How to become a Material Engineer: Career Guide, Courses, Jobs, Scope, Salary

What does a Material Engineer Do?

• Work on materials to develop them and test them to be used in various jobs and products.
• Study the properties of material like: Structure of material and their creation.
• Determine the performance of material applied.
• Determine how the material deteriorates and its failure.
• Design the material and direct in testing for the same.
• Evaluate the impact of processing the material i.e. its effect on the environment.
• Evaluate the technical specifications in processing the material.
• Consider and check the economic factors relating to the design objective of processing or the product.

How to become a Material Engineer: Steps to follow

Material Science or Material Engineering is a specification of engineering itself and therefore to become a Material Engineer one must precisely follow the career path. Following are the steps for becoming a Material Engineer:

• Step 1: Students shall decide well in advance whether or not they wish to choose a career in Material Science. This is the primary decision as stepping into this demanding and daunting career requires utmost dedication and focus. Candidates might need to choose their career field and decide their choice of subject to enter into this field and hence they should make a decision for the same.
• Step 2: To become a material engineer a candidate needs to choose or have Science Mathematics in 10+2 or equivalent. The core subjects of study should be Chemistry, Mathematics or Statistics, Physics in general.
• Step 3: After 10+2 candidates can apply to various universities offering the desirable Under Graduate course in Material Engineering like B.Tech in material engineering. Generally admission to the courses are entrance based, institutes take admission on the basis of marks of the candidate in the entrance exams like JEE Mains, JEE Advance, WBJEE etc. and shortlist the candidate for the counseling level to take the admissions.
• Step 4: There are various colleges offering Material Engineering courses; students at times might get into a dilemma which institute they should opt to study at.
• Students should shortlist the colleges according to their convenience like the maximum intake, accommodation facility, global exposure, ranking of the institute, Fees etc. such points should be kept in consideration while applying for admissions.
• Step 5: A candidate should decide what choice of career he/she aspires to make and study accordingly like if they wish to immediately start their career choosing to work after completion of the graduation degree is the best choice if they wish to land up at a higher position or get a good package at start of the career they should pursue PG degree or Doctoral degree for the same.
• Step 6: A candidate must choose their area of specialization or their area of interest and further should study the same to get specialized in the same.

Types of Material Engineer

Based on the area of interest a Material Engineer may specialize in the following mentioned field of Material Engineering or a candidate can choose to specialize in the following mentioned areas of material engineering based upon their area of interest.

• Ceramics Engineer- Ceramic Material Engineers are the professionals who design and create new ceramic material and develop technologies for creating the same. These professionals work in the creation of nuclear reactors, high temperature Rocket Nozzles to glass LCD displays.
• Composite Engineers- Such types of Material engineers develop material with special properties for application in Aircrafts and Rockets.
• Metallurgical Engineers- These Material Engineers specialize in working with alloys and metals they determine the properties of these metals and their utilization for the respective industry.
• Plastic Engineers: Plastic Material Engineers are the specialists in the experts of polymers and plastics they work on developing and testing the polymers and their utilization in the respective industry.
• Forensic Material Engineers: These individuals are the specialists who specialize in studying structures and atomic properties of various materials. They develop new materials by combining these materials for certain use.
• Metallographer's: Such types of Material Engineer conduct Microscopic and Macroscopic tests on various materials in order to check their properties and develop improved quality of material from the same.

Professions on the Basis of Seniority

• Senior Scientist: A Composite Material Engineer can lead up to the post of senior scientist and work on in development of propellants for usage in Rocket building etc.
• Professor: A candidate holding a doctoral degree in the field of material engineering can choose to serve as a professor at institutes and offer knowledge in his field to his disciples

How to become a Material Engineer in India?

To become a Material Engineer one must have good knowledge about materials, their compounds etc. One must build good professionalism skill, compatibility skills at an early stage.

To become a Material Engineer in India a candidate can choose to study Undergraduate or Postgraduate or a Doctoral degree in Material Engineering for the same; on completion of the relevant course they can choose to work with any Industry or independently or serve as a government employee.

Starting at the initial stage developing interest and knowledge in Mathematics, Chemical Compounds can be very helpful for the candidate as Material Engineering revolves around the same or is a larger perspective of the same.

At school level: a candidate must choose Mathematics/ Statistics, Chemistry as compulsory subjects in their 10+2 so as to pursue a career in Material Engineering.

How to become a Material Engineer after 12th?

To become a material Engineer after class 12th a candidate needs to get a formal Undergraduate degree and later on if desired a postgraduate degree for the same.

• Undergraduate preparation: A candidate can get enrolled in Undergraduate Material Engineering degree like B.Tech through various entrance exams like JEE Mains etc.
• A candidate needs to qualify an entrance exam and prepare for the same well in advance.
• Generally these exams are National entrance tests hence lakhs of candidates appear for these exams on a limited number of seats so preparation should be done accordingly.
• A candidate should at this stage decide what his/ her specialization would be so as to further continue their education in the same specialization.
• Or, after completion of the degree a candidate can choose to work in any Industry or a corporation.
• Post Graduate Preparation: After completion of the undergraduate degree a candidate can choose to study Master’s degree in their chosen specialization, admission to the post graduate degree are Merit based or Entrance based.
• Admission to a Master's degree is either based on the scores of the candidate in their undergraduate degree or their marks in entrance exams like GATE, PGEE etc.
• These are nationwide entrance exams hence a candidate needs to have strong preparation for the same.
• On completion of the post graduate degree one can either choose to study the doctoral degree or can choose to get hired by recruiting bodies.

