not2old

Thats about it for for Ontario, 99% of the time. Three years after starting worki in the engineering profession in Canada is usually the minimum period .

HGerchikov

You could well have a point there.

Pizzawheel

Probably exacerbated by the "fresh off the boat" brigade (which includes me) not understanding the peculiar politics of PEO. Hence my strong suggestion to make contact through your institute before committing to anything!

Shakyuk

Apologies, I haven't responded as I have been away.

Thank you everyone for your contributions here, I really appreciate what everyone has written. Its all valuable information to me.

Some of the responses seem to presume that I expect to get special treatment as a British trained engineer, but I actually expect it to be far harder to find employment because I'm foreign trained and because I won't be familiar with the culture and standards used.

I've done quite a bit of research over the past couple of years and found that understandably the provinces seem annoyed that the Washington accord was signed at a federal level, seemingly without much provincial involvement. It seems the foreign trained engineers feel the pain of this disagreement between provincial engineering regulators and federal government. Its good to know that Alberta and BC are more favourable as Alberta is probably where I'd like to be.

I have a diploma in mechanical & manufacturing engineering, a degree in Mechanical Engineering, a masters in nuclear engineering and 10 years experience. My degree and masters are accredited in the UK by the engineering council, but I understand that in Canada this accreditation is worthless.

From what I've read a lot of engineers work in engineering type roles for a few years before going for PE with role titles such as mechanical practitioner or technologist. I think most Canada regulators require a year in full time employment before you can apply anyway.

It sounds as though there is an abundance of home grown engineers and foreign engineers fighting for a limited number of positions and so as a new comer I'd find it difficult to find employment. This is what I suspected with the global down turn in commodities and oil.

I read a lot about Canada wanting multiple skills like engineers and nurses (my girlfriend is a nurse) but the barriers put before both of these professions give more of an impression that we're not wanted. The likes of NZ and Aus seem far easier but they're not Canada and so not attractive to me.



Of those who are foreign trained engineers now working in Canada, did you move to Canada first with a residency visa and then seek employment?

Pizzawheel

The only one that will count here (for PEng application purposes) is the bachelors degree. Also you have to funnel into one of the 20 designations, so if you're going in as mechanical, anything nuclear won't count. This is where I've fallen foul of the system- my degree doesn't fall in one of the 20 pigeonholes. Ultimately this is why there are international mobility agreements in place.

Paul_Shepherd

Unfortunately you will be tarnished with the "fresh off the boat" factor, and the "no Canadian experience" of course the other thing standing in your way is that mechanical engineering is a regulated proffession.

I work for a big engineering company, I am just a humble draughtsman so my proffession isnt regulated, and as a result there are a lot less obstacles in making the transition. I work alongside engineers from all over the world, so its not impossible, but the majority of them have Canadian recognised qualifications.

On a slightly different note are you single/married, have a family? The only reason i ask, is if you are single, and already have PR, once you are here, you only have yourself to support, which is a lot easier, and you can get by on earning very little to begin with while you establish yourself.

As many people have found, its not what you know, its who you know that counts, to get your foot on the first rung of the ladder, which comes from building a social circle around yourself.

Paul.

Shakyuk

Cheers guys. That's unfortunate with the MSc, but it is specialist so I guess that's to be expected.

I have a girlfriend and no dependants, my girlfriend is a mental health nurse and so she is also in a regulated profession. From what I've read the nurse route is more clearly defined but she still has some hurdles.

I own a house but before I look at moving abroad I'm going to buy and renovate another house and then rent both out. That way I'll have income from these properties, plus I'm more of a traveller than a materialistic person and so I've got savings.

I've read some engineers work doing engineers type work but with a different title and their work is then signed off by a PEng so I was hoping to do that and then pursue PEng when I've got some Canadian work experience.

Paul, I assume you're originally from the UK, do you find you're better off as draughtsman in Canada than in the UK? Do you think you have a better quality of life there?

Edo

I work in Engineering so let me give my 2 cents here.

The notion that foreign Engineers can never or rarely get work in Canada is completely wrong IMO (at least in the oil province). I have worked with engineers who drove cabs for years when they first came to Canada (those were people with abysmal English). But when the boom came (2009 onwards) every single one got a job in Engineering. I heard there at one point there was a shortage of cab drivers and pizza delivery people thanks to the boom

According to my own boss who is a Director, when the boom came they were so desperate for heads that they asked their employees to bring anyone who they knew who would like to work for them (no interviews) and they even paid them for doing that (although when a bunch of family and friends work together it creates a lot of nepotism in the workplace but that's a different story!)

I agree that your chances of getting employed are brighter if you have PEng or PMP or both but it is also very common for employers to sponsor you for those things.

