[I]Hi guyys. I dont know if this is the right platform to ask such aquestion but it is better than the others out there. I have a small tiny issue bothering me.
I have a young niece who is very smart and studies in a private school in the village. She performs very well especislly maths. Personally I thought she would do something worthwhile & viable or marketable like medicine or Bcommerce but this young girl really wants to try Mechanical Engineering. I don’t know who is advising her in school. Having been around I don’t know much about this course mechanical engineering except parents always complaining that their children studied but later shifted to other careers. Why??
I’m just wondering if I do pay for her will it be good money down the sink. She says they were told that Jomo Kenyatta offers a better degree than Nairobi university I don’t know how true. Do any of you have experience with this course?
Personally I wanted a school near her home like Dedan Kimathi not Jomo Kenyatta. I also todl her to try Mechhatronics which I have heard has more Mathematics units and is more marketable but her heart is set on Mechanical engineering. Does anyone know or can advise me? I dont want her to finish and we sprnd months walking all over industrial area begging wahindfi for any technical jobs avialable. Is this a good degree or a complete waste of money!!
If you told me she is in Germany or UK ,it would have made sense …but Kenya ? Si madharau but tell me one company that manufactures serious machines to need mechanical engineers …hakuna and if they are there they are super competitive.
If I was you I’ll encourage her to pick something that’s dynamic with the status of the country. A thing like medicine since tunapenda kukuwa wagonjwa. If she wants to leave to go to western countries that appreciate merit then doing mechanical engineering for undergraduate would make sense then masters nje.
I know many that hit the road hadi with no success and then they went to do masters abroad and ended up settling in those foreign countries .
I casually asked my husband for his advice. He says it’s really tough to earn a decent living in this field because Kenya does not have a manufacturing base. He says EEng is much better because at least there are domestic applications.
Let her do the course she’s interested in. Afadhali afike huko apate it isn’t exactly what she wanted and change course. The most important thing she needs to do is network like crazy while in university. Be active in those professional students bodies, interact with fellow students and faculty, play a sport if she can, and apply for every foreign scholarship she comes across. That’s how people land opportunities.
It’s very hard for an engineering degree to go to waste. Even if she doesn’t get a job immediately after, she can still become self employed. Those jua kali guys are rudimentary engineers, and they manufacture machines that people use on a daily basis. Like deep fryers, popcorn machines, juice extractors, ovens, and posho mills. With her degree she can do even better.
Let her study mechanical engineering and pass with good grades.Also dont be such a dictator ati just because you are the one paying you want her to study near her home.UON and JKUAT are the best when it comes to Engineering courses.Mechatronic is marketable but not here in Kenya where we are not tech developed.
This is Kenya,not Europe or States where there are organisations that tap directly to the skills of individuals with mechanical Engineering backgrounds.We dont have that many organisations.Kenya is a consumer economy.We consume engineering products and services than produce.I have seen graduates from mechanical engineering excel very well in sales engineer jobs in oil industry (lubricant sales,lpg sales etc)power tools,core network service provisions,earth movers etc etc
It is therefore very important for her to develope her people skills and business acumen.Engineers with zero people skills but are good with machine systems rarely have a good career trajectory and are stuck on the same small salo for a long time period.This is even worse in a country like Kenya with even less opportunities for Engineers.
Medicine is currently very bad if she will be looking to settle here.There are over 6000 unemployed graduate doctors.The government actually prefers to hire clinical officers and diploma nurses because they do the same job at a fraction of the pay.My boss recently finished constructing a hospital and advertised for doctors.Responses were overwhelming with doctors desperate for even a salo of 50k.
Final take,let her do her degree.UON or JKUAT is ok,hapa ni Kenya,hakuna cha ati this university is better than the other.If she is serious about her training she will make a good engineer no matter the university.Drill people skills and sales/business mindset in her at an early age.Start by telling her examples like do you know you can be the country manager for Total if you work hard?Or do you know you can be in charge of Business Strategy for General electric for Subsaharan Africa?Spark her curiosity about the business side of engineering,tell her about aggressively seeking sales engineer roles and pursuing an MBA.Encourage her to attend career fairs when in college.In my undergrad days at UON I used to see BSc Chem and Biochem guys wakitukanwa venye they are doing useless non professional degree courses.Some were affected so badly that you could see their self confidence was eroded just by the way they talked and carried themselves around, however,some aggressively sought information about what’s available for them out there They attended career fairs by companies like GlaxoSmithKline.After graduation they now hold good commercial jobs in multinational pharmaceuticals and biotech companies like Monsanto,GSK,Astra Zeneca etcetc.I kid you not,the training in universities only prepare your mind to deal with machines.
If you do this you will have played a role in moulding a future industry captain.
Wow! that was a brilliant reply. Engineering can be financially rewarding for those who branch into business. I read an article which said that engineering is the most common undergraduate degree of the Fortune 500 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs).
Wow what excellent advice guys . Iam truly grateful. thanx a lot, i have learnt so much in such a short time
Has annyone been to jkuat or has some details about the mech engineering course or the school performance or ranking ?? Iam really grateful guys, thanx so much
That’s very true. Currently in Kenyan banking recruitment circles the degree combination that seems to be preferred is Engineering/MBA Finance.
