Switching career from engineering?

draxler

I am currently working as a structural engineer. I have 7 years experience and fully chartered. Unfortunately I am not happy with my career choice. While I do find the work very interesting, the pay is poor for what I and many others consider a very difficult job (€40000).

There are other downsides to my career choice as well. As I am involved in construction, I can only expect another downturn in the future. Ireland is too small to maintain a stable construction industry.

But the biggest problem I have is how much stress I am under. I am in a position where it is my job to ensure a building stays standing. If I make a mistake, things could go very wrong. Now, I have never made a serious mistake in my career thusfar, but the fear of it happening is really unsettling. I have had sleepless nights in the past worrying about a beam or something else I designed. It's not worth the stress and I'm probably not cut out for it.

I am trying to figure out what my options are. I could start again from scratch in a career like accounting or finance, but this would mean a serious pay cut and possibly a year without pay trying to get some kind of qualification. It would also be very depressing having spent 4 years in college and 7 years working, just to start all over again.

I was hoping there was some other career I could jump into without a big impact. I am struggling to think of a career where my skills are transferable. And any of the ones I do think of also seem to be construction related, which isn't ideal.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or can you shed some light on where to go from here? I would even talk to a career advisor if I knew where to go. Thanks.

godtabh

I would question what oversight you have where you work? I know you are chartered but everything should be checked by some one else. There is a bigger chance of you not spotting your mistakes compared to some one else.

As regards a career change you would probably need to retrain and start again.

draxler

godtabh wrote: »

I would question what oversight you have where you work? I know you are chartered but everything should be checked by some one else. There is a bigger chance of you not spotting your mistakes compared to some one else.

There are general reviews of schemes, but very few checks of individual designs like beams and the likes as everyone is very busy and "simple" designs don't need to be checked. Maybe they're right, but it would give me piece of mind if some more checking was done. But that's not going to happen, and I'd only come across as a weak employee if I asked someone to check my work!

I think a career change is my only option at this stage unfortunately.

fits

would you consider something like quantity surveyor?

draxler

fits wrote: »

would you consider something like quantity surveyor?

I don't know if that's something I could transfer to without a number of years of education.

I do like some aspects of accounting and finance so that kind of field does interest me.

I thought about becoming an estimator, but I'm not really sure how I become one, or what training is involved.

e.r

A friend of mine is a structural engineer 15 years, and worked abroad when things were bad. He came back to Ireland, sick of working away.

He is now working as a contracts manager with a flooring company and is on decent money too.

Your experience and qualifications will mean plenty of opportunities you never even thought of.

draxler

e.r wrote: »

A friend of mine is a structural engineer 15 years, and worked abroad when things were bad. He came back to Ireland, sick of working away.

He is now working as a contracts manager with a flooring company and is on decent money too.

Your experience and qualifications will mean plenty of opportunities you never even thought of.

Thanks for the words of optimism. The only thing is that I don't know what my opportunities are! I don't even know where to start looking for alternative careers. Sure I could say "I like numbers, I could be an accountant" but realistically it's probably not an option as there may be a few years of study which I could not manage without a salary to keep me afloat.

Plus, I don't know who would take on someone with zero experience in a particular role and without a number of years of college in that field behind them.

acc2016

fits wrote: »

would you consider something like quantity surveyor?

That's the same industry. Op is looking for something more stable and less susceptible to the boom bust emigrate pattern.

LMK

A move into a Quality Engineering role seems a likely option and reading your post you would seem to be a conscientious person. Even within your own field there may be a requirement for procedures and checklists to be followed as part of a quality plan.

Tefral

I'm a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and OP i could write your post exactly. Too much responsibility for too little money.
I wouldnt recommend it as a profession.

fits

acc2016 wrote: »

That's the same industry. Op is looking for something more stable and less susceptible to the boom bust emigrate pattern.

True, but also something with less responsibility if something goes wrong, (albeit still there). I thought it might be something he could transfer to fairly easily with not so much retraining.

OP if you like numbers, I would say the combined qualifications of engineering and accountancy would make you very attractive to employers. And accounting qualifications can probably be pursued part time.

acc2016

fits wrote: »

True, but also something with less responsibility if something goes wrong, (albeit still there).

