• Question: Do you need perfect grades to be an engineer?

    Asked by K4T3 to Alex, Carmel, Kath, Sean, Steve, Valerie on 8 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Valerie Bentivegna

      Valerie Bentivegna answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Nah, I didn’t have perfect grades at all.
      I think it’s more important to stay curious, stay motivated, stay focussed on your goals and enjoy what you do. It’s much easier to do things if you enjoy them. Even studying gets easier because you usually end up having more classes in what you’re actually interested in. It means you want to learn, instead of just having to.

    • Photo: Alex Moldovan

      Alex Moldovan answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Nope. I would say an ability to understand and problem solve anything is far more important.
      To be an even better engineer you need to be good at critical thinking and have an ability to scrutinise your own/other peoples work.

    • Photo: Sean Doherty

      Sean Doherty answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Nope, engineering needs people of all academic backgrounds. For some university programmes you will need good grades and less so for a lot of apprenticeships or other universities. As the others say an ability to solve problems and think logically is important.

    • Photo: Stephen Lang

      Stephen Lang answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      No. There are lots of ways into engineering. You can go through university etc, but also through an apprenticeship. I took the apprenticeship route, but your careers advisors are best to talk to, they’ll know what is available to you better than I do.

    • Photo: Carmel Howe

      Carmel Howe answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Definitely not. As everyone else has said there are many different routes into engineering. I started with an apprenticeship then used that to go to university and now I am doing my PhD. Take whatever route is best for you.

    • Photo: Kathryn Thomas

      Kathryn Thomas answered on 9 Nov 2017:


      No, as everyone else has said there’s so many ways into engineering. Working hard is much more important!

Comments