Auckland for Civil Engineers

Undertow

Hi Guys,

I was looking for a bit of advice here. I am currently working in regional Oz on a RSMS Visa. Thankfully (!), I have almost fulfilled the condition of working in a regional area for 2 years.

My first question is this. Am i free to go to New Zealand to look for work on this visa, or do I require a new visa?

Second of all, judging by www.seek.com.au there seems to be a fair bit of work out there for Civil Engineers. Is Auckland the place to go to look for work though, based on your experiences? And (realisitically) how long do you think it would take me to find work (bearing in mind that I have a few years design experience) as I plan on spending a month or 2 travelling before I go seriously looking? Is too early to throw my CV out now?

I have researched threads on Auckland itself, and I see it gets mixed reviews. I think I'll like it though, I'm quite an outdoorsy person and would appreciate the challenge (and to escape this unbearable heat!)!

Many thanks in advance folks. My head is fried thinking about whether to stay in Oz or go into the unknown by giving NZ a shot. I'm getting quite excited by the prospect of the latter, if the work is there!

cmonlad

Hi Undertow,

Just wondering if you have made the leap and moved to New Zealand? I'm currently an engineer based in Ireland with 2 years roads design experience and considering making the same move.

Undertow

Hi mate,

Yeah I took the leap, and don’t regret it for a minute! Travelled NZ as well as the West coast of America before getting set up with work in Auckland pretty much once I started looking in August. Plenty of work here in NZ for Engineers, and the economy is only going to strengthen this year and beyond. Plus they’re expecting the Kiwi dollar to match the Aussie dollar this year for the first time in over 20 years!

Outside of work, it’s a beautiful place. There’s always something to do here and the weather is generally really nice up around these parts... for 6 months of the year at least! The lifestyle really is something else. I’ll give you an example- I’m just back from a weekend up in the Bay of Islands- snorkelling, nightswimming, kayaking, panning out on a secluded beach and swimming with dolphins. In 2 weeks time I’ll be spending 3 days hiking through the Tongariro Crossing- one of the worlds finest hikes! There’s just so much on your doorstep here- never really known anywhere quite like it. It’s a great life!

Winter is reasonably cold but nothing an Irishman cant handle! People are generally laid back. The only real downside to life here that I can think of is that public transport is pretty poor and Auckland is very spread out. But I know of no Utopia lol!

So far I much prefer it to Oz, and could see myself here for a couple of years at least. It’s a great time to be hitting NZ... especially as an Engineer! Any more questions, feel free to shout.

cmonlad

Cheers for the reply!

That sounds awesome to be fair. A lot of people have spoken highly of the lifestyle there. At the moment I'm torn between Canada and New Zealand, the money is probably better in Canada but the harsh winters are not too appealing. One would definitely have a better quality of life in NZ by the sounds of it. I suppose the ball breaker then, what are the salaries like at the moment, say civil consultancy 2/3 years experience?

You won't be returning to Ireland so any time soon so! The weather hasn't changed one bit ha!

Undertow

Oh I’ve heard! No plans to head back anytime soon. I was back for the Christmas and was glad to be heading back to the heat by the turn of January ha! Funnily enough, I have got a working holiday visa for Canada myself and have until September to use it, but it looks like I’ll be turning it down now! You’d be surprised, I actually think you could be on a better wage here in NZ to be honest! Unless you were interested in getting into the mining in Canada in the back of beyonds!

Hard to say how much to expect with 2/3 years experience- I reckon $50-60,000, but that just a rough guess. No shortage of work here anyway man. Christchurch and Auckland in particular.