Why I Returned To Study Engineering As A Mature Age Student

That illustrious reset button hovered within arms reach.

With it, brought the chance at a new beginning, a career that really made an impact on the community around me, and the opportunity to pull myself out of a rut I’d slipped into working from home for years.

The better part of the last decade I’d worked in marketing. I completed a business degree at Queensland University of Technology in 2015 and landed my first role as a marketing coordinator for an Australian whisky company in my final semester. It started out as a dream job for a whisky nerd like me, but quickly turned sour. But it gave me the chance to hone my chops as a copywriter.

Fast forward to 2024 and I’d spent six years working as a copywriter in-house and remotely for a financial publisher in Melbourne. It was a great gig, and great people, but there was just something nagging at me telling me I needed a change. A big one. And I needed to make it sooner rather than later.

So after a lot of introspection, talking it over with friends, and a false start in a diploma of IT that wasn’t for me, I decided to go back to basics and learn electrical engineering from the ground up.

Now I had to tell my boss.

The worst thing was things were going quite well at the time. But with projects getting planned months in advance, I had to make the uncomfortable call to tell him I wasn’t going to be around.

I felt gutted, like I was betraying family.

But I also felt excitement about the future that I hadn’t felt in years.

Unlocking New Skills And Sharpening Old Ones

With a couple of months until O-week, and nothing but a C in basic math from 20 years ago, I knew I’d be facing an uphill battle when it came to math.

So I spent nearly every night and filled up countless notebooks working through Khan Academy math courses trying to fill in gaps that at times felt like an abyss.

I still remember having a beer with a mechanical engineer mate and him asking me how I was with integration by parts… because I was going to need it.

I just stared at him blankly at the time and made a mental note to look up whatever that was.

But as daunting as it seemed, I couldn’t help be excited that I was learning something new, and pushing myself hard, rather than just stagnating.

I’d been working from home for three years at that point, two after fleeing Melbourne post-COVID and returning to my hometown of Brisbane.

The autonomy was awesome. As was being closer to my family and friends.

But the solitude wore on me.

Even with daily Team’s meetings and regular activity outside of work I felt like my social skills were atrophying.

Returning to study wasn’t just a chance to learn something new, but it was a chance to crawl out of my copy cave and get back out into the world, and meet new and interesting people daily.

New Opportunities At Every Turn

Before my first day I knew that I was going to major in electrical, and even focus on power.

It’s everywhere, it’s essential to our daily lives. And energy security is increasingly important.

I started to look at job roles periodically to see what kind of positions where out there and what grabbed my attention.

There were design roles which piqued my interest as I had building design experience before I was in marketing. There were project management roles that seemed exciting as you got to see large scale projects come to life and travel to remote areas of Australia. Then I saw an ad for a strategic planning engineer and thought it was the most interesting yet.

Planning and modelling the needs of the community in 12+ years time when things are shifting rapidly seems like an fascinating challenge.

I reached out to Energy Queensland even before my first day on campus, and asked if they had any advice for a budding electrical engineer. The lady I spoke to was lovely, and pointed me towards the Electric Energy Society of Australia’s website who run regular events for industry veterans and students alike.

I also joined QUT’s Electrical Engineering Student Society during orientation week. Surrounding myself with like minded people who were on the same path was important. And the group’s warm welcome has been one of the standout moments from my return to study so far.

Here’s a pic of me and fellow EESS members at EQ headquarters attending an EESA event on quality controlling grid connections (which went completely over my head at the time).

Building A Future Forward Career

Right now, the way we generate, manage, and distribute energy is undergoing one of the biggest transformations in history.

The shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy and smart grids bring a whole new set of challenges.

– How do we balance loads with unpredictable inputs?

– How do we upgrade decades old infrastructure for modern demand?

– How to we ensure regional communities aren’t left behind in the transition?

These aren’t easy problems to solve – but they are the kinds of problems that I want to work on. And the need for engineers with the right skills has never been higher.

If I have the opportunity to be part of a team that contributes to a solution, that’s a massive win.

That’s what excites me most: it’s not just about a pay cheque or job security, it’s about doing work that urgently matters.

The things I’m learning today won’t just stay in a textbook or my notes. The problem solving skills I’m developing will help me solve real world challenges that affect people’s lives every day.

I can go out in the community knowing I’m not just along for the ride, but I’m helping shape it.

Conclusion

I’m currently on mid-semester break of semester two, and feeling OK.

I hesitated starting this blog at first and documenting my journey from day one because of self doubt. What if this wasn’t for me? What if I couldn’t do it?

But I can safely say those thoughts are behind me. I still know this is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But with the right attitude, network of friends, and a good environment, anything is possible.

Plus the support offered by the university to STEM students is incredible.

If you’ve been thinking about returning to study as a mature age student, but second guessing your skills I’d highly recommend looking into it anyway.

You’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.

And a lot of areas you may find yourself excelling at when compared to your peers.

I hope to keep this blog regularly updated about my journey and the projects I’m working on, if for nothing else than keeping a journal that I can reflect on later.

But if it helps someone else along the way who is considering the change, or gives some insight to a potential employer on why I made the leap, that’s great too.

Anyway thanks for reading this far.

Speak soon.