Courses to become Material Engineer

There are several courses one can choose to study to become a professional Material Engineer.

Certificate Courses in Material Engineering 

A candidate can choose to study a certificate program in Material Engineering right after completing their class 12th, it is a short term course choosing to give brief knowledge in the field of Material Engineering.

• Admission Process: A candidate can choose to study a certificate program in material engineering soon after completion of their 10+2.
• Candidates can directly enroll in the course as in general certificate courses are based on the merit score of the candidate in 10+2.
• Eligibility Criterion: To apply for the certificate course a candidate needs to have minimum 55% marks in their 10+2.

B.Tech in Material Engineering

BTech Material Engineering is an undergraduate course in Material Engineering.

Admission Process- Admission to the Under Graduate course either entrance based or merit based.

• Many institutes in India take admissions based on the merit scores of the candidate in qualifying nationwide entrance exams like JEE Mains, JEE Advance, WBJEE etc.
• A candidate needs to register and appear for the entrance test.
• Based on the marks and merit score of the candidate they are shortlisted for admission to the institutes.
• Further the qualifying candidate needs to appear for PI and counseling sessions to secure seats at the institute.

Eligibility Criterion - to be eligible for the admission to B.Tech in Material Engineering a candidate should have passed their 10+2 in science stream with Mathematics as a compulsory subject with minimum 55% marks.

M.Tech in Material Engineering

Admission Process: Admission to the Under Graduate course either entrance based or merit based.

• Many institutes in India take admissions to PG Material Engineering courses either on Merit score or based on entrance exams like GATE etc. Merit based admission takes place on the basis of their B.Tech scores.
• A candidate needs to register and appear for the online center based entrance exam.
• Qualifying candidates are further called for PI round and then are shortlisted for admissions.

Eligibility Criterion - To apply for the M.Tech program in Material Engineering a candidate should have Undergraduate degree in B.Tech with minimum 60% marks.
Ph.D. in Material Engineering

• Admission Process: Admission to the Ph.D. course is based on the merit score of the candidate in the relevant master’s degree. Candidates need to apply to the course directly.
• Eligibility: A candidate needs to have a minimum of 60% marks in the relevant field of Material Engineering in their Master’s degree.

Becoming Material Engineer Abroad

Material Engineering is a lucrative career not only in India but also abroad. There is huge scope for a Material Engineer abroad ranging from scientific field to Industrial Sector.

For admission to relevant courses a candidate needs to have relevant qualification; for admission to UG degree a candidate needs to have completed their former schooling- 10+2, for admission to post graduate degree a candidate needs to have relevant Undergraduate degree and similarly for Doctoral degree a Postgraduate degree is desirable.

In addition to the above relevant degree a candidate also needs to have qualified respective English language proficiency tests like- IELTS or TOEFL; to study abroad one must have a relevant VISA for the desired country of study.

UK

• There are more than 125 Institutes offering education in the field of Material Engineering in the UK.
• The United Kingdom was and always is the finest choice to study for international students. Around 25% of students preferred the UK for studying Material Engineering as a career.

US

• There are more than 100 Institutes offering education in the field of Material Engineering in the US.
• Around 18% of the students preferred to study Material Engineering in the US.

Canada

• More than 120 institutes are offering several courses in Material Engineering in Canada.
• Among the immigrating students around 15% of them prefer to study in Canada.

Australia

• Around 100+ institutes offer Material Engineering courses in Australia.
• According to a survey around 20% immigrating students preferred to study Material Engineering in Australia.

Benefit of career as Material Engineer

• Material Engineering is a lucrative career: The field of material engineering is a very lucrative career since last decade it has seen a positive growth.
• Huge pay: Material Engineering is a very successful career and the salary offered is very high compared to other Engineering careers.
• Job Security: Material Engineering promises job security as this is a promising sector of engineering and is growing in demand.
• Huge demand: Material engineering demand has grown since the last decade now this sector has gained immense recognition among the Engineering students.
• Demanding career: Material Engineering is a demanding career and is very suitable for dedicated professionals who choose to dedicate themselves to the career.
• Indoor career: Material Engineering is an indoor career as it mainly requires Technical and statistical skill and work within the premises.

Material Engineers are usually offered perks and incentives along with salary also their salaries get incremented after a certain period.

Skills Required Becoming A Material Engineer

• Analytical skills: Materials engineers often work on projects related to various fields of engineering. They determine how material is to be used and how they must be structured to withstand different conditions.
• Mathematical skills: Materials engineers are required to use the principles of calculus and other advanced topics in math for analyzing, designing , and troubleshooting in their work.
• Problem-solving skills: Materials engineers figure out why a product might have failed, design a solution, and then conduct tests to make sure that the product does not fail again. These skills involve being able to identify root causes when many factors could be at fault.
• Speaking skills: These engineers are required to communicate engineering concepts to people who may not have an engineering background.

Salary of Material Engineers in India:

Average annual Salary

Specialization Wise

Gender Wise Salary

Experience Wise Salary