Yes true. In Kenyan banking circles the preferred background is BSc in any engineering field +MBA in Finance. They say it has to do with the high levels of strategic thinking shown by peeps with engineering backgrounds.
She is getting wrong advice. A stupid teacher is radicalising your niece. Without sound advice and guidance she will do mechanical to please the teacher, and suffer the consequences later, alone.
As a mechatronic graduate from Dedan Kimathi, I have this to say.
Nothing beats passion. If she absolutely wants to study mechanical engineering. Let her.
The market for mechanical engineers is just like any other market in Kenya. Flooded. But having walked into numerous interviews I can tell you she will have an easier time because she is a she and not a he.
I say this not because I studied there but because I have seen the situation in industry.
Do not discount small campuses like Kimathi. I have alot of respect for that small University. I graduated over a year before the JKUAT comrades -whom I left secondary with- even got to 4th year. Kimathi has the best mechatronic lab in Central and East Africa. No joke. The mechanical labs are also adequate. Equipped with modern industry-standard equipment. (Bonus point as in some campuses you’ll find equipment which is either irrelevant or outdated)
The disadvantage of small campuses is funding and research. I would stand in awe when coursemates from JKUAT went for sponsored trips to China and South Africa for designing something I could design in 2nd Year. Mind you, we never went anywhere in Kimathi. Not even to Mount Kenya Bottlers 5 kilometers away.
The budgets and opportunities available for these big campuses is just unparalleled. I was very jealous.
Life in small campuses is expensive. The average cost of a room in Kimathi is 4000/month each individual for a shared (2 people per room) bedsitter.
Meanwhile for hostels in Nairobi, that would be the entire rent, or close to, for a semester!
Again before I speak what I will speak I must emphasize that passion is everything. Mechanical engineers are here to stay.
But
I would also like to market mechatronic engineering.
It is emergent and highly misunderstood. I graduated last year April and I am now working. Most of my classmates are on internships. The worst case is a guy working for a Chinese company in Nairobi making 21k per month. But we are praying for him.
Our class only had 4 female students/ 65 total students. Do that math. All female students are currently employed.
We do study a little mechanical engineering say welding, metal work and lathing. But I won’t lie it’s not so much. Don’t force her but if she can be open she will find mechatronic engineering most fulfilling.
I can talk forever. Hope you have a clearer picture hombre.
Cheers.
Let her follow her passion. I studied with many guys who went on to do engineering and I can say that they are all doing well and more so, they have diversified well into business.
Let her study what she is passionate about, if it’s engineering fine but I strongly advise she also starts learning about entrepreneurship. Not starting small businesses like kiosk or butchery but where she uses the skills she gained to create her own ventures in Kenya or abroad. If you are only thinking the employment route well jobs are hard to come by not only in Kenya but around the world. She sounds quite bright, even if she doesn’t get a job she can still use her skills and be quite productive,that’s what I can suggest.
Engineering is actually my field. I will say this. If you have to study Engineering, study Electrical Engineering. And learn 3-4 programming languages before she graduates. This is very easy to do. Both EE and ME require a good understanding of math. But it’s very easy to branch to the 1st world with a EE background either in the workforce or through school ( higher learning). The country is developing and many more EE grads are needed in the tech field. But again don’t fight her. Don’t fight passion. If she wants ME let it be. But from the perspective of making a living, EE gives much better opportunities for advancement. Even in the 1st world.
I honestly think it is much better to study Computer Science than pure Engineering. It is a lot more marketable. Multiples more opportunities. All the youngsters who ask me I tell them the same thing. Go for CS. If you must EE. Then if you really want to ME.
Tell her to study Telecommunications Engineering, mechanical is limiting in this country coz we lack a manufacturing base.
TLE is at the junction of heavy and light power. Ataelewa computers, networking as well as building and design of the power grid. In short she will be placed squarely at the center of the future economy anywhere on the globe.
This is my course na whenever I look at my lady classmates, man they got the best opportunities. Am talking safcom, GE, Barclays, KPLC…
Women in Eng is very lucrative… sure bet i to employment. Acha afanye! I did Eng with so many folks and not one sob story drom my graduating class. Elec, Mech, Civil etc. Great choices. The former senior director of Engineering from Tesla Charles Mwangi is Kenyan from uon among many others.
Giving my 2 cents opinion as an Electrical Engineer
Let her study the course of her choice. Atangangana tu na life uko mbele, when time comes. Kila place iko na struggles zake, a friend has been telling us a story of a guy from his village, apparently the guy had a first class in mechanical engineering, UoN, five years later he is yet to land a job, ako tu ocha. In the same class, Kuna mechanical engineers walikuwa na second lower, but are doing very well in life.
The university she studies at don’t really matter, as long as the university’s Engineering courses has been accredited by engineers boards of Kenya, then she is good to go. There are about 5 or so universities in Kenya whose Engineering courses are accredited. UON, Jkuat, Moi, Dedan Kimathi, KU, Egerton, Mmust. Again, I repeat, the uni she goes to doesn’t matter, even all employers now don’t care where your academic credentials are from, they want to see what you can actually give.
So having worked with engineers from all the above universities and others who studied in ivy league universities in United States, for the past 4-5 years, I can attest to it that what makes one Engineer more knowledgeable than the other is enthusiasm and experience, not where you studied.