[void]

Which kind of engineering jobs have the least project work?
Doing R&D everything is about a project and deadlines.

[komatiite]

(02-24-2014 01:52 PM)void Wrote:  

Which kind of engineering jobs have the least project work?
Doing R&D everything is about a project and deadlines. I dislike working on only one project for years. Always thinking about the same topic bores me out quickly

One thing that may interest you is getting in with investment banks. All banks that cover petroleum companies or mining companies require those with technical knowledge to properly evaluate the financials of these organizations. Engineers obviously are generally a superior option to those with business backgrounds in these roles- for example, a guy with a petroleum engineering degree can read well logs and maps, as well as production data with much more accuracy than somebody with a finance degree when trying to determine whether or not an emerging oil company's ideas are legit. Likewise, a mining or geological engineer can break down a mining company's mineral deposit to see if it is geologically feasible, compare their proposed mining techniques to the current economic climate, etc. Being able to speak the technical language with clients is always critical when exploration companies are trying to raise money, and IBanks always value those who can.

As well, do not ignore technical sales. Whether you are working for a company that produces a new type of drill bit for oil rigs or a company that has developed a new software that models oil reservoir decline rates, an engineer is always the preferred hire in these situations. Again, this is simply an issue of verbage- you want a guy who can speak to clients in their language.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the software/computer engineering side of this (obviously my experience is in the natural resources side), but I would assume the same holds true in the tech sector as well.

[spalex]

What you want to do is get a Job with Aker Solutions (easier to get employed in the UK).
Then ask fro a transfer to an office in Norway.

Should be about $250,000 a year for a 9-5 job.

[Mentavious]

Alright gents,

I'm 4 years removed from graduate school and I've been working at my company for the last 3.5 years as a material engineer in research/development. I'm looking to get into consulting so I was hoping to get some input from you guys who are comtemplating the move as well or have gone through the process. I'm currently looking to go to a top 10 MBA program in 2016.

[jake1720]

I fucking hate engineering classes.

Sometimes they're fun.

I'm going to start a goddamn oil company.

[blackgold]

It's good to see other environmental engineers around here. I graduated last year, and as far as the job prospects go as long as you are working hard during college (internships, quality GPA, networking) finding a job is not too difficult.
I was offered a consulting gig on the east coast, and a grad school position with full tuition and $1000 a month stipend, but in the end I chose an offer in the oilfields. Money at the end of the day won out. This was after I spent money summers interning a mining operations throughout the U.S. The best part of environmental engineering is the ability to transfer your skills to work in different industries and different locations. Plus with the ever increasing regulations, job security is looking bright.

[mariann]

Hi everyone since there is lots of option in the engineering streams because a single stream has its multiple branches like chemical engineering, electronic engineering and so on. There are so many people working in the most of the same field and placed in reputed company at the handsome package.

[blacknwhitespade]

Do any of you guys know of engineering jobs in Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Latin America)? I found a search engine below for english-speaking jobs in Madrid, Spain.

http://jobsinmadrid.es

Anyone know of any other search engines/methods of looking for job opportunities in these countries? What American companies have operations/jobs for engineers in Spanish-speaking countries? My background is Mechanical Design/Project Engineering.

[dads]

Any words of advice on civil engineering? I'm 20 and a plumber in the Civil Engineering group of the military, and it's the first time I've been legitimately interested in something "real" (outside of writing, music and other art related things). Anyone hold a degree or a job in the field that can tell me a bit about it? I've been oscillating between this and IB, and the experience I'm going to have has me leaning towards CE.

[Cattle Rustler]

(04-27-2015 12:26 AM)blacknwhitespade Wrote:  

Do any of you guys know of engineering jobs in Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Latin America)? I found a search engine below for english-speaking jobs in Madrid, Spain.

http://jobsinmadrid.es

Anyone know of any other search engines/methods of looking for job opportunities in these countries? What American companies have operations/jobs for engineers in Spanish-speaking countries? My background is Mechanical Design/Project Engineering.

I know flour, halliburton, and SLB have jobs in latin america. Many top notch MEP firms do too.

