Find Out Which Skill Goes With Your Degree

I must first of all make it clear that I am not happy with the idea of which graduate Engineers are asked to acquire skills. It is not a thing to celebrate. It is only a product of an underdeveloped society in which we have found ourselves as Nigerian Engineering graduates. An Engineering graduate should be talking about employment, graduate internship, and postgraduate specialization - in an ideal scenario. Skill is not Engineering.

Why then do I ask graduates to get trained? Why do I train graduates? The reasons are:

1. Our secondary schools did not equip us with the skills we needed to possess in the Basic Technology component of our formative education.
2. Skills will grant you access to the industry which you will now use the opportunity to stay relevant and aim toward your dream job.
3. Since our society is not developed, specialized Engineering concept will grant less benefit without the fundamental skills - except for those in lecturing.

That being said. Before choosing any skill make sure it aligns with your degree certificate for future career growth. I will use four examples  to explain what I mean - painting, pipeline fitting, instrument mechanic, and welding.

1. Painting: Painting as a skill would be suitable for Chemical Engineering graduates. This skill will expose trainees to different types of paints - oil and water based, painting equipment such as brushes, rollers, compressors, and spray pots. The Engineering graduate will use this and have access to the industry - especially with firms handling corrosion control. From this exposure the graduate can now apply his education to formulate special paints like corrosion inhibitive paints, antifungal paints etc. He can also apply his knowledge to have practical exposure to process parameters like pressure used during the operations. He can look into quality analysis of paints. He can aim toward qualifying as a coating inspector. Following this, within few years in the field, the graduate that acquired this skill does not work as an ordinary painter but have his footing as an Engineer.

Stay tune for how pipeline fitting, instrument mechanic work, welding etc will be relevant to Mechanical, Civil, Electrical and Petroleum Engineering graduates. Available