Many students who do engineering at university want to get onto an engineering graduate scheme. But what does a graduate engineer do? Working as a graduate engineer can be a big change from university. I will discuss the range of tasks you can expect to undertake and how you will develop.

What Training Does a Graduate Engineer Do?

When at university, you do not tend to learn industry-specific applications of engineering, you are taught a general overview. When you enter your role, you will undergo a massive learning curve. Being an engineer in a job for the first time is a massive change to being a student engineer.

To help you build knowledge in the area you are working you will attend training courses covering a specific topic. These can contain lots of information and are worth reviewing over time.

You may get lots of on the job training as well. It is common to have team members who are highly experienced or senior engineers who have large amounts of knowledge. Learning from individuals like this is great for your development as you can learn things that someone has learnt over 15/20 years. Ideally, you may shadow them and understand how they work and how they approach different problems.

I have personally learnt the most when discussing issues with more experienced colleagues as there is a chance they will have encountered something similar previously. They can provide a different perspective and will more than likely view the problem from a different angle. Speaking to experienced colleagues and learning from them is one of the best ways to accelerate your knowledge.

Job Responsibility Of A Graduate Engineer

As expected, when you first join a company as a graduate, your role responsibility is low. At some companies, this may be different, and you may have a high responsibility. Having a low responsibility is not fun as you can find yourself sometimes limited on the work you can take on, which may lead to phases when you could be bored.

In some cases, you will be asked to do what seems trivial tasks to keep you busy. If you are joining a company with a well-structured graduate scheme, this is less of a worry.

IIf you are tasked with jobs that do not have great importance, the best thing you can do is give it your all and learn what you can from it. There may be a reason why you are tasked with a specific job.

For example, you may need to speak to someone in another team, and you have been given this job to help get you familiar with others. Additionally, you may be given jobs to help you get used to your environment, especially if you working on a production site.

Graduate Engineers Bring New Ideas

A great advantage to hiring graduates is that they will bring a completely new perspective to the company and role. This will be particularly true if you are working for a company or within a sector that is “behind the times”. The benefit this can bring to a company is huge.

When you are working on jobs and tasks, it may be obvious that it would be easier to do it an alternative way. Suggesting your idea may save the company time, in return saving the money!

If you are ever in the position you think you can improve a process or are even unsure why it’s done one way and not another, be vocal about it. From suggesting/asking someone you will ever 1) make the process better or 2) learn something new, and both are good!

Question, Questions, Man, Head, Success, Lamp, Brain
Graduate can bring new ideas to old ways of thinking

Summary

Life as a graduate engineer can have many ups and downs. One day you can feel like you making lots of progress and learning new things every day. Next, you may have nothing to do, or your workload will be small. This can vary depending on the company and sector you work in. However, as a graduate engineer, it is important you learn as much as you can from the others around you, helping develop yourself. Graduates play an important role within companies helping them to develop new ideas and processes, so express your thoughts and ask questions when you are unsure.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please leave comments and feedback below.

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