DarrenK05

Hi there, I hope you folks can give me some advice on a few things.

I’m currently living in Northern Ireland working as a structural engineer. I’m 27 with 5 years experience and earn around £28k. I am single and have no major ties at home. For a variety of reasons I am interested in moving to Canada for a new job/experience however am unsure where to start this process.

Having a quick look it would seem that Alberta would be the best area to find relevant work- would this be a fair enough assumption?

Considering exchange rate and cost of living what wage would I need to be getting to obtain an equivalent living standard?

Do companies generally assist with relocation or will it be a case of arriving and then sorting out accom etc on my own?

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Darren

Lisa_W

My husband is a structural engineer in Calgary. We moved here six years ago.

At that time several companies who were members of the Consulting Engineers of Alberta went over to the UK recruiting staff, as there was a shortage of all kinds of engineers here. The company who employed him paid for our relocation and put us in touch with a realtor who helped us find a house.

I don't know if it will be the same now though. If you look at the CEA website you can perhaps contact companies direct to see if they are still recruiting staff from overseas. Some of the oil companies may also be worth a try as they also employ structural engineers.

DarrenK05

Lisa thanks for your reply- I checked the website and there are definitely a few positions of interest.

Regarding wages, what figure should I be looking at as a minimum?

Thanks,

Darren

Lisa_W

I'm not sure what a minimum salary would be with five years experience.

My husband had about twenty years experience when we came here and he did take a drop in salary initially, from what he was on in the UK.

But we wanted to make the move, so we accepted that. It didn't take long before his salary was increased, once we got here though.

So I think if you get to the point where you are offered a job, you will just need to look at your personal circumstances to see if you will be ok on the salary which is initially offered.

Also bear in mind that even if you are a CEng in the UK, you will have to become a PEng in order to sign off drawings. You'll need a year's Canadian experience and have to do at least one exam for that.

smivers

Hi Darren,

I'm 29, and a structural engineer who moved over to Alberta with 4 years of experience (I now have over 6), so you can fire any questions my way and I can probably help you with them!

I was doing fairly well for myself before I moved over, and originally got about the same salary. Now two years later, with my P.Eng., I am making significantly more than I was. You can look at the APEGA salary survey (www.apega.ca) to see what kind of salary you'd be looking at. Bear in mind the industry is very relevant - a colleague of mine just moved from buildings consulting (which I do) to oil and gas, and got a 32% pay raise, still being based in Calgary.

To get your P.Eng., you do need 12 months of Canadian experience, but as long as you are working under another engineer, that is no big deal as they can sign off on your work. The exam is just on ethics and professionalism, and as long as you can speak English well, should not be too big a deal. I assume you have a degree from a UK university, in which case there should not be any additional exams to take.

You will have to look into how you get over here in the first place - probably without having your P.Eng. you may find companies reluctant to bring you here themselves, but at 27 you can apply for the old BUNAC visa (I can't remember what it is called now), and with that in hand get a job and then try to get the permanent residency.

Finally, if you are looking for a job in buildings consulting, let me know... We may be interested!

Feel free to fire me any more questions, happy to help.

Andy