Thinking of joining as an Eng Officer - any advice?

Hi all,

I’m hoping to go to university to study aerospace engineering, and then join the defence stem scholarship, eventually joining as an aerospace engineering officer.

Does anyone have any advice, tips, or general words about my plan?

TIA

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This was my plan.

I got bored in the end as the type of engineering you study at university has practically zero relevance to the type of engineering you ‘do’ (or don’t do) as an EngO.

(To stress, I got bored at uni, finished the degree, but went in as a different branch.)

However, I have a lot of friends who did go down that route and have made a great success of it.

It’s a great branch, gives you great management experience.

If you can hack poring over maths, maths, maths and more maths for the next 8 years, go for it. I couldn’t.

PM @Horriblelittletechie as he’s a serving NCO engineer about pointers.

Same. A failed medical and one year of aerospace engineering later I pulled out and changed course completely. Kind of pleased I failed the medical as it allowed me to change.

Other people I know though loved engineering and have made a decent career

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Not sure if it’s still the case but a friend of mine joined the RAF as an Engineering Officer a few years ago and wanted to follow the Aero Systems route (he had an aero degree) but was streamed Communications Electronics route instead - needs of the service prevailed. So no guarantee you would get to work with aircraft.

From what I understand the JEngO/SEngO role in the RAF is mostly personnel and resource management so be prepared to spend majority of your time in an office environment rather than hands on spannering.

MB

Go for it. The new sponsorship deal is excellent. Make sure you choose an engineering council accredited degree and if you can do a 4 year masters. This is so you can get professional registration as a chartered/incorporated engineer and get a financial bonus. You also nees this status to hold certain levels of authorisation.
Squadron jobs (jengo and sengo) are very competitive nowadays but it is still a great career path. DM if you want more info

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