I hope this on this forum as I consider it is motoring related. For some time now I have felt a bit underemployed in my current business fixing computers. I am frankly bored of PCs after 2 years of studying them in college, 3 at university and another 3 during my business.
I have seen some courses in transport engineering which involves designing roads, managing public transport, railway systems etc. It sounds really interesting and a good possible career move. Has anybody here ever done anything like that or work in this field?
I've always said I don't have a passion for cars, I have a passion for passanger transport which includes cars, buses and trains.
Thanks, it is just an idea at the moment.
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What university course did you you? It seems odd that a university level course can only equip you to 'fix computers' - or, if it encompassed more than that, why don't you pursue a more upmarket/creative related job to computers? For example, design, software development etc.
I have a humble HNC but I've found it more than adequate to run my own business in telecomms consulting & software development in that area. How come you settled for 'fixing computers' with a university degree?
Before you get bored again , why not make the most of your current qualifications?
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Well I wanted to go get into the web development side of things, but so did a million other people and it was too hard by 2005. I do have a small side line in making accessible sites for organisations to the public sector but it is just a very small side line.
I do a lot of networkign stuff in my business but mainly on a domestic level. My expertise area is the internet. With IT I found that there is far too many people and not enough jobs to go round and my heart just is not in it anymore. Also it has now been three years ago since I last built any complicated database driven website from scratch so my skills are now rusty.
My business was never supposed to be fixing computers, it just turned out like that.
I just spend a lot more time reading about transport than I do about computers so it figures, I did did computers because it was what I supposed to do, I just drifted into things and before I knew it I had a degree. I have thought about making system for car dealers to use e.g automated sales pages but its been done to death etc.
I have thought about studying cars but I am useless with spanners as you will see on the technical forums!
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.. before I knew it I had a degree
Tell us which degree and from which University, and maybe we can give better help with the original question.
Edited by jbif on 02/12/2008 at 16:44
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tinyurl.com/5dpky7
A lot of it was all to with how humans interact with computers and I really enjoyed that part, as well as the programming but although I can do a bit of ASP.NET I am no computer scientist in this regard. I got a high 2:1, 1st would have put me into hospital due to stress. My dissertation was on ASP.NET and usability. I built a system which automaticaly speced a computer and priced it up using a database of lots of components, it checked what is comptable etc.
Now you can see where I am going with this, if I had this masters the two could even compliment each other.
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Given the current fiscal climate, where the great unwinding is fast turning into the great unravelling; committing three years into training for a future public-sector job is brave - very brave.
By that time; we'll either all have killed each other over the last morsel of food; or, at the very least, the IMF will have required a 50% cut in public spending.
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> By that time; we'll either all have killed each other over the last morsel of food
Wow - you make MADF sound like the Angel of hope.
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Wow - you make MADF sound like the Angel of hope.
There is always room for an optimist....
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Check the prerequisites to make sure you qualify - might require an A-level in Maths, though I assume you've got one if you've done a computing course.
Out of interest, what's the course content for the railway stuff?
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If I were looking at doing a course in railway engineering, I think the two obvious places to shortlist are MMU, and Birmingham. (Apologies if MMU is in the tinyurl link, but, the link is dead for me).
MMU has attracted quite a lot of funding for its railway engineering course, and their group have once undercut my bid for some investigative work for an operator of underground trains, and so, their teaching is informed by real work for outside companies, which makes it directly relevant.
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If you have a computing degree, why not try using it and getting a better job? You don't need a degree to fix computers - it sounds like you've wasted three years. I am not trying to get personal etc. but if you have the skills, then contracting can be a good wage earner too. With the right technical skills you could make quite a bit of money.
I did computing at Manchester and get a fair amount in salary and choice of a nice car these days. I could work harder and get promotion etc etc but have enough and try to balance work/life.
Not knocking your suggestion but you're probably bored of what you are doing but you could branch out.
Edited by rtj70 on 02/12/2008 at 19:37
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You don't need a degree to fix computers - it sounds like you've wasted three years.
Good advice, bearing in min that Rattle says he barely clears the minimum wage after expenses, and can only afford to run bangernomic Fiestas.
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I could have afforded a better car, but then I would have not been able to go on my little holidays or go out at least once a week, since I do 10-30 miles a week a cheap car seemed like the best option considering that £1100 Corsa people on here persueded me not to buy was a shed (lost £100 on that, but saved a fortune in repair bills).
