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Are Engineers really in demand??

Are Engineers really in demand??

Old Oct 30th 2007, 8:53 pm
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Default Are Engineers really in demand??

Hi,

We are looking to head out to Australia next Easter. I am an Engineer and my Wife is a Teacher. At the moment we are considering Sydney, but have not ruled out Perth, or even Adelaide.

It appears from my research that most of the demands for Engineers are in the mining sector, particulary in Perth. Are the best opportunities for getting a job here? Are there good opportunities for Engineers in other states and fields of work?

I have a varied background but no direct experience in mining. I have served a four year mechanical craft apprenticeship as a machinist/fitter, have a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering and am IEng registered. For the last 5 years I have been working as an engineer surveyor examining lifts and cranes. I would be really interested to hear from any other engineers who have made the move, and your experiences of finding suitable work. What would be a good wage for a qualified engineer?
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Old Oct 30th 2007, 9:23 pm
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by drew
Hi,

We are looking to head out to Australia next Easter. I am an Engineer and my Wife is a Teacher. At the moment we are considering Sydney, but have not ruled out Perth, or even Adelaide.

It appears from my research that most of the demands for Engineers are in the mining sector, particulary in Perth. Are the best opportunities for getting a job here? Are there good opportunities for Engineers in other states and fields of work?

I have a varied background but no direct experience in mining. I have served a four year mechanical craft apprenticeship as a machinist/fitter, have a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering and am IEng registered. For the last 5 years I have been working as an engineer surveyor examining lifts and cranes. I would be really interested to hear from any other engineers who have made the move, and your experiences of finding suitable work. What would be a good wage for a qualified engineer?
There are always jobs in the mining industry here in Central Queensland....hubby is a Service Engineer at the mines
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Old Oct 30th 2007, 11:52 pm
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Old Oct 30th 2007, 11:54 pm
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

My husband is a mining engineer and he is now working in Brisbane, strictly a planning job of course. He was also offered a job in Hunter Valley, NSW, didn't take that one though. Perth was our last resort because all the jobs for him would be fly in fly out.

I do think engineers are in big demand here. One of my friends has a husband that is a civil engineer. We've also just met someone who has moved here and her husband is a mechanical engineer. This is all in the Bayside area around Brisbane.

It is possible to get a job at the mines even though you have no "mining" experience. It may be tough, but if they need people they'll hire you. The problem with these jobs is they're usually in terrible places. In WA or north east QLD almost all the jobs are fly in fly out. So that's the problem. We were lucky and got a job in a real city, which is not what we were expecting.

For salary info, have a look here:
http://content.mycareer.com.au/salar...e/engineering/

I think the info on there is fairly accurate. For my husband jobs he'd be right on average if you include super funds. But I found the minimum to be a bit high. He was offered a job for a lot less than the minimum listed on there. I think the mininum figures might be a touch inflated as well because of all the fly in fly out positions and remote locations.
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Old Oct 30th 2007, 11:58 pm
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by drew
Hi,

We are looking to head out to Australia next Easter. I am an Engineer and my Wife is a Teacher. At the moment we are considering Sydney, but have not ruled out Perth, or even Adelaide.

It appears from my research that most of the demands for Engineers are in the mining sector, particulary in Perth. Are the best opportunities for getting a job here? Are there good opportunities for Engineers in other states and fields of work?

I have a varied background but no direct experience in mining. I have served a four year mechanical craft apprenticeship as a machinist/fitter, have a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering and am IEng registered. For the last 5 years I have been working as an engineer surveyor examining lifts and cranes. I would be really interested to hear from any other engineers who have made the move, and your experiences of finding suitable work. What would be a good wage for a qualified engineer?
You could look at moving to a mining town for work, some companies offer housing. They are always looking for teachers also in some of the remote areas so your wife will also be given the housing option.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 12:03 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Yes, right on both counts I think.

But I would strongly urge you to actually visit the mining towns before you make any decisions. It could very well be that despite the money and work opportunites it might not be what you want for your new life in Oz.

There's a good reason that a lot of Aussies don't want to live/work in these mining towns. I haven't seen them here myself, but I lived in one in Canada for 5 years. Hence, the reason why we chose to avoid the remote locations here.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 12:04 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

there's plenty of work for fitter/machinist in Perth itself, good friend of ours works in this field, money seems good too.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 12:05 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by comet555
My husband is a mining engineer and he is now working in Brisbane, strictly a planning job of course. He was also offered a job in Hunter Valley, NSW, didn't take that one though. Perth was our last resort because all the jobs for him would be fly in fly out.

I do think engineers are in big demand here. One of my friends has a husband that is a civil engineer. We've also just met someone who has moved here and her husband is a mechanical engineer. This is all in the Bayside area around Brisbane.

It is possible to get a job at the mines even though you have no "mining" experience. It may be tough, but if they need people they'll hire you. The problem with these jobs is they're usually in terrible places. In WA or north east QLD almost all the jobs are fly in fly out. So that's the problem. We were lucky and got a job in a real city, which is not what we were expecting.

