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If you want to become an engineer, you have to go to university for at least 4 years before getting your bachelor’s degree. In that period, you will learn many concepts, formulas and theories that give you the knowledge to be an engineer. However, not everything you learn will be useful when you work as an engineer. I have understood this fact very early during my degree. However, years after, I realised that what I learned at university is worth learning for many reasons.
In general, most of what you learn at university will not be used when you work as an engineer. The extremely complex calculus and theories are likely not to be of great significance. However, the concepts learned are still of great value as they teach students to think critically. Moreover, the university aims to give broad teaching that enables students to work in different areas within their industry. That area they end up working in might only be 10% of what they have learned in university.
The biggest issue with engineering schools is that you will not learn the importance of studying until you work in the field. It is extremely hard to label something as useless if you do not have much interest in it, and your lecturer will most certainly not tell you so. Although those universities might not be engaging enough, which is clearly one of the things that are Wrong With Education, I still found that the complex things you learn at university have an integral part of forcing you to think more analytically and academically through research, reading textbooks and solving problems.
In the end, and after years of working in the industry, you might forget the technical things you learned that you do not use in your work. Still, the process of studying stays with you, which distinguish you from other people because you know what it takes to get the correct information and do an academic experiment. Let us take a more specific example with my experience as an engineering student in the next section.
Personal experience as a civil Engineer
Being a civil engineer is an excellent example because the civil engineering industry is vast. You can work as an environmental engineer, a water engineer, hydraulic engineer, a structural engineer, a site engineer, a construction engineer ….etc. There are just too many areas you can work in after graduation. When I was studying, I learned many things that were not so useful, and some were highly complicated, others were self-explanatory. The broad approach made me question if An Engineering Degree Is Still Worth It?
However, I did not realise that after graduation, It was very easy for me to switch jobs and work in different areas within my degree. The board teaching I received in university helped me work as a structural engineer, site engineer and even a project manager because I have learned those areas at university.
The most insightful thing during this experience is that university will not go into depth to teach you about one thing, at least not in your bachelor degree. However, the process you learn in research, studying effectively, and working in groups become a platform for future self-study to progress in your chosen career.
Sometimes it is worth pushing through even if the teacher was not as engaging or the subject was not so interesting to me. Many students wait for motivation to do something, but motivation will not come through most of the time, so you just have to push through even if you do not see much value in what you are studying. You can learn more about How Can I Become a Successful Civil Engineering Student here.
Why you should do your best to learn as much as possible at school
I realised that students do not necessarily have a clear idea of how the workplace will look like after graduation. Almost always, they will have favourite subjects and non so favourable subjects during their course. This is not because the subjects are difficult but because they do not align with your goals or you are not finding the subject exciting, or your lecturer is just not that engaging, which makes you hate studying that subject.
Either way, by the end of their degree, students most likely will be able to list the subjects they enjoyed studying and the ones they did not enjoy much. The reasons for liking or hating a subject are many, and we will not attempt to explain why. But imagine if the subject you hated the most and decided not to do your best in, turned out to be the one you most likely need in the workplace.
On average, you might only need 10%-20% of what you studied at university to work in an area of your field. This is why it is a considerable risk to completely disregard certain subjects or do your bare minimum at. Many students take that risk and then wish if they did a bit better at university when they work in their dream job. However, there is one workaround with this dilemma, explained in the next section.
How to use the knowledge you learned to your advantage
You can take advantage of what you learn and focus on the important very early in your course. You just need to do some work experience in the field as early as possible in your degree. Unfortunately, the university is full of teachers that most likely have not worked in the field or worked for a short time. Most have spent years studying to get their PhD degree, making them academically smart but not so much field smart. Which means they do not have a clear idea of what is essential for students.
Although that might be very generalised and not true all the time, in general, I found it hard to only do university without working in the field or doing internships to expand your learning. When I did my first internship at the end of my second year, I quickly realised that focusing on the design aspects such as steel and concrete are extremely important. Even if I did not want to work as a structural engineer in the future, it would still be important as they are the technical aspects of the construction industry, which was the most challenging thing in civil engineering.
Having realised that very early in my course. It pushed me to study smart and learn the most integral part of my degree, and it made me realise what field I want to work in and focus on. This would not have been possible If I had only decided to do university without any field experience.
Not going to hide that working and studying is extremely challenging, and you will most certainly have to make some sacrifices, but it is the right thing to do as an engineering student. The more experience you get, the more insights you will get into your industry. You can learn more about How Engineering Students Balance Work And Study here.
Therefore, doing work experience will give you early insights into what life looks like after graduation. The important thing is to enjoy your study as much as possible and learn as much as possible. You can learn more here How To Not Get Bored While Studying And Enjoy Your Study
