Next step. Graduate civil engineer

jiminho

hey guys and girls,

I just wanted to get some experience and advice from all you recent graduates and full time engineers. I have completed my Bachelors degree in civil engineering and am half way thru my MSc in environmental engineering. I also have ZERO experience in the engineering world. Am looking to emigrate to Canada and was wondering if anyone could share there knowledge on the matter. What did you guys do when you graduated? Where are you now and how long to get to where you are? What were your qualifications and did you have any experience when starting out?

Any and all experience will be greatly appreciated

Regards,

Jim

Mods im posting this in multiple threads because I notice some questions getting thousands of views put practically no replies.

focus_mad

I'm a building surveyor myself but what I found aided me was work experience, even if its unpaid.

You get a feel of how to apply what your learning to situations / jobs. Also if you have a number of weeks or months experience, it is an added stepping stone to gaining a full time job.

I did unpaid work exp for 3 years during and my holidays and was offered a job as soon as I finished college so it is worth the effort IMO

maccanam

Hey Jim,

I also graduated with a Civil Eng Degree and moved to Calgary just over a year and a half ago now. I initially found a job contracting which took me a month or so to get. These are not too difficult to find, particulary in city's with large scale projects like Calgary, Edmonton, and I believe Sasketchwan has improved a bit too. There is some work in Vancouver/Toronto for engineers but extremely difficlut to find, cost of living there is also pretty high.

With that experience I made quite a few different consulting contacts and now work for a structural engineering company here as a desing engineer. So, yes experience is desireable, but if you haven't got any I wouldn't be too worried as there aren't enough engineers to fill the jobs out here. Also you should look into applying for project-co ordinator jobs. It's essentially a Field Engineering position and will help you with your job search too. (I know when I first came over it was difficult to find Engineering positions online without experience, co-ordinator positons are easier to come across)

Also, If you your looking to make huge money without experience (I'm talking easily over a $100k a year) Fort McMurray would be a good option for you. There are lots of Irish up there too, however there's a reason they're paying you that kind of money. Quality of life is really bad and for 6 months of the year your talking minus 40 every day. Still though if you want to set yourself up with some cash and experience that may be the way to go too.

Hope this helps


hey guys and girls,

I just wanted to get some experience and advice from all you recent graduates and full time engineers. I have completed my Bachelors degree in civil engineering and am half way thru my MSc in environmental engineering. I also have ZERO experience in the engineering world. Am looking to emigrate to Canada and was wondering if anyone could share there knowledge on the matter. What did you guys do when you graduated? Where are you now and how long to get to where you are? What were your qualifications and did you have any experience when starting out?

Any and all experience will be greatly appreciated

Regards,

Jim

jiminho

Great posts guys, much appreciated.

@maccanam Did you have any experience going over there? And how are you finding it over there, was planning on heading out somewhere in Alberta?