Id agree with boeing eng, my experience is that companies avoid the guys from the ab initio route like the plauge when they can as they are viewed as "plastic engineers", ok they know the theory but ask them to actually pick up the spanners and do the job and their struggling, in contrast to a guy who has done at least five years real work on the hangar floor before he gets his licence and can actually knock a rivet down correctly. ps i wouldnt take to much notice of the doom mongers, type rated licensed engineers can earn a very decent salary