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Apologies if MMU is in the tinyurl link, but, the link is dead for me
Although the tiny link fails, on my PC I can see it in the address bar.
It is www.salford.ac.uk/course-finder/course/74
I guess the transport engineering course is at the same University and may be this one:
www.salford.ac.uk/course-finder/course/1384
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If you are looking to do a Masters then this is only a one year course at most places. With a 2.1 from a reasonable Uni plus your work experience I am sure you will find most admissions officers will look very kindly on your application. I dont know about transport engineering, but if I were looking to do a Masters I would pick Supply Chain and Logistics. With globalisation there is an increasing need to move product around the world and then within country to manage inventory against availability in, for example, a supermarket chain stocking 40K+ stock keeping units and to drive down cost by smarter logistics. I happen to know that there is a strong demand for graduates of some of the better courses. If you have an orientation towards maths plus your software and computer skills then I think you could be very well placed. The downside is that course fees are likely to be £12.5k or so and then you have to live for 9 to 12 months as well. When enquiring about courses you should explore the employment pattern post graduation and consider the types of companies, salary levels, quality of jobs - location, perks, international opportunities etc. Also what type of student does the course attract, people like you or is it filled up with non-EU students with variable language capability. get it right, choose well and you can do very well, but get it wrong and a significant waste of time and money.
I wish you well in your considerations, MGs
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Thanks sorry for the late reply, needed to think about things before replying.
Maths was never my strong subject and this has set me back without question.
My job is a lot more than fixing computers, I am not a format hard drive guy. I am able to fix faults by repairing the registery, doing proper hardware tests and also do things like sort of advanced firewall issues and other networking stuff.
I think there is a big difference from being to install a motherboard to being able to diagnose a complex network issue.
There is also the problem of dealing with clients. I am very very busy at the moment because I am very well trusted and well liked in my local area, I don't advertise any more I am just here.
My problem is I am bored with life, I don't want to still be doing this when I am 30 so my idea was to start a new life at university but not for the wrong reasons.
The transport courses I was looking at was Salford, Sheffield Harlum and Southampton. I've always seen myself as running a business or working for the public sector for some reason I just cannot imagine working for a business. All my family are either in the public sector or have their own businesses so I think that is why. Out of about 10 aunties and uncles, and all my cousins none of them work for a business! its very odd.
I am questioning myself I am doing this for the right reasons and the answer is no. Now I have passed my test I should be able to apply for lots of jobs I was once excluded in but I need get more experience before getting a job which involves me driving in lots of strange places.
So I am now thinking of using my degree and apply for a better job in computing, the police often have a lot of computer jobs (collecting for evidence that sort of thing).
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Worthwhile ? _ you bet your sweet bippy ! (you're too young, google it !) If i had £5 for every time i have said "who the heck designed this .. junction / roundabout / filter / route ... etc, etc, i would be able to afford a helicopter and rise above it all. It would please me no end to know that someone who actually drives a car would be designing our roads. Please, please .. go for it.
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A cousin of mine trained at MMU and now travels the world doing integrated public transport solutions.
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Having spent 40 years designing roads I can confirm that it can be a very satisfying career. Compared to some other forms of civil engineering the maths requirements are not too onerous; unlike, say, carrying out finite element analyses on a bridge or large structure.
Several of my colleagues had completed a masters at either Salford or Southampton... but they did have engineering degrees in the first place.
Highway engineers tend to be very practical and pragmatic people, it's all about fitting elements together in the space available. You would spend more time agreeing details with electricity & gas companies, landowners etc. than carrying out complex calculations. Could you solve a large three dimensional jig-saw puzzle in your head? Could you write an intelligent report?
Would you prefer working on site: standing in a muddy field in freezing weather with ten blokes standing behind you waiting for you to tell them where to dig? Even design engineers need to spend some time on site.
To become a fully fledged engineer you will need to become chartered; have a look at the Institution of Civil Engineers web site.
Consider the transportion planning side: preparing large mathematical models of traffic flows using specialist software. It might suit your computer background.
Also remember that most highway design is carried out by the private sector. Have a look at some of the large firms of consulting engineers.
Go for it...
Bob
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In most developing countries (eg. India, Thailand etc.) there are/will be good demand of transportation engineers because of rapid industrialization and infrastructure up gradation.
Roads in most developed countries are already in saturated stage.
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These courses give you a broad based training for engineering/planning.
worth looking at the Transport Planning Society's website for ideas:
www.tps.org.uk
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