Franklin

Only $20k! YOu are blessed! Lord, how I wish I only had to pay $20k.

seacreature

I don't have a dislike for Canada at all, fundamentally it's a wonderful place. It's the damn work situation which gets my goat.

seacreature

I actually have 2 degrees, one in Engineering, the other was obtained part time and is in Computer Science.
There is little point me applying for an Engineering post as you need to be professionally recognised, I'm not. I also have no experience working as an Engineer.
I worked briefly as an electrician, but that is a licenced occupation in Canada. My other work experience is IT helpdesk, customer service and Systems Admin.
My present job here in Canada is certainly fun at times, but it's really more suitable to school leavers than a 29 year old with my experience. I'm not being snobbish it's just a fact.
I'm not expecting a lot, just something around 30k would be wonderful.

Tiaribbon

What would you have to do in order for your engineering skills to be recognised? Would it mean you having to go back to school here? I guess you wouldn't relish that too much. Have you looked into the licensing of electricians over here? Maybe this is something that you could have on the back-burner? Electricians seem to make okayish money up here and appear to be in demand.

I reckon if you hang on in there, something decent will turn up eventually. Try not to get too despondent. My friend moved over here and became a tad depressed with the job market too. She is highly qualified and expected to walk into a job. It took her 6 months to land a job - she had been temping for an agency and was sent to Ernst & Young as part of it. At the end of her time there, they offered her a permanent position! Have you thought about going to a temp agency? I would have thought that there are placements for the type of IT work you do.

iaink

Erm, NO!!!!
I do OK, I'm on my third job here as an engineer, even with the E word in my job title, but at no point have I been a PEng. The vast majority of Engineers working in Ontario are not in the PEO. Legally thats fine as long a PEng supervises them. You cannot go around touting for business to the public as an Engineer without PEng status, and certain critical functions (design sign off for example) are off limits, but working as an engineer is perfectly possible. Having said that I am planning to work on getting my PEng this year, if only as a valuable networking tool.

The lack of experience is possibly an issue, although other work experience helps mittigate it, but the lack of professional status is certainly not a problem unless you want to be engineering manager or something like that.

julius smith

hi, seacreature! you have my sympathies! its not easy to find a job there, but in my case, i got offered 2 jobs within 6 weeks, which is not bad! and one of them was as a QA engineer ( i am not a PEng either), paying $45 000!! and what did i do? i jacked the job in and flew back to the uk! well, we had a whole load of personal problems there, and didnt think twice about it! well, hope you get a foothold soon, mate.

ramac

Seacreature

Forgive me for asking something you have probably told others many times.

How long have you lived here?

When we arrived, my husband did not have any trouble securing employment, but like you I had a terrible time. I was a Senior Officer in a Local authority in Scotland with 15 + years experience in Human Resources/Finance Management and qualifications to back it up. I could not get an interview for an Office Clerk position and when I did they were offering $8.00 per hour.
After 1.5 years I couldn't take any more and made plans to go home. short version is we stuck it out for another year and I swear it made the difference. Within 3 months of securing my $13.00 per hour job (again, I felt it was poor offerings), I moved to $16.00 per hour and then 2 months later to $18.00 per hour. After 8 months in that company, I secured decent employment with a decent hike in salary. I hate to give in to this, but my resume sfter 8 months employment had "Canadian experience" ( and yes it gets on my nerves as well). Honestly since then, when I apply for jobs, I get called for interview.

If you can, try and stick it out for another bit, and the best of luck whatever you decide

seacreature

I have lived here nearly 5 months.
I do actually like Canada as a country, however the fact I cannot secure a decent job which uses my skills fills me with fury.
We intend to stay here for a few years until I can get Canadian Citizenship, after that we're moving back to Britain. I'm frankly fed up being turned down for $10 an hour jobs. It's just laughable. There is no way I would have even considered working in a call centre in Britain, now that seems like a dream! $8 an hour, am I REALLY worth so little?
My future here looks like a continual struggle getting by on minimum wage jobs with no money for luxuries whatsoever. You can stick it, give me crime ridden Britain anyday, at least I can get a decent job there.

JAJ

Isn't it easier to get PEng if your degree is Washington Accord accredited? However not all UK engineering degrees are accredited by the Engineering Council UK, which is the basis of Washington Accord acceptance.

Jeremy

iaink

PEO require transcripts to asses whether your degree is acceptable or not regardless. If they are not satisified (which is the norm I understand) a number of technical exams are required in addition to the mandatory law and ethics exams. My University of Leeds BEng 2.i is certainly recognised by the Engineering Council, but IIRC when my qualifiactions were assessed for my PR application the letter I recieved said that they were fine for PR purposes, but I would probably have to take 3 technical exams in addition to law and ethics for PEng (which I didnt care about back then). That was several years ago now, so maybe things have changed. Watch this space.

The major hurdle to PEng / PEO membership is still the canadian experience requirement. But as I said earlier, my experience is that in the mid level jobs I have been doing, professional recognision is not really a factor anyway. I am looking at it as more of a parachute/safety net, and a good networking opportunity. Cant do any harm, but on the other hand it is far from a necessity.

JAJ

The bottom line is that if your degree is accepted under the Washington Accord (which it will be if it's accredited for CEng purposes), it should be accepted in Canada. However the Washington Accord only covers the academic requirement to become an engineer, not other requirements.

If it's only accredited at IEng level then the Sydney Accord applies rather than the Washington Accord, but Canada is also a signatory to the Sydney Accord. I think it's gets you a lower level technical designation in Canada (Technologist, rather than PEng).

If you encounter problems in Canada in this respect, then you should follow it up with your engineering institute or the UK Engineering Council.

There's a useful website on the Washington Accord at:
http://www.washingtonaccord.org/

There is no specific agreement between the UK and Canada to convert CEng into PEng or vice versa. However if you have the CEng designation then also look at the International Register of Professional Engineers and see if this helps get further accreditation in Canada:
http://www.engc.org.uk/international/irpe.asp

As for immigration, certainly under the 2002 rules CIC will not care if your engineering degree is accepted for registration in Canada. This is of course one of the problems with Canada's immigration system currently, but until things change, that's the way it is for now.

Jeremy

wildmark

I think if you spent the same amount of energy into finding a decent job as you are whining about it you would have no problem.

I spent 8 years in Toronto and it no worse off for jobs that most places in the world, including the Uk, you get out of a country what you put in!

britvic

Are you one of those people who get's a kick out of being, well how shall I put this being rude to other's, are we not allowd to moan, most of us are expats after all. And now I'm going to get an ear bashing :scared:

Happiness

The sad thing is these days... I can see that having a degree does not count for a lot..Many people I know never went to university and they are earning more than their degree owning buddies...and this is how the situation is getting all over the place not just Canada...It's all about luck...getting a foot in the door and networking right?

wildmark

Not going to give an ear bashing, it just amazes me how some people get so negative, Toronto has lots of jobs just like the UK, you need to be patient.

Mark