Engineers are professional problem-solvers. Using Maths and Science along with skills in communications, critical thinking, and a management to find practical solutions that will aide people or society. Engineers can design, improve, build and invent anything from heart valves and microchips to skyscrapers and space shuttles.

Engineering... tough task or creative career!

We look at why engineering offers you the opportunity to be challenged, creative, socially-conscious – and let’s not forget the financial rewards!

Local students currently on engineering courses give you the honest low-down on university life in a series of blogs from the front-line. Also, put your own burning questions to them.

We also debunk some of the old stereotypes about engineers – no, they are not all beardy boffins!

It can be tough going it alone sometimes. You are interested in engineering but don’t know if you can face the hassle of being the only one of your mates or family to study it at university. You’ve heard it’s boring, too academic, too much like hard work and you don’t know if it’s worth three or four years of your life when, let’s face it, there are other things to do.

The REACT Foundation has heard these concerns before and is keen to banish any myths, stereotypes or false accusations that engineers don’t know how to enjoy themselves! It also knows that at 18 the last person you want to ask about your future is someone who thinks The Arctic Monkeys are a rare species of primate or that My Chemical Romance is a sort of weird love potion. So, to help convince you that engineering will open up your world to all sorts of experiences, the Foundation has pulled in local engineering students currently studying or just finished studying at university who have given answers to FAQs to help put your mind at rest.

The FAQs will give you the important stuff such as what the coursework entails, how to survive financially and how it feels to be away from home for the first time, alongside the nearly, but not quite as important info,such as where to hide the expensive toilet roll in students digs and how long you can live healthily on tuna pasta and Red Bull!

Richard McCormack, who won the REACT Foundation Bursary prize in 2009, said:

I think these FAQs are a great idea. It would have been useful to have access to this information from students already studying or just finished university. Engineering is definitely the career for me, but I know how daunting starting university can be. Hopefully these FAQs will encourage and persuade others into Engineering.

The Foundation is passionate in its conviction that engineering offers unlimited opportunity and they care very deeply that future talented engineers are not lost to the area simply through a lack of support and advice.If you think you have what it takes to thrive in engineering but are unsure about the commitment and skills needed, log onto the REACT Foundation Facebook page and talk through your concerns with those who understand.