A degree in electronic engineering or computer science offers excellent career prospects – recent research by e-skills UK estimates numbers of IT and telecoms professionals will grow at four times the UK average during 2010 to 2020.
The Institute for Employment Research also predicts a need for 587,000 engineering jobs over the next decade. In addition to technical skills, you will develop valuable transferable skills including, team-working, project management, entrepreneurship and problem solving.
There is no typical career path!
With a degree focused on electronic engineering, you may find yourself researching and designing new technologies in a multinational organisation, developing new applications for a start-up or becoming involved in engineering management. Job opportunities can be found in a wide range of industries including transport, telecommunications, energy and electric power, IT, aerospace, manufacturing and education and research.
Typical roles include electrical engineer, network engineer, digital/audio media specialist, computer hardware engineer and communications engineer.
A computer science degree could see you testing trading systems at an investment bank, designing alternatively powered vehicles or researching innovations in combining computer vision, music and speech for use in different environments. You could use your degree to work in a range of sectors such as finance, education, health, entertainment and media as well as IT.
Typical roles include software engineers, business analysts, games designers, multimedia specialists, web developers, database managers, IT consultants or network engineers.
Finding your first job is made easier through our strong links with industry. We work with a range of organisations that offer graduate opportunities in electronic engineering and computer science in sectors including banking, media, telecommunications and technology. Help is also available from the Queen Mary careers team as well as our industrial placement manager.
Within 6 months of graduation, 74% of Electronic Engineering and 88% of our Computer Science graduates from 2010 had found jobs or were in further study. Employers included Accenture, Acer, Bank of America, Barclays Capital, the NHS, BT, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, IBM, ITRS Group, Rightmove and TfL. Career opportunities Starting salaries In most sectors a typical graduate starting salary is around £25,000, while in the banking sector it is between £35,000–£48,000.
Throughout the course, students have access to a bespoke careers programme, to prepare them for applying for internships and graduate level work. This programme includes workshops on job hunting and job applications as well as employer events to facilitate networks and help students to explore their options.
Recent careers events in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science include the IT and Technology Fair featuring thirty organisations including Barclays Capital, Logica, IBM, and Transport for London; ‘Start Up, Stand Up’ led by QM Careers and QM Entrepreneurs, to inspire entrepreneurship in Technology; and Meet a Mentor, networking with professionals from the QM Graduate Developer Community, set up by the School.
Opportunities for work experience are substantial given Queen Mary’s location between Canary Wharf, the City and the Olympic Village. Students are encouraged to build their work experience throughout their period of study, through, for example, our QM Temps job agency, Experience Works events and QMSU Provide volunteering services. Over 800 vacancies are available to browse on the QM JobOnline vacancy site.
Queen Mary’s extensive campus also provides over 1200 on-campus job and volunteer opportunities ranging from E-learning Assistant to Website Administrator and from Society President to Student Mentor.
Read more about our careers programmes and range of work experience opportunities on the Queen Mary Careers pages