Ok lets imagine something goes wrong, you price a job at €30million euros but something goes wrong and the job ends up costing €35million..the company could go bankrupt.

But, I get what your saying... nobody would actually get killed etc..

fits wrote: »

OP if you like numbers, I would say the combined qualifications of engineering and accountancy would make you very attractive to employers. And accounting qualifications can probably be pursued part time.

True, there are post graduate diplomas available to graduates of all disciplines in order to help them to convert into lots of disciplines, and some conversion masters.

draxler

There doesn't seem to be that many options open to me at the moment.

Whilst I really do appreciate all the advice, is there a professional I could talk to about this kind of thing?

I'm at a loose end at the moment. Many days I just simply dread going in to work because of the stress it causes me.

Tefral

draxler wrote: »

There doesn't seem to be that many options open to me at the moment.

Whilst I really do appreciate all the advice, is there a professional I could talk to about this kind of thing?

I'm at a loose end at the moment. Many days I just simply dread going in to work because of the stress it causes me.

Draxler, I had the same before and i found changing employer actually helped. From about 3pm on a Sunday i used to get very down about spending another week in work, changing my employer really did help.

Trust me though, a change into the QS profession wont help either. We are chronically underpaid for the level of responsibility we take. I've often woke up in the middle of the night wondering if i left something out of a Tender.

draxler

Tefral wrote: »

Draxler, I had the same before and i found changing employer actually helped. From about 3pm on a Sunday i used to get very down about spending another week in work, changing my employer really did help.

Trust me though, a change into the QS profession wont help either. We are chronically underpaid for the level of responsibility we take. I've often woke up in the middle of the night wondering if i left something out of a Tender.

I can't really blame my employer. The risk is always there regardless of what company I work for. I actually like the people I work with, but the stress just gets to me.

I do appreciate that your line of work is stressful, but I don't think I would mind that as much as what I'm doing at the moment because I'm dealing with people's lives where a serious mistake could really injure or kill a person. It probably doesn't help thinking like that either but it's hard not to.

I know some colleagues have a very blasé approach to it and it never seems to get to them. I wish I knew how to do that.

Tefral

draxler wrote: »

I do appreciate that your line of work is stressful, but I don't think I would mind that as much as what I'm doing at the moment

Well as someone said there you can bankrupt a company or land your client in real trouble if you make a mistake. Different pressure ill admit, but its all relative.

If thats the case, i would look at the part time MSc in Quantity Surveying in DIT or LIT.

If I were you I would do this course http://www.dit.ie/studyatdit/part-time/programmescourses/allcourses/quantitysurveyingmechanicalandelectricalhighercertificatedt6111.html

There is a chronic shortage of Mechanical and Electrical Quantity Surveyors and they are paid more than the average QS as a result.

Pawwed Rig

I was 14 years an engineer (electronic) and jacked it in to become a chartered accountant/tax advisor. Was a long road but I have never regretted it for a second.

draxler

Tefral wrote: »

Well as someone said there you can bankrupt a company or land your client in real trouble if you make a mistake. Different pressure ill admit, but its all relative.

If thats the case, i would look at the part time MSc in Quantity Surveying in DIT or LIT.

If I were you I would do this course

There is a chronic shortage of Mechanical and Electrical Quantity Surveyors and they are paid more than the average QS as a result.

Unfortunately that course is only open to those with experience in the M&E field. It's also a construction related career which isn't ideal.

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I was 14 years an engineer (electronic) and jacked it in to become a chartered accountant/tax advisor. Was a long road but I have never regretted it for a second.

Can I ask how you went about switching careers? How long did it take to become qualified? How did it feel going back to the bottom of the ladder? What made you switch?

Sorry for all the questions, just genuinely interested.

Pawwed Rig

Did a part time degree while working as Eng. Once complete left job for a trainee position on 1/3 of the money and did prof exams as part of contract.
You have to be aware that you will be taking orders from young fellahs but I didn't have a problem with that. I am guessing I did this at an older age than you are now too.
Anything else you wanna know feel free to pm me.

irishguy1983

draxler wrote: »

I am currently working as a structural engineer. I have 7 years experience and fully chartered. Unfortunately I am not happy with my career choice. While I do find the work very interesting, the pay is poor for what I and many others consider a very difficult job (€40000).

