Paul Greer - STEM careers : a students guide to opportunities in science, technology, engineering and maths

In education and the media, the acronym STEM is frequently used, but often without saying what it stands for. Before progressing, it therefore seems worth doing just that. STEM is short for science, technology, engineering and maths. The abbreviation is a useful one and will be used throughout this book. In different places, it will show a single subject of study or small cluster of them, an occupational range or a particular job. This will be helpful in reminding you that many jobs are entered through academic routes, and also that most education relates in some measure to working life.

Having explained the term STEM, lets look at each of its four components.

Science is the first and broadest of these, in both an academic and an occupational sense. For most of you at school or college, the word probably triggers thoughts of specific subjects, notably biology, chemistry and physics. Further on, at university, these can fragment into numerous specialisms, such as biometrics, colour chemistry and astrophysics, many of which can split again. This reflects not only the variety and complexity of the world of science, but also the multitude of everyday needs it attempts to meet.

Technology, the second component, may be concisely defined as the application of science in short, the means by which it gets things done. This is usually through machinery, often complex in design and tailored to fulfil very specific tasks. On a small scale, a smartphone or iPad shows the sophistication of the technology we can easily carry anywhere. On a larger scale, anyone spending time in hospital, for instance, will be struck by the machines used to facilitate diagnosis and treatment by reading the subtlest changes within the human body.

Engineering, the third component, may be described as the nuts and bolts of technology how its designed and built from the ground up. Sometimes, as in structural or civil engineering, this definition is almost a literal one the first step being to dig foundations. By contrast, in chemical engineering, a laboratory and collection of computer screens may form a very different work environment. Engineering is usually first taught on post-16 courses, where its focus is mainly on mechanical, electrical and general principles. As with technology, though, post-18 courses and training can become very specialised, both at university and in the workplace.

The final part of STEM, maths is also the most abstract. However, it underlies each of the other three to such an extent that they could not exist without it. Computers capable of enormous number-crunching enable mathematically based concepts or applications to be tested more easily before large resources are devoted to systems or production. If your career interests dont lie in such areas, however, maths still offers many opportunities, especially within business and finance.

Science and maths remain compulsory subjects up to and including GCSE level (or equivalent) because theyre considered important within education and also by employers. With every year our world becomes more dependent on technology, which in turn relies on large numbers of people competent in STEM subjects. This makes it vital that female students, as well as males, are encouraged to opt for these post-16, and feel comfortable having done so. Even after women became well represented in higher education, biology was the one main science in which they came close to matching their male peers.