The thing is, they prefer locals as they're 10X cheaper. The exception is if you got 5-10+ years of experience.

[komatiite]

(06-07-2015 08:43 AM)dads Wrote:  

Any words of advice on civil engineering? I'm 20 and a plumber in the Civil Engineering group of the military, and it's the first time I've been legitimately interested in something "real" (outside of writing, music and other art related things). Anyone hold a degree or a job in the field that can tell me a bit about it? I've been oscillating between this and IB, and the experience I'm going to have has me leaning towards CE.

Its a great degree! If you like it then take it. My buddy just graduated civil and is working for a company that designs skyscrapers in high risk earthquake cities like Vancouver. Determining how a skyscraper will react to tremors and determining the appropriate materials and design spec to use. Sounds super interesting. I know a few civil guys working in mine design and oil and gas processing facility design. There is a ton of options..

[texrifle]

I'm a student, currently pursuing Nuclear Engineering. I found the following two videos pretty interesting, they provide a solid introduction into how Nuclear Bombs work.

This second video is part 2.

[Hell_Is_Like_Newark]

Open question to the engineers out there. Have you done anything on the side to increase your income and to challenge yourself? I am interested in your story and perspective. I don't want to leave my current employer. I am looking for something I can do on the side that may or may not develop into something big. I guess I am looking for inspiration here.

Mechanical Engineer here with a specialty in energy systems such as: HVAC, cogeneration, energy efficiency.

Having a bit of a mid-life crisis of sorts. A brief history:

When I graduated, the job market for engineers was pretty bad. I found myself competing with engineers with decades of experience for entry level jobs. The Cold War was over and there was a huge defense draw-down and a recession. I still found work, but it was a series of crappy jobs with badly run companies and low pay. I still managed to scrape together enough cash to buy and renovate rental properties (pre housing bubble.. building were super cheap back then.. it was just damn hard to get financing). So today I have a modest portfolio in a rapidly gentrifying area that is a big part of my retirement fund. Plus, my tenants pay my mortgage.

When I turned 30, I landed a decent job that lasted 5 years (it was contract work). When that job ran out, I tried to be self employed (construction related). I threw in the towel after realizing I would never make good money with legal issues thrown into the mix. Long story short: I failed and the experience really killed my ambition and confidence. The silver lining is that I gained skills during this period that made me valuable to my current employer.

Now in my 40s, I have been working for a really good employer making decent pay with decent benefits. I have the added bonus of being able to work from home, which makes life pretty easy. After the mess of my self-employed period, I have been grateful that I have paid off my debt and put money away for retirement.

Here is the problem: Though the company I work for is growing, there isn't anywhere else for me to go. I have hit the ceiling in my current career path and I am getting really bored with my work (it has gotten repetitive). There is no challenge to what I do now.

I really want to do something new (I am good at evaluating and apply new technology...) and I want to pull in an extra $50k per year. My wife wants to be a stay at home mom (I want this also) and extra cash would go a long way in ensuring long term financial security. My wife makes really good $$$ so her leaving the work force is a huge take-home pay cut for us.

[James Bond Next level]

It seems you're a bit too focused on the american engineer. Let me share my experience in France, and what I know in the surrounding countries, maybe it'll help someone.

France
(general) Unemployment rate : 10,5% (compared to 4,9% in the US)

The market is flooded with engineers here. Why? The number of engineers who graduate each year increases way more than the job offers. Besides a moron campaign of not promoting elitism allow now tons of BSc to have (almost) the same title as MSc (my case), when they should (and used to) be called technicians or highly qualified technicians. As a result, salaries go down when it's getting harder to find a job (statistics from my university show a big change over the 4 last years in that regards) and the title doesn't mean anything anymore. Keep in mind we rarely mention BSc or MSc here, just engineer.
As the mix is done in the collective minds of people, I would say it represent now a job with very average pay, average responsibilities and very short possibilities in terms of getting up the ladder. No girl ever has been even just a little bit impressed by my job. I sometimes feel that I'm saying that I'm a cashier.
I still love my job and actually have a great position, but a lot of my former classmates are not so lucky.

