Karl - sorry if I seemed unhelpful, not my intention. But...
The word "engineer" in English can encompass designing aeroplanes, building aeroplanes, or maintaining aeroplanes. These are all quite distinct skill-sets, requiring different qualifications.
"Light aircraft" could cover gliders, microlights, light homebuilts, certified SEP, MEP, or even in some people's world-view, business jets.
The answer then changes a lot depending upon which combination of these are the direction in which Sparks is interested in trying to take his career.
Sparks - no unhelpfulness intended on my part, but if you'd like to elaborate a bit, I'll try and say something more useful.
G