There are other downsides to my career choice as well. As I am involved in construction, I can only expect another downturn in the future. Ireland is too small to maintain a stable construction industry.

But the biggest problem I have is how much stress I am under. I am in a position where it is my job to ensure a building stays standing. If I make a mistake, things could go very wrong. Now, I have never made a serious mistake in my career thusfar, but the fear of it happening is really unsettling. I have had sleepless nights in the past worrying about a beam or something else I designed. It's not worth the stress and I'm probably not cut out for it.

I am trying to figure out what my options are. I could start again from scratch in a career like accounting or finance, but this would mean a serious pay cut and possibly a year without pay trying to get some kind of qualification. It would also be very depressing having spent 4 years in college and 7 years working, just to start all over again.

I was hoping there was some other career I could jump into without a big impact. I am struggling to think of a career where my skills are transferable. And any of the ones I do think of also seem to be construction related, which isn't ideal.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or can you shed some light on where to go from here? I would even talk to a career advisor if I knew where to go. Thanks.

Is that pay normal? 40,000K seems low for that level of responsibility.

Is that standard or maybe you getting screwed?

In saying money doesn't not tend to ease stress/anxiety.

Pkiernan

Look into Project Management and get PMI certified

draxler

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Did a part time degree while working as Eng. Once complete left job for a trainee position on 1/3 of the money and did prof exams as part of contract.
You have to be aware that you will be taking orders from young fellahs but I didn't have a problem with that. I am guessing I did this at an older age than you are now too.
Anything else you wanna know feel free to pm me.

Thanks for the advice. I might drop you a message with some more questions!

irishguy1983 wrote: »

Is that pay normal? 40,000K seems low for that level of responsibility.

Is that standard or maybe you getting screwed?

In saying money doesn't not tend to ease stress/anxiety.

It's hard to know what is normal. As you say, even if I was being paid 60k I would still have the same levels of stress.

Pkiernan wrote: »

Look into Project Management and get PMI certified

Project management does seem like an interesting career path, although any meeting I've attended where there was a project manager present they seem to be quite confident at speaking and are able to command a room. I'm not the sort that would be able to handle that kind of thing, which is something I've always struggled with.

irishguy1983

draxler wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I might drop you a message with some more questions!



It's hard to know what is normal. As you say, even if I was being paid 60k I would still have the same levels of stress.



Project management does seem like an interesting career path, although any meeting I've attended where there was a project manager present they seem to be quite confident at speaking and are able to command a room. I'm not the sort that would be able to handle that kind of thing, which is something I've always struggled with.

Fair enough - I wouldn't say money is the issue. I don't know but I'd imagine another 10,000 won't help you sleep at night - again I am just speculating.

Might be an idea to look at your mental health and looking at new ways in terms of coping with stress - plenty of help out there.

Might be a case of this career is not for you and that's fair enough.

2RockMountain

draxler wrote: »

Project management does seem like an interesting career path, although any meeting I've attended where there was a project manager present they seem to be quite confident at speaking and are able to command a room. I'm not the sort that would be able to handle that kind of thing, which is something I've always struggled with.

THis is an interesting option - training and practice (try your local Toastmasters group) makes a huge difference in public speaking.

Or how about other related careers - training and education in engineering?

Tom Dunne

Have you considered IT? A 1-year conversion programme is usually free and suited to people with non-IT degrees. Plenty of work in the area.

Lady is a tramp

If you did decide to go for Accountancy/Finance, you'd actually have quite a decent chance of getting into one of the larger firms (Big Four) - they love engineers! You'd be a few years older than most of the trainees, but that's no big deal, you wouldn't be the only one.

It's a few years since I did it, but back in my day you had two options - start a 3.5 year contract on early €20,000s, do all three sets of ACA exams, gradually going up in salary each year (I think you'd be on maybe mid €40,000s by the end, but if you were then to move into industry you could expect to start on maybe €60,000 and with a lot less hours than in practice!)

Or, start a 3 year contract on slightly better money, but do a Masters first. The firm cover the cost of the Masters (or at least most of it) and then you've only the FAE exams to do.

