philw492
Stay on your BEng course. In the long run it is a far easier route into aeronautical engineering than going down the licensed route. Whoever it was in the RAES who advised you about getting into shift work from a BEng course is a clown. Take my advice, find him, and punch him as hard as you possibly can. I can understand you enjoyed your work placement, but I hope you don't take offence in me saying that you were looking at it from the point of view from having no responsibility. So you were able to enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, being a Licensed Engineer is a very rewarding and satisfying job, but you can use your BEng in a number of ways. Now you have started down that route, complete it, and then make your decision. Rolls Royce, and BAE have a number of vacancies on graduate schemes which will give you a satisfying and challenging career. If I am not wrong there are also practical elements in the courses run by those companies. The RAF route would probably be the most secure, and funnily enough, quite rewarding financially for you. But to be quite honest, a commissioned RAF engineer is about as useful as a chocolate hammer when it comes to practical aircraft maintenance engineering. They tend to end up in QA, or bluffing their way in project management. Yes, as a licensed engineer you will come across very technically demanding problems, and it can be very satisfying when you finally solve a problem that has been a right pain in the backside. But would you still enjoy it when you have your arm up a toilet waste pipe to free up a blockage, or strapped onto the top of a cherry picker in a howling gale while replacing a poxy filament. No doubt other engineers will give you other advice, but only you can make the final decision. Whatever you decide, good luck for the future.