ab a

Hi,

I am considering applying for 189 or 190 visa soon. I just want to get some insight into civil engineering job market in Australia at the moment. I am hearing economy is slowing and civil engineering in particular is hit hard, with less jobs in mining as well.

I am a junior civil engineer, I have about 1.5 year experience in the power industry (transmission towers) and 1 year project engineering experience. I want to know whether I could find a job in Aus after getting a visa? If there are civil or structural engineers here I would be particularly interested to hear from you. I want to compare the civil engineering job market in the UK and Australia.
Location-wise, I am flexible but I am particularly interested about Victoria and NSW. I hear there are more jobs in rail industry in Victoria but my experience is not in rail (although I would be interested in a career in rail, if you think they would recruit juniors from the UK with my sort of background).

Thanks

Bermudashorts

Ask a mod to move your post to the Australia forum. There are some engineers working in Australia over there but they don't tend to read in the immigration forum (which is about visa process and what not).

verystormy

The job market can best be described like this. The last two taxi rides I took were both being driven by civil engineers.

NZ have a big demand at the moment

msmyrtle

Hi there

I'm a civil engineer in WA. The market over here is pretty dire, there are still jobs being posted but I suspect a lot more applicants than there was previously. I don't think it is a good time as a junior engineer to come out and look for work, especially if you don't have Australian work experience/education as there are plenty of Australian grads looking for work too (in WA anyway, don't know about the other states).

I'm considering retraining or at least getting more qualifications in the meantime.

Cheers

ab a

Really? Is it that bad?
Who can I ask to move this to Australia forum?

msmyrtle

Out of my English/Irish friends - half have already left, the other half are working out the end of their project with the expectation/understanding that they may not be any work in 2-3 months

Out of my Australian friends - most are still in civil engineering (maybe 2/3rds), some have started their own businesses or changed careers

ab a

I guess no one can predict the future but you're saying the situation is not likely to improve in the near future?

What happened then? As far as I know last year was a good year for civil engineering!
And civils is still on skills lists and hasn't reached the ceiling yet, do you think they will remove it?

msmyrtle

Falling commodity prices mainly. The iron ore guys aren't spending like they used to on capital/sustaining works.

A lot of the major construction projects (Gorgon, Wheatstone) have come on line, or passed the civil construction stage, so the numbers of civil engineers required is falling.

I suspect infrastructure will improve as they've always been steady.

ab a

Thanks,
I would appreciate it if other civils replied as well particularly from Victoria and NSW.

old.sparkles

Mods for the section are listed on the index page for that section.

I've moved it over to the main Australian section and hopefully you can get more advice. Shout if you need any help

Beoz

Good in NSW ..... that's about it.

Met a Civil engineer in NZ a couple of weeks back who moved from Bris after losing his job. Didn't fancy Sydney but fancied the quiet life.

Syd will be infrastructure related. Someone earlier mentioned project names. They were all mining related.

msmyrtle

(Actually those projects are oil and gas).

Beoz

I should of said resources. My deepest apologies.

ab a

When you say infrastructure what do you mean: rail, drainage, highway?

In general do they take on juniors with UK experience? I heard they favour UK experience. Although my experience wont be related to those industries so I'll be a junior or graduate.
What about power industry? Does anyone know anything about that?

NZ is not for me and I'm starting to think I should stay in the UK and not apply for visa. I don't want to spend a few thousand pounds on visa fees only to be unemployed!

Thanks old.sparkles for moving my post.

jad n rich

Partners Nephew just qualified as civil engineer, the OP to get into the course was so low, a 17 at the time of entry, the highest OP being a 1, lowest a 25.

He walked into a job.

Due to his parents connections. Pay around $35,000.

How he would of gone if he had been floating round the real job market in say Sydney is debatable.