first post.
have been really unhappy over the last two years. i am 27 and hopefully in a few months i will graduate with an msc in mechanical engineering. over the years i completely lost my passion for this field though ..thats one reason why it took me so long to finish.

i talked to a lot of people who are engineers and they told me how hard it is nowadays to get a job in the engineering field. some of them have been jobless for quite some time. i am not the best student and thats why im really sure it will be quite hard for me to get a job.

i dont really know what to do now. the the thing is my biggest dream has always been to emigrate to australia/ canada or the us. to qualify for a visa i would need engineering work experience though. thats why i cant just change my field from engineering to something different without a clear perspective. i dont see myself staying in europe.

i think an apprenticeship would have been best for me but i cant travel back in time. probably as a tradesman or chef. i even did 2 internships in both of this fields when i was younger.

because i really want to change my whole situation i thought to myself maybe i should go to a community college in canada. i saw that they have got a lot of technician programs. do u think this would be a really stupid idea?

my only concern is that if it doesnt work out im fucked because i think it will be impossible for me to go back into engineering.

i just want to have a "solid" career. i feel like a good tradesman/programmer/chef wil always find work.


thanks in advance for all replies

Find a like-minded mentor.

Which country are you in? The options differ depending on this. Also, ask yourself why you want to emigrate. What can you find in Canada and America which you can't find in your home country? I'm not saying you don't have reasons to emigrate, but check what these reasons are.

You will have an MSc in Mech Eng from a UK university - you can do what you want. If you stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop making excuses, pull yourself together and get after something, then probably you can do most jobs you might like to. I've got loads of friends who did engineering degrees who went on to be investment bankers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and one or two even made it as engineers. It's a degree that opens doors rather than closing them. You can work hard and compete, or drop out and wallow in your misery.

You can't travel back in time.

You can't travel back in time.

You can't travel back in time.

move to australia and earn 200k surely?

Question: were the people you talked to, who said its too hard to get an engineering job and were jobless for a long time, were they shit?

Probably right? The first article I clicked for "Mechanical engineers unemployment rate" said about 3% for 2012. Even assuming that's off by 10 times, and somehow the unemployment rate for mech.eng. is now 30%, you've still got to be 3/10 to end up in that group.

So don't be 3/10. Be 5/10 or higher.

Quote: (09-27-2016 06:13 AM)britabroad Wrote:  

move to australia and earn 200k surely?

LOL you high right now?

dude consider yourself lucky as fuck to have an engineering degree, i wish i had done what you did, i wasted 4 years of my life on a communication degree which is completely worthless. there is so much more you can do with that

you're in a good spot man. I got a degree in Philosophy. Imagine for a second how useless that is. You can do any job I would get hired for and then some. Go work for Space X!

One of the best guides ive seen on passion/direction/motivation is everything by Your Life Your Legacy author and Wealth Dynamics creator Roger Hamilton. He has broken down the most successful and wealthy entrepreneurs into eight profile types, and its the best road map to connecting to both your passion and the value you can offer in society that ive seen





That book and 80/20 Rule will change your life and your thinking. We have all been there and you dont have to reinvent the wheel, just find a better map thats already been drawn out for you.

Quote: (09-28-2016 03:49 AM)GetRichOrdie Wrote:  

One of the best guides ive seen on passion/direction/motivation is everything by Your Life Your Legacy author and Wealth Dynamics creator Roger Hamilton. He has broken down the most successful and wealthy entrepreneurs into eight profile types, and its the best road map to connecting to both your passion and the value you can offer in society that ive seen





That book and 80/20 Rule will change your life and your thinking. We have all been there and you dont have to reinvent the wheel, just find a better map thats already been drawn out for you.

First, whats an MSC? Is it the equivalent to a bachelors or masters degree?

If not, if its a lower certificate, I would push through and go for a bachelors or masters degree. Focus on getting good grades, then decide in a few years.

Its not a bad thing to start late. I did, and I surpassed everyone I grew up with and most of the people I started my career with.

