If you have an eye for engineering and design and love new technologies, then you may want to think about becoming a building services engineer. These new technologies may include the latest construction drawing software app or newest designing software and are vital to designing buildings that might be of good use to a building services engineer.
In the main, building services engineers are responsible for designing, installing, and maintaining all services within a building. It pays to strengthen your IT sills, experience in modelling software, computer-aided design (CAD) and drawings. These skills are desired and at times required.
Services can include electrical wiring, lighting, heating and ventilation, not to mention water supply, people flow, building acoustics and sanitation.
So if this sounds right up your street and you are looking to make a career change, then how do you go about landing one of a selection of building services engineer jobs?
The Academic Route
If you haven’t had any past experience in this field and are looking to land one of many types of building services engineer jobs, then it’s worth knowing that there are three main areas of building services that you may want to specialize in. These include:
- Public health
- Electrical engineering
- Mechanical engineering
As a result people who specialize usually have either an electrical engineering degree, a mechanical engineering degree, or an environmental engineering degree. The candidate would usually take a foundation degree course to become an engineering technician or Eng Tech for short. From there they would go on to do a higher degree, specializing in their chosen field.
Admission to CIBSE
Once qualified, you can apply for admission to the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). Here you can gain the valuable skills needed to become a building services engineer including opportunities to network, attend industry based events and receive heavily discounted prices on retargets and publications.
The Non-Academic Route
For those who have no formal qualifications it isn’t all bad news. If you are aged between 16 and 19 it is possible to take the apprenticeship route. Summit (the apprenticeship program for building services engineers) offers individuals the chance to gain qualifications up to NVQ level 3 which will stand you in good stead to seek employment within the building services engineering industry. From here you can look to attend a higher education apprenticeship programme to gain further qualifications in the building services engineering industry up to degree level.
The Pay
Typically building services engineer jobs start at around £20,000 – £24,000 whilst engineers with several years of experience can expect to command salaries of around £25,000 – £35,000 depending upon their position. Senior engineers can earn in excess of £50,000 whilst a partner in an engineering consulting firm could be earning somewhere between £65,000 – £85,000.
Senior building services engineers are very much in demand and as a result can command very reasonable wages. Jobs are widely available in most parts of the UK and the chance to work abroad is also good. So if you’re looking to take a different career path, or are just starting out on your career journey and have an eye for design, engineering or mechanics, then this could be the career for you. Find out more about current building engineer opportunities at Beeby Anderson Recruitment.