This infographic from Jobsite.co.uk illustrates the typical career path for engineers in the UK, starting with the subjects studied at school and continuing through the different positions and salaries grads can expect to attain.
The results are based on data from over 35,800 engineers. As well as painting a picture of what a career in engineering looks like, the research also revealed that engineering is now the third most appealing job for UK teenagers, behind product design and web development.
You can check out The Engineer’s job site here.
CHECK OUT MORE STUDENT ENGINEER COVERAGE HERE

If only that were true!
What a complete joke! If one manages to get a fiercely competed graduate mech eng job, average starting salary is circa 20k. Employers can cherry pick, due to the sheer volume of graduate engineers.
Engineer after 9 months; Principal Engineer after 5 years; Director after 7 years! Seems people are telling porky pies on the StepStone UK database upon which this analysis is based. Does nobody sense checks results anymore?
FYI: Starting salary is about right (in 2019) if averaged over the disciplines; Senior Engineer is unanimously a Chartered engineer and you can get here within 6 years; Principal Engineer takes about 9 years and you may only reach Associate Director in your career. That said, Engineering is a rewarding and challenging career if you enjoy solving big and complex global challenges.
Senior engineer timing is about right, but I’m afraid my experience is quite different. I’m an engineering team manager at a multinational company and I think I’m slightly ahead of the curve – that’s taken me 15yrs (engineer @ 3yrs; senior engineer @ 6yrs; team leader @ 9yrs).
I’d be interested to know what other people think on this chart though.