Actually, it's not too difficult to survive a gank in a completely unengineered ship.
It really isn't, so long as you don't goof around. It'll cost you some cargo space, but you can make it work, as high waking is OP.
In fact, I did a little science a couple years back. I took a completely unegineered Python (Just a 5a shield generator and some shield boosters, if I remember correctly.) to Shinrarta, and survived three separate attempts to destroy me, dying only on the fourth one-- this was low-waking on a pair of Engineered FDLs, too. Chain interdictions.
Had I high waked the first time, I would have easily survived, but I just wanted to see exactly how much it would take. I had three chances to do it right.
Of course, engineers are preferred. They allow you to run a smaller shield, less hull reinforcement, and still have equal or better defenses vs an unengineered craft. Even low level engineering is better than none at all.