Engineers - Further learning or MSc for CEng?

In my experience, the CEng itself doesn't really count for much - although it's a chartership, it's nowhere near as meaningful as it is for other professions. Mainly just means you have to pay the IMechE £400 a year for the privilege....

As such, I would say that go the route that will most interest you and give you most benefit in terms of learning. The CEng is a little bonus at the end, but the main goal should be doing something interesting that will benefit you whilst getting your employer to pay for it 🙂

I got chartered before the rules changed so apprenticeship plus non accredited degree plus 10 years experience.

If doing it now I'd do the further learning option. Time, experience and more work based projects will make the final application and interview an easy process.

And yes, the CEng doesn't count for much other than personal satisfaction 🙂

Not an engineer but I employ them, I'd rather see you get the MSc and then grow your experience to get chartered. I think chartership needs some time. When you see young guys getting chartered as soon as they can after Uni, then I think employers think it doesn't count as much.

If you do the MSc it gets you part of the way anyway.
MSc = MSc + 0.4(ish) C
C = C.

MSc better value...

Do IMechE not do the new experiential learning route like ICE?

I'm in the same boat as you (IEng MICE). I have considered progressing at various points in my career but always end up at it will make no difference to may day to day working life or my salary. The only negative is I cannot be lead sponsor when my mentees are going for their chartered review.

I wouldn’t say chartership doesn’t count for anything, some multi-disciplinary consulting firms won’t let you progress past a certain level if you don’t have chartership.

I have an unaccredited degree and no masters and it’s a right pain, I even changed jobs because trying to fit managing a team + large DC project + chartership + life was too much and I couldn’t progress any further within that business

Getting an MSc will make the route to chartership a lot easier in the long run.

I'm the opposite unfortunately, have the qualifications and experience, but never really done the chartership route, i was meant to at one point but just didn't finish it as i moved positions and no longer required it.

I did do a similar route with the MSc though, part time over 5 years and work funded, if you have that in place then it may be the best way ahead.

You probably know more than us how much it'll make a difference in your industry/role. I'm not chartered and a Process Engineer (IChemE). My boss occasionally asks me to get it done at an annual review, but day to day it won't make a difference.

The reason I didn't do it at the 4-6year mark like most people is I was offered a Process Safety MSc (I'm already MEng) which would have allowed me to go down a slightly different route and was persuaded to delay it a bit.

The funding for the MSc was then withdrawn and I got made redundant a couple of years later.

So yea ..... the moral of that tale is treat them seperatly, if you can get chartered some other way I'd keep that going on the back burner whilst doing the MSc.

This subject has always intrigued me but I've never bothered chasing it.
I've a BEng in Mechanical Engineering and work as a senior engineer in aerospace, my qualification has never been an issue to get here and as far as I'm aware my superiors don't have any more than I do ( desire for management roles and more experience excluding).

I think it entirely depends on what you want out of it and just how much extra work you'll have to do in order to complete the MSc.

I've always talked myself out of doing a master's, colleagues are doing it so I could, purely because I don't see what advantage it will give me and I don't want to give up most of my personal time.

I mentored someone who did the part time masters at Sheffield Hallam. His master's project was work related so would be more or less the same write up as other further learning.
I'd say do the masters (Msc / Meng / Mwhatever) and pick a course that has a couple of modules that your work would like and a couple that you find interesting. Lots of unis do part time ones and you can often take 3 or 4 years if it suits. The OU is also an option, a colleague did his masters with them.
Remember that the further learning is supposed to be 'equivalent' and you have to convince a panel of (naturally) picky engineers that it is but only get a CEng which may or may not be CV points. The masters degree is more known regulated marking and forever on the CV and opens the door to more academic options if you decide to do some in umpteen years time.

I have a BEng and took the opportunity to do an IMechE accredited MSc in Mechanical Engineering over 2 years when my employer made it available. I completed it and then changed careers entirely about 3 months later and never looked back (shortly after that they included a clause about staying at the company a certain number of years after completing the course).

The MSc had a single module on software development which grabbed my interest and I’ve been doing it ever since, 12 years and counting. I sometimes think what a waste all of that time at university studying mechanical engineering was but I remind myself that the MSc was what turned me on to the career I really enjoy now.

I’m not sure what point I’m trying to make, maybe that an MSc will expose you to a broader set of things if that interests you. I remember also studying modules in law and accounting amongst other things.

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Edit: occasionally I consider living abroad and a lot of countries visa programmes really favour people with a masters degree in an engineering discipline, even though it isn’t my actual job.

I appear to be alone on this, but I rate a CEng above a MEng. You need to have the necessary academic ability to gain both, but only a CEng proves you have practical experience and some fledgling managerial skills.

When hiring I look for CEng. I am pretty embedded in my institute though. Do lots of voluntary stuff.

I if you do an MEng and still decide you want a CEng then that’s a huge effort. I hope you like studying 😉

I'm currently doing my chartership paperwork for IMechE. Started it 20 years ago.....fell away from it.

Now I want it, just because. It won't 'get' me anything as such, there is a push for it by my employer.

Far as im aware(though not an engineer, or have any knowledge of the academic side of that craft) you need the CEng for the better higher paying jobs. My dad was an engineer, think he did that qualification at Cranfield.

Quite interesting really, when I was little we lived on the campus for 2 years.

You get the letters after your name on all your mail, so you'll impress the postman at least 😆

Having mentored many engineers through their chartership journey, I'd say that CEng is something you should treat as something that you will achieve with experience, regardless of the route. The masters requirement for CEng really didn't add anything to the quality of engineers becoming chartered, it just seemed to give universities an extra year of fees.

If you are looking to change jobs soon, go the MSc route as it makes you more saleable. If not, I'd personally say that you should concentrate on your job. This should provide you with all you need to become chartered over time. If there are gaps, work with your employer to fill them.

CEng definitely makes you more saleable in the end, especially internationally, but you should find that your experience is what interests employers. If someone is rejecting CVs because they aren't chartered  that person is being quite narrow minded. However, it is a fairly easy process to go through once you've gained the right experience.

Got Chartered 15+ years ago from apprenticeship / eng experience and BEng degree, mainly because it was the next step and my kn*bhead engineering manager said I wouldn't get it....nowt like making a lass more determined! Do whichever route interests you the most..IMechE do frustrate me in that they're very stuck in their ways and need to be flexible with folk who have years of excellent engineering experience, but perhaps lacking academic qualifications - albeit there is the IEng, the institution do need to be less up their a*se - saying as someone who attended their chartership interviewers course and was a bit upset by the snobbery...Good lucks with whichever route you choose?