how is successes measured now a days? your wage slip mostly!!
and as for skills and uni I did my mechanical apprentiship with welding and electrics to add,
I can make and build most things,
but the thing that still makes me laugh the hardest is my mate went to oxford and got a 2:1 in mechanical engineering and still pays me to fix his car and just recently built his shed,
I only have an ONC he has a degree speaks for itself!

Originally Posted by meridian

We do a snazzy line of ships, aircraft, submarines and other warry stuff as well

Not everything we make in the military domain is sh1te

Quite - The Astute class of subs are awesome

Also - Rolls Royce a superb world class engineering company.

Originally Posted by re-stilly

Originally Posted by fozzy

Originally Posted by smartascarrots

A bloke in Taiwan recently told me that Britain is at the forefront of microprocessor design. Not sure if that's true, but given he worked for a Taiwanese electronic engineering firm I'm prepared to accept he knew what he was talking about until proved otherwise.

Er, yes by light years. Your mobile more than likely contains a UK designed and built ARM chip.

Based in Cherry Hinton Cambridge. Nortel at Harlow are at the forefront of communications, it was the where communications with fibre optics was pioneered plus they have designed a lot of the military comms systems as well.

The Harlow labs were ex STC (bought by Nortel some years back).
As you rightly say, its where Fibre Comms went from theoretical to practical.

Nortel were Canadian. They have just been dismembered due to going bust. The various bits snapped up by other Telecomms Manufacturers. Ciena (US) have just aquired the Nortel MEN business.

Originally Posted by FourEM

As an expansion on nonsense degrees IMO its devaluing the whole academic system. Companies are looking at graduates with more scepticism if thats the right word to use .

Not if they've good good grades in an engineering, science or mathematics degree. Especially if they've been sensible and got themselves summer placements with engineering companies. These people will always be sought after. It's those with humanities degrees that will struggle more.

While I sympathise with those that have been made redundant (especially the poster above), it's also clear that suitably qualified engineers and scientists don't stay unemployed for long.

Originally Posted by absquatulation

I have a degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering, and I've been made redundant from my last 5 jobs. My last Engineering manager, did not have any engineering qualifications, not even an ONC in paper folding. So if that is how engineering is considered and respected, then its no wonder that we don't make anything anymore (or don't appear to make anything anymore).

Sounds like you've been working for some rather dodgy firms.

In twenty years, I've never worked for an unqualified manager. My current and previous managers have had very relevant doctorates; 2-up has a Masters from Stanford; 3-up is given a namecheck in the acknowledgements page of Stroustrup's C++ reference.

Having said that, I've only been made redundant once (a US firm which shut down a loss-making division, which unfortunately included us - the most profitable single team in the company; bless those MBAs, they didn't notice that we'd spent two years keeping the other two loss-making North American sites barely above water).

British engineering can do rather well. Where it all goes horribly wrong is when the customer is an idiot who has deep pockets (in other words, a civil servant) who asks for something without specifying what they need, and then keep changing their minds about what they want.

A graduate is like an Officer-them that knows and can do,or them that knows & can do fk all.

Originally Posted by sapperbraindead

A graduate is like an Officer-them that knows and can do,or them that knows & can do fk all.

Yeah, thanks for that.
Another good thread crayoned on

We also make the best single mothers in Europe.

Originally Posted by vvaannmmaann

We also make the best single mothers in Europe.

Well, maybe not the best but certainly the most user-friendly.

Originally Posted by Gravelbelly

Originally Posted by absquatulation

I have a degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering, and I've been made redundant from my last 5 jobs. My last Engineering manager, did not have any engineering qualifications, not even an ONC in paper folding. So if that is how engineering is considered and respected, then its no wonder that we don't make anything anymore (or don't appear to make anything anymore).

Sounds like you've been working for some rather dodgy firms.

In twenty years, I've never worked for an unqualified manager. My current and previous managers have had very relevant doctorates; 2-up has a Masters from Stanford; 3-up is given a namecheck in the acknowledgements page of Stroustrup's C++ reference.

Having said that, I've only been made redundant once (a US firm which shut down a loss-making division, which unfortunately included us - the most profitable single team in the company; bless those MBAs, they didn't notice that we'd spent two years keeping the other two loss-making North American sites barely above water).

British engineering can do rather well. Where it all goes horribly wrong is when the customer is an idiot who has deep pockets (in other words, a civil servant) who asks for something without specifying what they need, and then keep changing their minds about what they want.

Most of my career has been as a production engineer in the automotive supplier world. But my last company was for Epson printers – so in theory hardly a dodgy firm. But there they were not interested in improving production, but slavishly following the instructions from Japan.