Go get your education first. And get a bachelors or masters, anything less is an expensive piece of paper.

Quote: (09-28-2016 07:10 AM)Vaun Wrote:  

First, whats an MSC? Is it the equivalent to a bachelors or masters degree?

If not, if its a lower certificate, I would push through and go for a bachelors or masters degree. Focus on getting good grades, then decide in a few years.

Its not a bad thing to start late. I did, and I surpassed everyone I grew up with and most of the people I started my career with.

Go get your education first. And get a bachelors or masters, anything less is an expensive piece of paper.

M.Sc is a masters degree.

I'm literally in the same boat, this is very eerie. I busted my ass during school and after to get jobs/internships and I haven't been able to land anything except 1 internship during my schooling. I graduated a few months ago and have been jobless since.

Find out what you enjoy, create a path, and pursue it until you fail. The odds may be against you, but you may never forgive yourself for not trying.

What profession do you want to go into? Don't handcuff yourself just because your degree is in engineering.

The engineers I worked with that were from the UK got a lot better jobs with higher pay once getting to the U.S. Comparatively, the life was a lot better. Shit pay in the UK. I'm not sure about the rest of Europe.

Always start with the end in mind. What do you like to do? What do you enjoy doing?

There have never been anytime as right now to start a business. I went to school in the late 90s early 2000s. Back then the impression I got was it was better to go to school, get a good degree and get a job, and make good money (A.K.A the american dream). With wages not increasing for middle class earners in the last 20 years, I think that is not true anymore. I have a friend who move stuff and he told me he had a revenue of $120k in 2015. Another friend has a nail polish saloon and made over $500k in revenue in 2015.

Quote: (09-26-2016 12:51 PM)bizarre Wrote:  

first post.
have been really unhappy over the last two years. i am 27 and hopefully in a few months i will graduate with an msc in mechanical engineering. over the years i completely lost my passion for this field though ..thats one reason why it took me so long to finish.

i talked to a lot of people who are engineers and they told me how hard it is nowadays to get a job in the engineering field. some of them have been jobless for quite some time. i am not the best student and thats why im really sure it will be quite hard for me to get a job.

i dont really know what to do now. the the thing is my biggest dream has always been to emigrate to australia/ canada or the us. to qualify for a visa i would need engineering work experience though. thats why i cant just change my field from engineering to something different without a clear perspective. i dont see myself staying in europe.

i think an apprenticeship would have been best for me but i cant travel back in time. probably as a tradesman or chef. i even did 2 internships in both of this fields when i was younger.

because i really want to change my whole situation i thought to myself maybe i should go to a community college in canada. i saw that they have got a lot of technician programs. do u think this would be a really stupid idea?

my only concern is that if it doesnt work out im fucked because i think it will be impossible for me to go back into engineering.

i just want to have a "solid" career. i feel like a good tradesman/programmer/chef wil always find work.


thanks in advance for all replies

Just finish your MSc, it's a sense of achievement.

Having a degree in engineering can open up other doors for you for employment in finance, management, business and computing.

Programming is a great option for you, learn two programming languages, such as C#, Java or Python, really learn it, grasp the concepts (variables, data types, loops) and then look at example projects online and then develop 6-7 solid projects.

You could use Treehouse's Java, C#, Python, JavaScript projects as your own projects.

For Java, developing a few android apps will help you stand out from the crowd.

Once you get experience, you can also succeed as a freelance programmer.

Good luck

Those technician programs in canada shit the bed because the shitty economy right now as a lot of these trades and technical programs serviced the oil industry. If Trump doesn't scrap NAFTA and put the screws to trade with Canada those technical programs and trades will be useful when manufacturing comes flooding back to canada; because canada was the cheap outsourcing place to american companies at 60-70c on the dollar. I remember one of my supervisors saying during the shitty times when the CAD was in the toilet he never had a shortage of work and always sweating to make deadlines. I don't know what's happening now with our surfer dude prime minister.