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Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

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Old Jan 24th 2010, 12:58 am
  #46  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
....What are the opportunities for chem eng like in the us with regards to salary and benefits and also number of jobs? Does this career put you in good good position with regards to qulity of life?

I get a scholarship from my current university (Manchester) which will mean I should have around £15-20k after I graduate which I could put towards a Masters in the US.
Your looking at a 10 year game plan realistically, from degree, masters and experience....how the market is in that time may well be quite different to what it is now, so salary, benefits and number of jobs is pretty irrelevant.

What you want to be seeking out are where the general hubs for the career are, see how many people are imported into those positions and how many are local and if the number is high on foreign imports consider it, if its high on locals consider another hub.

With those hubs, see what kind of lifestyle those areas offer and think how they fit into what you see as important, mountains, sea, lakes, big citys, theatres, eating out, camping etc...what is important to you? Get those answers and you'll know which kind of hub you'll be more interested in moving too. Things like salary, taxes, healthcare, large houses and cars don't mean anything really when your looking at your time frame and a large house doesn't make for quality of life either
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 1:08 am
  #47  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
I can locate both states on a map.... I just can't put them in relation to other states in words. Like I said cali is on the left at the top , and fl is left at the bottom, it sticks out.
Wrong. California is left from mid to the bottom bordering on Mexico and Florida is the furthest east of the country on the bottom close to the carribean with the penninsula sticking out.
Top left (West) is Washington state and below that is Oregon THEN you have California.
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 1:11 am
  #48  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
I am right. I'm not talking in relation to the whole usa. I know alaska is above canada.... On the west coast, is Cali ... on the east coast, at the bottom, is florida ... florida sticks out.
If you're not talking about where California and Florida are located in relation to the US, then what relation ARE you talking? In relation to Cambodia? To Greenland? To Atlantis? *shakes head*

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Old Jan 24th 2010, 2:29 am
  #49  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
Thank you for your reply, it's good to receive one from someone in the same field as me! What are the opportunities for chem eng like in the us with regards to salary and benefits and also number of jobs? Does this career put you in good good position with regards to qulity of life?

I get a scholarship from my current university (Manchester) which will mean I should have around £15-20k after I graduate which I could put towards a Masters in the US.
My experience has been that there are more opportunites here. There is still a lot more industry here than in the UK. When looking for jobs I found that there was a lot on the Texas gulf coast. I also saw quite a lot in California, I was keen to stay in Georgia for family reasons. This was a couple of years ago mind. At the moment job market is obviously bad, as in most countries.

My experience has been that engineering salaries are better here than in the UK, and engineers are held with a higher respect here. Benefits are fine for US, but much worse than UK (10 days annual vacation is norm, and totally sucks). People take their work very seriously here, it kind of defines who they are. I'm not really into that.
I've also found people really like at least a Masters over here. A US bachelors degree doesn't cover near as much as a UK one.

You can earn a decent salary as a chem eng and most likely live in a bigger house than you would in the UK, with a pool and big car and all that jazz. On the flip side you'll work much more hours than you would in UK, and be very far away from your old friends and family (with limited opportunity to visit them).

If it's a big dream of yours and you're young and have no kids etc, then sure go for it. If you don't like it you can always go back. I'm sure you can find a way through some of the suggested options, but it will take quite a lot of effort. Sorry I can't really give you help on that because i got here via marriage to USC.
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 4:12 am
  #50  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by mayhemuk
I was curious about the distance you mentioned. Pensacola to Piedras Negras which is near enough a straight line from closest borders is 860 miles according to google! :-D
Miami - Cancun is just over 500 miles (as the crow flies).
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 7:15 am
  #51  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by mayhemuk
I was curious about the distance you mentioned. Pensacola to Piedras Negras which is near enough a straight line from closest borders is 860 miles according to google! :-D
Actually, from Miami to the Yucatán is only about 680 miles, but that might involve crossing Cuban airspace.
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 7:54 am
  #52  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
Haha ... I know cali is west coast ... and florida is east coast at the bottom... I only ever look at Everything north of mexico and south of Alaska. But my geog is pretty poor to be honest! Not as bad as a 17 year old American girl i spoke to the other day though, who thought England was a city in Europe!
At least she got the Europe bit right. Sort of. She didn't happen to compliment you on your grasp of the language?
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 12:27 pm
  #53  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