I would say that finding a job here is still doable but takes a lot of time and it's extremly rare to find a great position, except maybe in certain specific fields.

Worst of all: I hate this false propaganda that "we need more engineers" when in fact we're too many. Seems someone had some bribes to make the work force less expensive...

Germany
Unemployment rate : 4,2%

I don't have too much direct experience about that, but they do recruit a lot nowadays and salaries are higher than France (when the cost of living is pretty similar or lower). Tried to apply, but you still need to speak german, english is not enough.

Spain
Unemployment rate : 21%

Absolute nightmare : lots of young graduate unemployed, salary all time low, the country is not so far from bankruptcy. Don't go for work there!!!! I think every spanish student I met wanted to go work abroad. Too bad, the country and people are pretty nice.

UK
Unemployment rate : 4,9%

With the brexit and the borders, several companies will relocate and foreigners will lose their jobs first. Anyhow, that's what is expected, but you know like me that medias are usually B.S. . I would just say time will tell and that moving to UK for work now is risky.

P.S. I'm a bit pessimist about engineers in general, feel free to add some perspective

[James Bond Next level]

(07-27-2016 09:24 AM)Hell_Is_Like_Newark Wrote:  

Open question to the engineers out there. Have you done anything on the side to increase your income and to challenge yourself? I am interested in your story and perspective. I don't want to leave my current employer. I am looking for something I can do on the side that may or may not develop into something big. I guess I am looking for inspiration here.

Diversify! I asked myself the same question and so far the best answer I have is to diverify. For example, in my case, I'm studying (no classes, just here, blog and by asking people) how to invest. I'm planning to increase slowly but steadily years after years my pay via real estate : buying apartments and renting them, maybe furnishing some and less likely renovating some. The last part would be an interesting project and challenge, but I'm starting slow. I'm planning to buy my first in a year!

[britchard]

(07-27-2016 04:16 PM)James Bond Next level Wrote:  

(07-27-2016 09:24 AM)Hell_Is_Like_Newark Wrote:  

Open question to the engineers out there. Have you done anything on the side to increase your income and to challenge yourself? I am interested in your story and perspective. I don't want to leave my current employer. I am looking for something I can do on the side that may or may not develop into something big. I guess I am looking for inspiration here.

Diversify! I asked myself the same question and so far the best answer I have is to diverify. For example, in my case, I'm studying (no classes, just here, blog and by asking people) how to invest. I'm planning to increase slowly but steadily years after years my pay via real estate : buying apartments and renting them, maybe furnishing some and less likely renovating some. The last part would be an interesting project and challenge, but I'm starting slow. I'm planning to buy my first in a year!

In reply to your earlier point about how degree qualifications in France have become closer together in merit (BSc and MSc), is there not the chartered engineer status? In the UK you need to do a masters to easily get chartered status for many disciplines.

[James Bond Next level]

(07-27-2016 04:35 PM)britchard Wrote:  

In reply to your earlier point about how degree qualifications in France have become closer together in merit (BSc and MSc), is there not the chartered engineer status? In the UK you need to do a masters to easily get chartered status for many disciplines.

I'm not too familiar about this title : if is often among engineer/MSc engineer in UK? What's the real benefits of that title?

[MrRoundtree]

In France students do a License then a Master then a doctorate (PHD). The master is equivalent to the end of the Bachelor degree in Quebec. Then you have Mastère spécialisé which are postgraduates studies, often to specialize in an area without the hassle of doing long research work like for Msc.

The system is a bit different, the school where you come from will also determne the type of positions you can apply to.

[jake1720]

(07-27-2016 09:24 AM)Hell_Is_Like_Newark Wrote:  

Open question to the engineers out there. Have you done anything on the side to increase your income and to challenge yourself? I am interested in your story and perspective. I don't want to leave my current employer. I am looking for something I can do on the side that may or may not develop into something big. I guess I am looking for inspiration here.

