Question: What degrees have you done (undergraduate, masters,etc) and would you say they were necessary to work in your desired field?

Tina-Jaine Haigh answered on 15 Mar 2024:

I have done a Bachelor of Science Degree in physics (that’s an undergrad degree), and a Post Graduate Diploma in nuclear systems design (that’s at the same level as a Masters, but shorter).
In my field (nuclear safety engineering), we regard a degree in engineering or physics as the minimum necessary qualification. Engineering subjects can include mechanical, electrical, electronic, civil, structural or chemical engineering. The job requires understanding a wide range of engineering and science concepts, and a degree is the best way to prove you can do that. In my job I make use of aspects of chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, environmental science, plus many types of engineering. We don’t expect people who have just graduated to understand it all, because you can’t do degrees in all these subjects, but we need to know they are capable of learning what’s needed.
We do consider people with degree level apprenticeships too. These sometimes have a mix with more hands-on engineering and less written or analysis work, whereas nuclear safety engineering is analysis based and not hands-on. So if we had an applicant who had gone through the apprenticeship route, we would look at their experience to find out more about their ability to do the kind of analysis we cover.