In your position you'd maybe be better to go for the first option as you're looking at slightly less time to qualification ... not having an accountancy background should be no real disadvantage to you, you get loads of study leave and exam support. However do expect long hours and stressful work outside of study leave ... but, it's quite structured in terms of the support you get from the managers you're working for.

Now my figures might be a bit off, but if you want to ask me anything else, let me know!

Oh and the usual entry route is through the Milkrounds, which are held I think around September/October for the following year. So if you were to apply this year, you'd be looking at beginning in September/October 2017.

Musicman2000

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Have you considered IT? A 1-year conversion programme is usually free and suited to people with non-IT degrees. Plenty of work in the area.

Plenty of work in the Dublin area alright . Problem is, takes years to become a developer . You would get into a help desk position but that would mean taking a major drop in wages .

Pawwed Rig

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

Now my figures might be a bit off, but if you want to ask me anything else, let me know!.

Those figures seem about right.

Wiggles88

Have you considered recruitment? I know a few engineers who made the move to recruitment fairly seamlessly. Recruitment agencies who specialists in engineering are always in need of people who actually know the industry from the inside.

irishguy1983

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

If you did decide to go for Accountancy/Finance, you'd actually have quite a decent chance of getting into one of the larger firms (Big Four) - they love engineers! You'd be a few years older than most of the trainees, but that's no big deal, you wouldn't be the only one.

It's a few years since I did it, but back in my day you had two options - start a 3.5 year contract on early €20,000s, do all three sets of ACA exams, gradually going up in salary each year (I think you'd be on maybe mid €40,000s by the end, but if you were then to move into industry you could expect to start on maybe €60,000 and with a lot less hours than in practice!)

Or, start a 3 year contract on slightly better money, but do a Masters first. The firm cover the cost of the Masters (or at least most of it) and then you've only the FAE exams to do.

In your position you'd maybe be better to go for the first option as you're looking at slightly less time to qualification ... not having an accountancy background should be no real disadvantage to you, you get loads of study leave and exam support. However do expect long hours and stressful work outside of study leave ... but, it's quite structured in terms of the support you get from the managers you're working for.

Now my figures might be a bit off, but if you want to ask me anything else, let me know!

Oh and the usual entry route is through the Milkrounds, which are held I think around September/October for the following year. So if you were to apply this year, you'd be looking at beginning in September/October 2017.

All bang on here - however as the poster pointed out finance is generally a section that requires long hours and quite stressful - just something to maybe think about.

Good money if you work hard of course.

draxler

irishguy1983 wrote: »

All bang on here - however as the poster pointed out finance is generally a section that requires long hours and quite stressful - just something to maybe think about.

Good money if you work hard of course.

What kind of hours are we talking here? I'm used to doing 8 to 6 as my normal hours plus more if I'm under pressure.

And I don't handle stress very well. Is accounting that bad? I hadn't really thought about it from that perspective, I just figured it couldn't be as bad as engineering!

Pawwed Rig

Depends really. If you goto a Big 4 practise you will be worked to the bone with a work atmosphere that is not very supportive. A smaller firm can be nicer to work in.

2RockMountain

draxler wrote: »

And I don't handle stress very well. Is accounting that bad? I hadn't really thought about it from that perspective, I just figured it couldn't be as bad as engineering!

All professional jobs have their stresses. Honestly, it looks like you are thinking about changing career for the wrong reason. If there is another career that you'd love, then it makes sense to switch. But to switch for avoiding stress and pressure is unlikely to be successful.

irishguy1983

draxler wrote: »

What kind of hours are we talking here? I'm used to doing 8 to 6 as my normal hours plus more if I'm under pressure.

And I don't handle stress very well. Is accounting that bad? I hadn't really thought about it from that perspective, I just figured it couldn't be as bad as engineering!

As I suggested earlier maybe it is time to look at how you react to certain situations - I'm not saying that as a smartass - I'm saying that someone who has been there myself and understands a bit more about myself and now I know how to cope better.

I've been working in HR in multinationals for the past 5/6 years and generally finance is possibly the most pressurised area in an office - if not the most pressurised area then it is up there. I'd imagine you'd lose quite a bit of sleep over month end - again I'm not being a smartass but I wouldn't recommend finance.