The Europe bit was the only thing she got right, England is not a city, and I'm pretty sure she was referring to continental europe not the eu which England is also not part of.

What do you mean about my grasp of the language?

And thank you to everyone who gave me some useful information, I will look into what hubs take a high number of foreign imports.
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 12:30 pm
  #54  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by elfman
BALLS
Insightful commentary, have you tried writing for a living?
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 2:29 pm
  #55  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Ginblossom
Insightful commentary, have you tried writing for a living?
Dump the GF and get a US one is the best bet.

A friend of mine was moved over but then he managed a plant for a major multi national.
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Old Jan 24th 2010, 5:00 pm
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
What do you mean about my grasp of the language?
Banksia meant that often, people who mistake England for something that it isn't (ie, a city in Europe) are also unaware that English people speak...English.
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Old Jan 25th 2010, 1:22 pm
  #57  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
I have just been looking at the Eb2 visa for members of professions that hold advanced degrees in engineering, science ...

Once I have obtained my masters, that will be an advanced degree. And waiting 5 years in order to get chartered which will mean I am a mamber of a professional organisation, which are two of the boxes ticked for that visa, thats assuming I could get a job offer from an American company.

Good route to try?
By advanced degree the USCIS mean a Ph.D. You actually have a really good chance of moving here (temporarily at least) if you were to apply for a Ph.D. here in chemical eng. Look into that!
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Old Jan 26th 2010, 6:57 am
  #58  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Carlo09
Ok at the moment I'm still at university, so this thread is for the future. I've always wanted to move over to the USA since I was younger. I know it's hard to get a green card unless you are married to an American or invest a lot of cash, but I'm looking at the skilled worker route.

I'm currently studying Chemical Engineering and have 2 more years to go. that's got to count as a skilled worker right? I'm looking at specialising in Pharmaceuticals, but if it will make it easier to find a job i would consider going into food, or even defence if there are such openings for say munitions development. So for people who don't know what Chem Eng is, it's the process of turning raw and less valuable materials (Oil, Chemicals, ....) into more valuable and useful ones (Petrol, fuels, Foods, Pharmaceuticals). I'm guessing the fuels market would be more towards Texas and southern oil drilling states.

I'm looking at living up north, Cali or Fl if possible, and firstly was wondering if anyone knows of either of these states having an abundance of this type of work? Also what are the salary's like? (in England after graduation I would start on around £30k, after about 5 years I could get chartered and my salary rises to around £45-50k and then increases with experience). And the one asked right at the start, is this type of skill sought after in the us and will it make getting a green card easier? If the Engineering jobs just aren't there, my degree would also let me move into math related careers such as finance since our course is highly math based and a lot of graduates take this route instead of the engineering route.

Thank you all for your replies and any information is welcomed.
I dont see any reason why you cant make it.. All the best dude..

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Old Jan 26th 2010, 7:55 am
  #59  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by tonrob
We already have one Pat on here ("The thinking man's trucker")
do me a favour........
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Old Jan 26th 2010, 9:42 pm
  #60  
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Default Re: Another Pat wanting to live the american dream.

Originally Posted by Ginblossom
Insightful commentary, have you tried writing for a living?
well to be fair to him, when you come out with such hysterical daily mail style bollocks its not really worth bothering to write a decent response as you clearly wont listen.

The reason people usually react badly to the standard 'crime, tax, immigrants, etc etc' posts with regard to the UK, is because they are usually not based on fact.
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