Question

What is the education and training required to become a research and development engineer?

Answer 1

R&D engineers have varying educational backgrounds, as employer requirements differ. Many employers prefer R&D engineers to have a bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related industry discipline, such as biotechnology for a pharmaceutical company. However, employers also accept candidates who have industry-related or R&D-specific work history in place of education.

Little training is provided to R&D engineers who already have skills and experience in their chosen field. However, newly-hired R&D engineers are usually assigned a reduced workload and work closely with supervisors and senior R&D engineers for several weeks before assuming leadership of a project.