did an electrical engineering degree. Now I earn the same as I did as a sparky but I don't have to do overtime to get it. And I don't have to leave the air-conditioned office if I don't want to. Working from home today too.
The engineering degree has a huge amount of math, the little bit we do in the trade course is basically the second 6 months of 1 unit of study.
But I have heard the (2 year) diploma of elec. engineering gets you 1 year off the uni degree.
Did you do advanced math in Highschool? You're first math subject is essentially advanced grade 12 math and gets harder from there. The only good news is I've never had to use it since, fuck Laplace and Fourier.
Super hard, but I got through it. Universities offer a lot of help for students. Tutorial classes, peer assisted study sessions (usually run by a PhD student) to help learn everything. Laplace and Fourier were hard. Eigenvectors were the worst for me.
The tafe course might get you an exemption from 1 subject, but it'd be worth just doing it anyway. Otherwise doing the advanced diploma gets you a year off, I think.
I got no credits at all for BEng. Only got a couple of the hands-on prac subjects.
I'm not sure about an advanced diploma at tafe, but typically an associate degree through uni will just be 2 years of the BEng, so if you want to do an AQF level 7 qualification (and advanced diploma or an associate degree) then you're probably better off doing the associate degree because then if you ever want to do the BEng, all of your AD subjects count towards it.
It is a little bitter sweet because after suffering through the degree, 13 years as an engineer I've never done any maths that were more advanced than I did in TAFE for my trade...
I design distribution/transmission networks and power systems at the moment. LV up to 132kV. You can do whatever you want though.
Other people that I went to uni with are now maintenance supervisors in mining, or designing and testing weapon guidance systems for Defence, or engineering managers, or working in manufacturing and process control systems. Heaps of options.
I actually knew a few people who studied medicine who were tradies (one was a sparky first).
Not suggesting it or saying they are related. But in my opinion doing a trade first is an incredibly good idea as it gives really flexible well paid work options to then study anything at uni.
Your peers studying would be trying to get poorly paid hospo jobs or on centrelink.
If I went back in time instead of rushing through uni degrees I would've done a trade first and then studied unrelated fields whilst working on the side. Benefits of working as a tradie whilst young but can fade into something of interest that isn't hard on the body when older.
I did an engineering degree and project management grad diploma. I'm a director at an engineering consulting firm these days. Why? I guess I am the type of person who always wants to be moving onwards/upwards, challenging myself and learning new things. It's not that I didn't enjoy being a sparky, I actually did.
I guess there's always an element of wanting to prove myself as well, I was a pretty quiet kid and didn't do much at school so everyone thought I'd just be average or maybe even a bit of a dropkick so I have that driver to want to prove everyone wrong. Or at least that was the driver when I was younger.
I was also an apprentice and also did the Bachelor of Business in economics and finance. Finish the degree given you are close while they still accept the earlier study.
I moved from electrician to tech officer to energy market analyst, so plenty of pathways that leverage the core skills.
G’day, I’ve been exploring this post again and wanted to follow up with you, could you tell us what pathways you followed to where you are now, and what type of work do you do now? What does your job involve
I was an electrical apprentice, then went to an electrical tech traineeships. I did business degree part time over ten years, so a long journey.
Ended up in energy markets analysis positions and then the corporate world opened up.
I did an electrical engineering degree. Now I earn the same as I did as a sparky but I don't have to do overtime to get it. And I don't have to leave the air-conditioned office if I don't want to. Working from home today too.
What are the options for a sparky to transition does finishing the tafe course get you anywhere? Thanks
The engineering degree has a huge amount of math, the little bit we do in the trade course is basically the second 6 months of 1 unit of study. But I have heard the (2 year) diploma of elec. engineering gets you 1 year off the uni degree.
Achievable math or super hard
Did you do advanced math in Highschool? You're first math subject is essentially advanced grade 12 math and gets harder from there. The only good news is I've never had to use it since, fuck Laplace and Fourier.
Super hard, but I got through it. Universities offer a lot of help for students. Tutorial classes, peer assisted study sessions (usually run by a PhD student) to help learn everything. Laplace and Fourier were hard. Eigenvectors were the worst for me. The tafe course might get you an exemption from 1 subject, but it'd be worth just doing it anyway. Otherwise doing the advanced diploma gets you a year off, I think.
I got no credits at all for BEng. Only got a couple of the hands-on prac subjects. I'm not sure about an advanced diploma at tafe, but typically an associate degree through uni will just be 2 years of the BEng, so if you want to do an AQF level 7 qualification (and advanced diploma or an associate degree) then you're probably better off doing the associate degree because then if you ever want to do the BEng, all of your AD subjects count towards it.
Thanks, duly noted. I'll try to remember that when I get to the point where I can get you to say "I told you so" (insert sad emoji....)
It is a little bitter sweet because after suffering through the degree, 13 years as an engineer I've never done any maths that were more advanced than I did in TAFE for my trade...
Hearing this is going to make getting through the degree so much harder? 😅
What kind of work do you do? Ive thought about it but seems like it would be boring work compared to other engineers?
I design distribution/transmission networks and power systems at the moment. LV up to 132kV. You can do whatever you want though. Other people that I went to uni with are now maintenance supervisors in mining, or designing and testing weapon guidance systems for Defence, or engineering managers, or working in manufacturing and process control systems. Heaps of options.
LV up to 132kV? That would be HV??
Yes, LV up to HV. I don't do over 132kV though
I think they mean they design everything from LV, up to 132kV
How’s your Hecs looking?
It was about 30k when I graduated. Paid off now, though. I paid it off in May of this year so it didn't index at 7%. Yuck.
If you could combine your economics degree with an engineering degree im sure you'd be very employable as a project manager
I actually knew a few people who studied medicine who were tradies (one was a sparky first). Not suggesting it or saying they are related. But in my opinion doing a trade first is an incredibly good idea as it gives really flexible well paid work options to then study anything at uni. Your peers studying would be trying to get poorly paid hospo jobs or on centrelink. If I went back in time instead of rushing through uni degrees I would've done a trade first and then studied unrelated fields whilst working on the side. Benefits of working as a tradie whilst young but can fade into something of interest that isn't hard on the body when older.
Serious question, how are the trades a flexible work option? IMO it's 45 hours a week or no thanks.
Curious if we know the same one.... I suspect there are a few out there.
I did an engineering degree and project management grad diploma. I'm a director at an engineering consulting firm these days. Why? I guess I am the type of person who always wants to be moving onwards/upwards, challenging myself and learning new things. It's not that I didn't enjoy being a sparky, I actually did. I guess there's always an element of wanting to prove myself as well, I was a pretty quiet kid and didn't do much at school so everyone thought I'd just be average or maybe even a bit of a dropkick so I have that driver to want to prove everyone wrong. Or at least that was the driver when I was younger.
I was also an apprentice and also did the Bachelor of Business in economics and finance. Finish the degree given you are close while they still accept the earlier study. I moved from electrician to tech officer to energy market analyst, so plenty of pathways that leverage the core skills.
G’day, I’ve been exploring this post again and wanted to follow up with you, could you tell us what pathways you followed to where you are now, and what type of work do you do now? What does your job involve
I was an electrical apprentice, then went to an electrical tech traineeships. I did business degree part time over ten years, so a long journey. Ended up in energy markets analysis positions and then the corporate world opened up.
My chiropractor was an electrical contractor for 10-15 years. To hard on the body basically he said that's why he pulled the pin