For salary info, have a look here:
http://content.mycareer.com.au/salar...e/engineering/

I think the info on there is fairly accurate. For my husband jobs he'd be right on average if you include super funds. But I found the minimum to be a bit high. He was offered a job for a lot less than the minimum listed on there. I think the mininum figures might be a touch inflated as well because of all the fly in fly out positions and remote locations.
Plenty of mining jobs are based in Perth with no need to go to site unless for short visits. There are more jobs than people and ANY experience will be well regarded. Salary would be $150-250k.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 12:13 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Hi

We visited one of the mining towns last year, Blackwater. Husband is in the water industry and they needed someone to run the water distribution system. They flew us up there, don't get me wrong lovley people, couldn't do enough for us, but my god it was a scary place. It was like something out of Mad Max, not kidding, we felt sick and could'nt get out of the place fast enough.

The housing in minning towns is also going through the roof as the miners earn such good money, so the house prices have risen dramatically.

I think anyone comming form the UK would HATE most of the minning towns and it would be such a shock to the system you would probably bolt for home.

I think there are pleanty of oppertunities in the cities if you start to look on the web.

Good luck
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 12:47 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by Amazulu
Plenty of mining jobs are based in Perth with no need to go to site unless for short visits. There are more jobs than people and ANY experience will be well regarded. Salary would be $150-250k.
I'd love to see the stats on mine related work. What percentage of people work on site, and what percent work off site.

Yes, I do know that not all jobs are on site, but the majority are. There are only so many people that can work away from the mine, and the rest are there to run it. It takes far more people to run it than it does to plan. Because there are so many mines in WA it does provide a lot of off site jobs. But for the majority of mine related occupations they would have to be done on site. Plus, the jobs located in cities would be the most desireable and would attract some really good candidates. So, if you're new to mining you're not in the best position for those jobs.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 12:59 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by comet555
I'd love to see the stats on mine related work. What percentage of people work on site, and what percent work off site.

Yes, I do know that not all jobs are on site, but the majority are. There are only so many people that can work away from the mine, and the rest are there to run it. It takes far more people to run it than it does to plan. Because there are so many mines in WA it does provide a lot of off site jobs. But for the majority of mine related occupations they would have to be done on site. Plus, the jobs located in cities would be the most desireable and would attract some really good candidates. So, if you're new to mining you're not in the best position for those jobs.
On St Georges/Adelaide Terrace in Perth there are probably 100+ mining conmpanies, engineering companies, consultancies etc. 90% of the people in these companies have never been to a mine site, let alone being based there. The job market in Perth means that you can dictate your own terms. This might change in the future but right now you can get what you want.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 2:12 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

OH & I are nuclear engineers & got jobs with the Australian Nuclear & Science Technology Organisation (ANSTO), even though Australia does not have a nuclear power generation capability at the moment. There is a large research site in South Sydney where we work with many large plant facilities. There is also another government-run science & research organisation called CSIRO but not based in Sydney. These might be worth a look.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 2:27 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by Amazulu
On St Georges/Adelaide Terrace in Perth there are probably 100+ mining conmpanies, engineering companies, consultancies etc. 90% of the people in these companies have never been to a mine site, let alone being based there. The job market in Perth means that you can dictate your own terms. This might change in the future but right now you can get what you want.
Yes, although I still say there are only so many positions available off site. I'm not strictly talking about engineering positions here. Obviously engineers do have the possibility to take planning or consulting type jobs which can be done off site. However a lot of the more skilled type jobs like pipefitters, electricians, truck drivers, maintenance works, etc, must be on site.

There are lots of people on this forum that are looking for mining jobs. Not all of them can work off site. That's all I'm getting at. I think it's easier to assume that you may have to do some FIFO work and then be happy when you get to work in a city. Rather than the other way around which would be really disappointing.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 3:39 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by comet555
Yes, although I still say there are only so many positions available off site. I'm not strictly talking about engineering positions here. Obviously engineers do have the possibility to take planning or consulting type jobs which can be done off site. However a lot of the more skilled type jobs like pipefitters, electricians, truck drivers, maintenance works, etc, must be on site.

There are lots of people on this forum that are looking for mining jobs. Not all of them can work off site. That's all I'm getting at. I think it's easier to assume that you may have to do some FIFO work and then be happy when you get to work in a city. Rather than the other way around which would be really disappointing.
The OP is a degreed engineer - not a fitter or plant operator. He would have no problem finding Perth-based work.
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Old Oct 31st 2007, 3:49 am
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Default Re: Are Engineers really in demand??

Originally Posted by Amazulu
The OP is a degreed engineer - not a fitter or plant operator. He would have no problem finding Perth-based work.
Yes, I'm aware of that. I was just speaking generally since the whole mining job thing comes up often and others might be reading.

We don't live in Perth so it would be tough for me to tell someone the specifics. If you're there you'd know better than I would. But would a mechanical engineer with no mining experience get a mining job that is city based? I would imagine they would prefer ones with mining experience, unless they are really desperate.

But I can say on the East Coast, when we were job hunting it was difficult to find any city based roles for a mining engineer. My husband did eventually find one, but he was one of the lucky ones. We were repeatedly told by recrutiers that the city based roles were more difficult to get as there is so much competition. So that is where I'm coming from.
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