Mechanical and electrical engineering might not be the first career that comes to mind, especially if you didn’t follow a technical pathway at school, but this sector is evolving, expanding, and actively seeking new talent from outside traditional pipelines.
And you might be far more suited to it than you think.
Maybe your current job feels stagnant, and you want something more meaningful.
A role that uses your mind more actively and offers stronger long-term career prospects.
People tend to reach a point in life, often around their 30s, 40s or 50s, where they feel ready for a new challenge.
A mechanical and electrical engineering career is a route you could explore.
Mid-Life Skills = Engineering Strengths
Many of the capabilities you develop across a lifetime of work are exactly the strengths this industry values:
- Problem-solving
- Reliability
- Time management
- Team coordination
- Clear communication
- Organised thinking
- Practical judgement
- Calmness under pressure
These aren’t “mechanical and electrical engineering skills”, they are human skills.
People who’ve worked in retail, logistics, healthcare, customer services, education, trades, hospitality or administration often enter M&E roles and find they take to it naturally.
Yes, real engineering involves maths and wiring, but more so, It’s thinking. It’s observing. It’s learning.
It’s adapting.
And mature workers excel at that.
A Special Call to Women Considering the Sector
Women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering, with only around 16–17% of the UK engineering workforce currently female.
This isn’t because women lack ability. It’s because they continue to face several barriers.
But the sector is changing fast.
Engineering needs diversity of thought, diversity of experience, and diversity of perspective.
Teams with mixed backgrounds and genders solve problems faster, innovate more effectively, and design solutions that perform better in real-world environments.
Women bring analytical perspectives and collaborative approaches that strengthen mechanical and engineering teams, and employers are finally waking up to it.
At ASH, we want to see greater representation, and we actively support it.
We want to mentor more female students in schools and colleges, so we can highlight to them the apprenticeship routes that are accessible and paid.
We also want to encourage applications from women who may never have considered engineering before.
It’s Not Too Late — Engineering Isn’t Just for School Leavers
A common misconception is that engineering has a narrow entry window:
“If you didn’t choose it at 16, it’s off the table.”
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Many people successfully transition into engineering later in life.
Some complete adult apprenticeships. Others enter at technician-level and train on the job.
Others begin in supporting roles (coordination, project support, compliance, planning) and move into technical responsibilities as their confidence grows.
Mid-career entrants often outperform younger candidates in many ways, such as:
- They’re resilient
- They’re reliable
- They can communicate in the workplace
- They have client-facing confidence
- They have leadership potential
And employers recognise that.
This is why apprenticeship programmes are increasingly designed for all ages and not just teenagers.
A Sector With Stability and Future Direction
Engineering is about building the future.
Think of the areas this industry touches:
- renewable energy
- smart buildings
- sustainability
- electrification of transport
- low-carbon heating
- building connectivity and security
- energy efficiency and net-zero infrastructure
These are growth areas.
These are future-proof fields.
These are jobs with purpose.
If You Want a Career With Legacy, This Is It
The work you do in engineering can:
- reduce carbon emissions
- improve school environments
- modernise hospitals
- keep public infrastructure running
- support community development
This isn’t clock-in / clock-out work.
It matters.
If You’re Curious — Talk to Us
ASH Integrated Services welcomes interest from:
- people retraining
- people returning to work
- women seeking technical careers
- those wanting to transition from adjacent sectors
- people looking for meaningful, hands-on work
You don’t need to have all the technical answers right now.
You just need to have the right attitude and a willingness to learn.
Sadly, the truth is this: the engineering sector will not survive if it only recruits 18-year-olds coming through traditional pathways.
We need mature learners.
We need career changers.
We need women in the field.
We need people with life experience and not just classroom learning.
And if you’re reading this and thinking,
“Maybe this could be for me…”
— then it’s worth exploring.