Although one thing that you have to keep in mind is that Canada's economy goes through a lot of up and down. So unlike the UK where if one sector of Engineering goes down another sector goes up to make up for it, which of course creates alternative jobs that you can switch into (depending how transferable your skills are). And the economy in this part of Canada is certainly likely to stay like this unless the government does something about it and creates other sources of economic growth. But hey, at least when the times are good they then they are REALLY good. So being unemployed for a few months after having a good job for a few years or so may not be so bad cuz the salaries are generally much higher here. So if you are wise with how you manage your money when you have work then you can easily sail through when times are hard (and plus you get to live in a better country as well ).

So I would say let not anyone discourage you from pushing your limits. You are a qualified person. Get out there and explore the world that God has created. Just the experience itself is sooo enriching that you wont regret that you tried.

Pizzawheel

sparklingWater

P.Eng is just a money grab, does not prove anything, good thing it has only a provincial scope. You do not need to be P.Eng to do engineering jobs at the federal level (e.g. working for Transport Canada and the like). One or two years ago, OIQ tried to fine some "engineers" from Bombardier because they signed documents as engineers but w/o being P.Eng. In the end, because Transport Canada is the federal entity setting the standards for "engineering professionals" (the wording is important here as "engineer" seems to be a trademark from PEO, OIQ and co) in the aeronautical industry, OIQ just made fools of themselves by trying to fine these "engineers". AFAIAC, I would have more trust in an engineer from Germany, Italy or France, than in a PEng educated in Canada (in average, the Math skills are just not there in Canada, and neither are they in England lately).

Shakyuk

Edo, thank you for that post, its good to get first hand information and to get your insight on how things are. Particularly that you say a better country as a better quality of life is the priority.

To be honest in the UK engineering isn't great at the moment. I'm a self employed contractor and so I feel the ups and downs of the economy and sectors. So far I've managed to stay in continuous employment but with the exception of the car manufacturers and the supporting companies, all other sectors are flat and getting worse. There's a distinct lack of infrastructure investment despite this being high on a political agenda. Many smaller engineering companies have closed down around the northwest/Leeds and north east because the double whammy of a financial crisis and then no government expenditure has been too much to weather. So stay put, it's not very good here at the moment! Thank you again though for the information, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Sparkling water; that's interesting to read about federal services, and especially about the legal case, I assumed provincial ways were to only way to be honest. I'd agree with the education in England, I think its more the attitude of the nation rather than the quality of education though. There's a distinct lack of respect in the UK which filters through to the children who then have more interest in being gobby than learning.

Engineer_abroad

Interestingly my experience with APECBC has been, at least so far, very positive. Yes I need a years work experience in Canada to obtain my official PE status but having contacted them a few weeks ago they are willing to pre-register me as a PE and I would then get my official status after a year.

This is based on 8 years experience in the UK and a MSc. Luckily my MSc does fall into a reasonably common pigeon hole although my experience and work is quite specialist.

Currently going through the process of moving to BC as an Intra-company transfer from which I am then hoping to move to PR. Staying with the same company is helping a lot. My own experience so far is that engineering, at least in my field, is more valued as a profession in Canada. Might be that there has been some recent high level public exposure in what I do.

Pizzawheel

My experience with APEGBC was also very positive, the kaibosh came from PEO. If I hadn't applied with PEO I would have been in...

Shakyuk

Intra-company transfer would be the dream, that must make things far easier, just knowing you have a job when you land must be a big relief.
A couple I know live in BC, although they do say the traffic in and around Vancouver can be crazy and the house prices are expensive, it is clearly a massive increase in living standards.

Cheers for the information and I hope everything goes well in Canada for you

Paul_Shepherd

Shakyuk,

Yes I am originally from the UK, I lived in the black country region, which is just to the west of Birmingham and very heavily industrialised....hence the name the black country.

It took me a while to get a job when i arrived in Canada (i did bartending for the first 9months of my life here) I applied for 80+ plus openings, and never heard anything from any of them, except for a handful of them, but now i have a job here, i do find I am considerably better off than i was in the UK, i had constant money worries there, that i dont have here, unless i really go overboard on the spending.

However i think some of this being better off is down to the fact i work for huge corporate engineering company, so the salary and benefits are good....more so for the fact that it is located in a relative rural part of Ontario which is a little cheaper than living in TO or the GTA. Property and things like gas are a lot cheaper, so that releases extra cash.

Added to this, the salary and benefits the corporate companies seem to offer employees in North America for my job is better than it is in the UK, for example the company i work for has branches manufacturing the same product in France and the UK, my counterpart draughters in the UK earn markedly less than we do in Canada, I have no idea why. This however is just one example, there are companies here that offer a lot less. So i suppose i got lucky. Swings and roundabouts i suppose!

Paul.