Mechanical Engineer here with a specialty in energy systems such as: HVAC, cogeneration, energy efficiency.

Having a bit of a mid-life crisis of sorts. A brief history:

When I graduated, the job market for engineers was pretty bad. I found myself competing with engineers with decades of experience for entry level jobs. The Cold War was over and there was a huge defense draw-down and a recession. I still found work, but it was a series of crappy jobs with badly run companies and low pay. I still managed to scrape together enough cash to buy and renovate rental properties (pre housing bubble.. building were super cheap back then.. it was just damn hard to get financing). So today I have a modest portfolio in a rapidly gentrifying area that is a big part of my retirement fund. Plus, my tenants pay my mortgage.

When I turned 30, I landed a decent job that lasted 5 years (it was contract work). When that job ran out, I tried to be self employed (construction related). I threw in the towel after realizing I would never make good money with legal issues thrown into the mix. Long story short: I failed and the experience really killed my ambition and confidence. The silver lining is that I gained skills during this period that made me valuable to my current employer.

Now in my 40s, I have been working for a really good employer making decent pay with decent benefits. I have the added bonus of being able to work from home, which makes life pretty easy. After the mess of my self-employed period, I have been grateful that I have paid off my debt and put money away for retirement.

Here is the problem: Though the company I work for is growing, there isn't anywhere else for me to go. I have hit the ceiling in my current career path and I am getting really bored with my work (it has gotten repetitive). There is no challenge to what I do now.

I really want to do something new (I am good at evaluating and apply new technology...) and I want to pull in an extra $50k per year. My wife wants to be a stay at home mom (I want this also) and extra cash would go a long way in ensuring long term financial security. My wife makes really good $$$ so her leaving the work force is a huge take-home pay cut for us.

I graduated, said screw engineering and went into sales. Combine that with engineering and there is USUALLY more earning potential.

Talk to your boss and see if you can join the sales team?

[fiasco360]

Been having no luck with landing a job after graduation. I had a 6 month internship before graduating at a large company, but since I was a contractor I was allowed to call myself a project engineering. Been looking for a long time now but graduated in June (traveled for a month.)

Have a BS in physics and MS in mechanical engineering. I've been hitting up my friends, they are passing my resume along but my grades were fairly average (3.2 or so.) I've gone to many networking events and job fairs over the last 2-3 years as well, only in the last year of grad school did I land a position. Meanwhile every single I person I know has a job now. I've been eyeing company fairs, local/national groups of engineers who have meetings nearby etc.

Seems like I've done everything right and cannot gain traction. Guess I'll keep pushing, but my student debt is sneaking up on me.

[void]

I don't know how it works in the US, but fuck job fairs and networking events. They are mainly marketing events for the companies.
1) be prepared to relocate
2) identify the industry and/or job you want to work in
3) search for companies on big industrial association websites
4) identify locations of the company
5) list your potential jobs in order of match percentage to requirements
6) directly apply online
7) write a cheat sheet for every company with the most relevant company data in case you have a spontanous telephone interview

[Herr Lucifer]

Look at other people's resume online, etc and use that to re-write your own resume.

You said you were allowed to call yourself a *project engineer*. If that is the position you put on your resume, with little or no experience, just fresh out of college, NOBODY WILL HIRE YOU FOR THE POSITION OF project engineer at their company. here are a list of resumes/CVs of project engineer in california:

http://www.indeed.com/resumes?q=project+...california

Resumes/CVs of *project engineer* in NY:

http://www.indeed.com/resumes?q=project+...l=new+york

^^ these are your competition. Do you match up in experience? Absolutely not. Do you see them putting down *project engineer* right out of college? Absolutely not.

This is what employers and companies are looking for in *project engineer*: http://www.indeed.com/q-Project-Engineer-jobs.html

Why are you stating you were *project engineer* then?

You need to read your hired friends and other people's resumes in your field, what they put down right out of college; and use that as a template to re-write your resume.

Good luck,

Herr Lucifer

(08-17-2016 06:14 PM)fiasco360 Wrote:  

Been having no luck with landing a job after graduation. I had a 6 month internship before graduating at a large company, but since I was a contractor I was allowed to call myself a project engineering. Been looking for a long time now but graduated in June (traveled for a month.)

