State of Engineering in Canada
Sep 24th 2015, 10:45 pm
#31
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2008
Location: Near the Northern Lights
Posts: 1,466
Re: State of Engineering in Canada
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.
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.
Sep 29th 2015, 4:44 pm
#32
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2014
Location: Vancouver, Formerly Toronto and Edinburgh
Posts: 96
Re: State of Engineering in Canada
I'll add in my 2 cents as well.
I was trained in Scotland as a railway and structural engineer and moved to the GTA in a kind of intra-company transfer in January this year. I spent 18 months of seriously looking for jobs in Canada both within and outwith the company I work for and didn't get anywhere at all. What did help was coming on vacation to Toronto in August last year where I managed to organise interviews with 4 companies. The partner company of the company I worked for in the UK was one of them and offered me a job 2-3 months later but 2 of the other companies I interviewed for both said they wanted to hire me but didn't have any openings. In summary, I find the only way into a job in Canada is by knowing people. In UK I've heard the saying "80% of jobs are never advertised". In Canada it's much more than that.
There's a lot of things I prefer about Canadian practices. Engineering is far more diverse here and people get on with each other far better I find. It's a more positive environment for sure. The pay is significantly more (even with the really low exchange rate right now, I earn 33% more here than I did in Scotland for the same responsibility level).
Any questions moving across give me a PM, I took care of everything myself.
I was trained in Scotland as a railway and structural engineer and moved to the GTA in a kind of intra-company transfer in January this year. I spent 18 months of seriously looking for jobs in Canada both within and outwith the company I work for and didn't get anywhere at all. What did help was coming on vacation to Toronto in August last year where I managed to organise interviews with 4 companies. The partner company of the company I worked for in the UK was one of them and offered me a job 2-3 months later but 2 of the other companies I interviewed for both said they wanted to hire me but didn't have any openings. In summary, I find the only way into a job in Canada is by knowing people. In UK I've heard the saying "80% of jobs are never advertised". In Canada it's much more than that.
There's a lot of things I prefer about Canadian practices. Engineering is far more diverse here and people get on with each other far better I find. It's a more positive environment for sure. The pay is significantly more (even with the really low exchange rate right now, I earn 33% more here than I did in Scotland for the same responsibility level).
Any questions moving across give me a PM, I took care of everything myself.
