scientist vs engineer - job prospects in Ireland?

Sin1981

Just wondering if there are any engineers, scientists out there in employment, or seeking employment. How are you finding the job hunt? And for anyone in employment, how do you see the prospects in Ireland in industry (eg. Pharma, Biopharma, Med devices).

Reason I ask is, I'm am PhD qualified (biomedical sciences), with 6 years experience in industry. I'm in employment (med devices) but have been job searching for several months now. I've worked in technical roles for 5 out of the 6 years, but seem to be struggling making the break into Pharma. It's as though, without a Engineering degree I'm screwed. It's a little disheartening as I believe an Eng or Sci degree would give a person very similar skills, and therefore are equally attractive to the big pharma companies. But I'm getting the strong impression scientists are less in favour. In my current role, I'm the only scientist (by that I mean sci degree), working in a department with around 150 (degree qualified) engineers and doing the exact same work! I am well able for it. Not all engineers in multi nationals are designing/building equipment/processes/systems. For anyone FDA industry you'll know there is a serious amount of paperwork, and process support.
If I do a job search for example and put in scientist as keyword, I get 30-something hits, but if I do the same for Engineer I get around 200-250 hits! There are as many if not more science courses throughout the country as there are engineering, but for some reason engineering jobs are about 8-10 times more plentiful......


Anyhow, don't want this to turn into a big rant, but what do you think, is science as a career inferior to engineering? and if so why?

kevohmsford

It is hard to know really. The jobs market seems to have picked up recently in Ireland for Engineers. It all comes down to experience in a given industry. Some people are finding that they are over qualified for certain jobs.
I think a few years abroad working then come back to Ireland will be good for my career.
Alot of Engineers I know working in Pharma or Medical Devices have Master Degrees. Sure there are Engineering jobs out there but companies do not advertise the salaries.

kevohmsford

Sin1981 wrote: »

It's a little disheartening as I believe an Eng or Sci degree would give a person very similar skills, and therefore are equally attractive to the big pharma companies. . For anyone FDA industry you'll know there is a serious amount of paperwork, and process support.

It really depends on the area of Engineering. For alot of Engineering jobs someone with a Science degree would not have the same skill set as an Engineer. For a highly regulated environment like Medical Devices I am sure there are similiar jobs.
Maybe I am wrong. Just my opinion.

CatFromHue

Are there actually 200-250 jobs for engineers. It happens regularly in engineering where you could have up to 4 agencies recruiting for the same job as well as the company themselves.

I don't know if this is the same for science jobs.

spideog7

CatFromHue wrote: »

Are there actually 200-250 jobs for engineers. It happens regularly in engineering where you could have up to 4 agencies recruiting for the same job as well as the company themselves.

I don't know if this is the same for science jobs.

"Engineer" is an overused term too, many of them are little more than tech jobs I'd imagine.

Sin1981

Yes, I agree that the term "engineer" is over used.
The majority of engineers I work with are not what I would call a traditional engineer. It's more of a tech support role as already mentioned..

Of course, some disciplines are very much engineering, I.e., civil, computer, Software, automation etc. These to me are 'trades' in a way. And I agree that science grads wouldn't have those skills coming out of college.
Also, with regards to job searches, many jobs are advertised 3-4 times by different recruiters, for both science & engineering roles. So the comparison I made above would still stand ..
I definitely believe job prospects for Eng grads (and that excludes trade engineers) are much better than those for science grads.... And the more qualified you are (eg. PhD), the less bright things are I feel....
Thanks for the replies

Turbulent Bill

I'd expect employers to put more weight on your experience rather than your educational background at this stage. The exception would be where your PhD and work experience are closely related, i.e., you've only really worked in one role.

I wouldn't get too hung up on job descriptions, especially for SMEs where they can be poorly defined. If you like the sound of one, go for it.

skallywag

Sin1981 wrote: »

Yes, I agree that the term "engineer" is over used.

In my own opinion the term should be reserved for those who have actually studied a course which has 'engineering' in the title.