Have a BS in physics and MS in mechanical engineering. I've been hitting up my friends, they are passing my resume along but my grades were fairly average (3.2 or so.) I've gone to many networking events and job fairs over the last 2-3 years as well, only in the last year of grad school did I land a position. Meanwhile every single I person I know has a job now. I've been eyeing company fairs, local/national groups of engineers who have meetings nearby etc.

Seems like I've done everything right and cannot gain traction. Guess I'll keep pushing, but my student debt is sneaking up on me.

[fiasco360]

(08-18-2016 03:16 AM)void Wrote:  

I don't know how it works in the US, but fuck job fairs and networking events. They are mainly marketing events for the companies.
1) be prepared to relocate
2) identify the industry and/or job you want to work in
3) search for companies on big industrial association websites
4) identify locations of the company
5) list your potential jobs in order of match percentage to requirements
6) directly apply online
7) write a cheat sheet for every company with the most relevant company data in case you have a spontanous telephone interview

Usually applying online is a black hole. I've sent out hundreds of applications for things ranging from internship to full time. I've definitely applied for out of state and am open to out of country. I've essentially done most of your suggestions, I've also used SEO word lists, resume matching software, found emails of company hiring managers.

Face to face generally speaking has proven the best thus far. Job fairs and networking events seem to be best for everyone I know. But beyond that, I go to "club meetings" for example different groups of engineers. Last week I went to a group for a national organization for systems engineers.

(08-18-2016 11:56 AM)Herr Lucifer Wrote:  

Look at other people's resume online, etc and use that to re-write your own resume.

You said you were allowed to call yourself a *project engineer*. If that is the position you put on your resume, with little or no experience, just fresh out of college, NOBODY WILL HIRE YOU FOR THE POSITION OF project engineer at their company. here are a list of resumes/CVs of project engineer in california:

http://www.indeed.com/resumes?q=project+...california

Resumes/CVs of *project engineer* in NY:

http://www.indeed.com/resumes?q=project+...l=new+york

^^ these are your competition. Do you match up in experience? Absolutely not. Do you see them putting down *project engineer* right out of college? Absolutely not.

This is what employers and companies are looking for in *project engineer*: http://www.indeed.com/q-Project-Engineer-jobs.html

Why are you stating you were *project engineer* then?

You need to read your hired friends and other people's resumes in your field, what they put down right out of college; and use that as a template to re-write your resume.

Good luck,

Herr Lucifer

I've taken a look over some. I've done this before in the past as well and not just with indeed. Some seem fluffed up and especially if they came from abroad (India usually.) I've had my resume looked over by potential employers, friends (engineers and non engineers), career center people (useless) and just about any person I could think of. I have redone my resume about 15-20 times just for a generalized one and have made dozens of targeted resumes.

I don't think there will be a world of difference for me throwing down project engineer/mechanical engineer.

I was a contractor and was thrown into a role that had multiple responsibilities at a high profile company. Looking over your list, I pulled a random one up and the guy has "project engineer" a bunch of times in his work history but lists things such as: "Worked on preparation of 2 weeks ahead schedule."

If we're going for keyword density, I've used analyzers for that and worked on making it so when an actual human reads it, it's not just a bunch of useless keywords.

[Hell_Is_Like_Newark]

Any engineers here submit a resume' for a job under the Trump administration? If so, where are you hoping to end up (DOE, DOD, NASA, etc...)?

I went through the job list. Most of the engineering / science related positions seem to be career posts (you don't leave when the President leaves office). However, I suspect after 8 years under Obama, there might be a number of career people leavings, as the new administration might not support the programs they are working on. So maybe there will be a lot of openings?[/i]

[scotian]

Is anyone here familiar with process piping drafting and design? I'm considering taking an accelerated 8 month program at a college in Canada and am wondering what the job market and work is like. It would be something like this one: http://www.sait.ca/programs-and-courses/...fast-track