EngineeringUK, UCL Engineering and the Tomorrow’s Engineers Careers Working Group have released a free careers quiz for young people to explore engineering.
The quiz, called Meet the Future You, asks young people about their skills and interests to identify different areas of engineering they might enjoy. Aimed at 7–19-year-olds, the quiz matches users with profiles such as Future Lifesaver or Universe Explorer depending on their responses.
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All profiles in the quiz are based on real-life engineers from UCL’s engineering faculty, and of the 11 characters, seven are women, seven are from BAME backgrounds, two are LGBTQ and one is a wheelchair user.
The idea behind the range of profiles is to showcase both the range of engineering pathways available, as well as the diversity of real-life engineers, to encourage young people from all backgrounds to consider an engineering career.
This is a brilliantly innovative way of engaging young people with the huge breadth of careers in engineering. It was great to see the kids at the fair connecting their interests and passions with the actual jobs of real-life engineers.
– Prof Clare Elwella, real-life Future Lifesaver inspiration
Eleanor Eyre, head of careers at EngineeringUK, said: “We were excited to partner with UCL Engineering and bring to life these inspiring profiles in this new interactive quiz. Meet the Future You aims to inspire young people and demonstrate that anyone can become an engineer by showcasing a diverse range of real-life engineers.”
The quiz was trialled by thousands of school children at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham earlier this year. Both female and male students took the quiz, with females being the largest group at 61%. Females overall ranked social conscience as their top strength, while males overall ranked problem solving first. However, the top two profile matches for both genders was Civilisation Saver and Sea Crusader.
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Prof Clare Elwella from UCL Engineering, the real-life inspiration for the Future Lifesaver profile, tested the quiz at the fair and found she did in fact match to her own profile. She said: “This is a brilliantly innovative way of engaging young people with the huge breadth of careers in engineering. It was great to see the kids at the fair connecting their interests and passions with the actual jobs of real-life engineers.”
Meet the Future You is available online at https://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/students/meet-the-future-you/ and as a free app from Google Play and the App Store.