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A Jew in Manhattan posted:What are the prospects of getting an electrical of computer engineering related job as a United States citizen in Europe or Asia? Working for a defense contractor could (eventually) land you a job where you are overseas for a few years at a time. Right now the big ones that I see postings for are Afghanistan, Iraq, Australia, Turkey, Korea, some England and the ever present "Undisclosed Overseas". Most of these openings want people that have 3-5+ years experience in the company, some travel already done to make sure you're not going to go crazy away from home and a record of good troubleshooting/integration/software skills demonstrated at home base depending on the program/position. So coming right into a company and going overseas very rarely happens but if you have a good track record you can get yourself to some pretty interesting locations during your career. Plinkey fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jul 20, 2011 |
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Jul 20, 2011 18:21
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timtastic posted:You could maybe only do this in Germany or maybe Switzerland as far as I can tell. German businesses always complain that they can't get enough engineers but as far as I know the government has yet to come up with some sort of way to make that easier. The problem is that a lot of EU engineers are gonna have the same idea as you, but won't have to deal with the visa problems you will. In short, this probably the order of preference you'll run into: any advice for applying to German jobs? I am a US citizen, but I do know German near fluently (I have a BA in German along with my BS in EE) and had an internship in Germany. Outside of that I am a bit short of experience however having only had a 2 month contract job since graduation which is the main reason I haven't really looked abroad for a job yet.
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Jul 20, 2011 19:46
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Thanks for the input. Ya, I didn't plan to be traveling right out of school anyway. I definitely want to get a few years of experience in the US and then move out if I still wanted/could. If it came down to having to be an EU citizen to work in Germany that wouldn't be too terrible since I have documented ancestry from several EU nations. I'd rather not have to renounce my US citizenship though. For now I'll just continue to learn some languages (which is what got me interested in travel) and plan for some future vacations.
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Jul 20, 2011 19:46
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dxt posted:any advice for applying to German jobs? I am a US citizen, but I do know German near fluently (I have a BA in German along with my BS in EE) and had an internship in Germany. Outside of that I am a bit short of experience however having only had a 2 month contract job since graduation which is the main reason I haven't really looked abroad for a job yet. I'd start with getting back in touch with your manager or coworkers from your internship if you can, probably your best way back in. You're in a much better position than I am, that's for sure. The thread in Ask/Tell about Germany has a few engineers in there who can probably tell you more than me.
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Jul 20, 2011 19:58
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Plinkey posted:Working for a defense contractor could (eventually) land you a job where you are overseas for a few years at a time. Right now the big ones that I see postings for are Afghanistan, Iraq, Australia, Turkey, Korea, some England and the ever present "Undisclosed Overseas".  There are lots of nice places, too- Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Guam, and also everywhere we have an embassy.
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Jul 20, 2011 21:39
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A Jew in Manhattan posted:Thanks for the input. You probably wouldn't have to renounce your US citizenship. The US and many EU countries allow dual citizenship. I am guessing that it would probably be impossible to get a US security clearance if you become a dual citizen of another country, however.
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Jul 20, 2011 22:22
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan posted:I am guessing that it would probably be impossible to get a US security clearance if you become a dual citizen of another country, however. Pretty much yes. I believe you have to denounce your citizenship that is not the US for clearances.
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Jul 20, 2011 22:29
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jul 21, 2011 01:36
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This should give you some insight on to what gets a clearance denied: http://www.dod.gov/dodgc/doha/industrial/ Being a dual citizen is generally OK as long as you don't own a business in Iran or something. Finance issues are what get most people denied. And a surprising amount of child pornography.
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Jul 21, 2011 02:58
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That is an extremely interesting link and I wasn't aware those decisions were public record, thank you.
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Jul 21, 2011 03:12
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IratelyBlank posted:This should give you some insight on to what gets a clearance denied: What I read is that in cases with a dual citizen, the ones that are allowed clearances are usually ones that have both US citizenship and another country's citizenship through no decision of their own (such as children born to foreign parents who automatically acquire their country's citizenship or someone who is born abroad to American parents). Voluntarily seeking another country's citizenship late in life seems to me that it could definitely be considered as having foreign preference. I could be wrong, though.
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Jul 21, 2011 15:27
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I graduated last year with a degree in engineering (Civil), and I took a year off just to travel and pursue some personal interests. I just started a job a little less than a month ago with a oil & gas service company (Western Canada), and I have to say that my background in civil / structural has very little application for my position (field). Some of the other people who do the same field work as I do have Chemical Engineering, Mechanical, MSc in Electrical, etc. Many of the employees have backgrounds with companies such as Schlumberger, Baker Hughes just to put the type of work in perspective. My question is... how does this type of field / shop experience look towards career development? I mean there are people with very diverse backgrounds all doing a logging / processing job which doesn't seem overly technical, so if I want to consider a switch to construction or consultation in the future - is this type of work still practical for that future path? I was pretty eager to jump on the first decent opportunity offered to me after a year off, and I DO like my company and co-workers.
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Jul 23, 2011 19:12
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I'm looking to go to college for engineering, specifically VT's mining engineering, and I'm wondering how hard it is to get in. I'm in the Military and have a year left, so I haven't taken the SAT and I'm gonna start taking prep classes to get some math back into my head. Mostly wondering if I need to do anything to improve my chances or if it's generally pretty easy to get as long as you meet all the prerequisites.
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Jul 23, 2011 20:53
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Pieces posted:I graduated last year with a degree in engineering (Civil), and I took a year off just to travel and pursue some personal interests.
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Jul 24, 2011 00:43
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Rhaegak posted:I'm looking to go to college for engineering, specifically VT's mining engineering, and I'm wondering how hard it is to get in. I'm in the Military and have a year left, so I haven't taken the SAT and I'm gonna start taking prep classes to get some math back into my head. Mostly wondering if I need to do anything to improve my chances or if it's generally pretty easy to get as long as you meet all the prerequisites. I just graduated from VT's MinE program in May. