Technician qualification- how do I get my foot on the ladder to Hons Deg?

To cut a long story short, I gained my 2 year diploma 4 years ago, I tried to go get my Bachelor Eng, but due to finance I had to back out, I'm currently in a low pay job that has little to do with engineering.

I want to get my degree, preferably in aerospace, but that can wait. For now I want to get earning in my feild, manufacturing, earn enough to get back to college (1 year add on will do) and go from there.

My questions are:
1-where do I go for that 1st technician job?
2-how much will it cost for that 1 year addon I need?
3-what kind of timeframe would all this take? 5 years?

CatFromHue

hi sealacker

here are a couple of links that may help with some part time night courses:

http://www.dit.ie/study/parttime/faculty/

http://www.nightcourses.com/search.html

for your degree in aerospace as far as i know queens and ul are the only places in ireland you can do aeronautical eng. but thats a full time 4 year degree course.

you could look into upskilling to say a diploma and possibly transfering in at say year 2 or 3.

if you contact some admissions boards or the head of the aero course in ul they'll help with how you transfer in. then it might be a case of getting that qualification via night courses or part time course.

i hope this helps.

Catfromhue,

while the education links are very welcome(thank you), I'm currently out of the profession I have my qualification in, in a job where I'm barely breaking even much less able to pay for more education. So what I need right now is to know how to get myself earning in my profession before I can even consider the education aspect. I'm not on about big bucks, I just want to get my foot in the door and make the gap of non-engineering work as small as possible.

So how does someone with a Nat. Dip. In Mech Eng get started on his first job? What can I apply for? Where can I get work experience? Am I better off just heading for the UK?

Jeez guys, is it a case of go flip some burgers for 10-15-20 years, then get back to engineering? Do I just hump off from engineering jobs until I get a "real" qualification?

If that's the case, I'll see you all in 30 years, because in 10 education will likely not be an option (all that home making stuff of wife, kids might get in the way)

Nice to know I wasted my early 20s

CatFromHue

have you looked at any job sites or applied for any jobs?

usually in a job advert it will say what education requirements for the job they want i.e. degree or diploma or nat cert or masters.

it is hard to get a start of course and isnt helped by the recession either.

start sending out c.v.'s and looking at job sites. it is very hard work but its the only way

antiskeptic

Deleted User wrote: »

To cut a long story short, I gained my 2 year diploma 4 years ago, I tried to go get my Bachelor Eng, but due to finance I had to back out, I'm currently in a low pay job that has little to do with engineering.

I want to get my degree, preferably in aerospace, but that can wait. For now I want to get earning in my feild, manufacturing, earn enough to get back to college (1 year add on will do) and go from there.

My questions are:
1-where do I go for that 1st technician job?
2-how much will it cost for that 1 year addon I need?
3-what kind of timeframe would all this take? 5 years?

I'm not too sure whether this door is still open but when I finished up in Bolton St., it was possible to head to a UK Uni and live for a pittance in the attached 'halls of residence'. Two years onto your (pass in my case) diploma and you had your hons degree.

It's amazing how little you can live on when push comes to shove (you'll never eat a kebab again) and by the time you're finished things might have loosened up a bit on the jobs front.

If its aerospace you're into it's probably the case that you'll have to exit Ireland anyway.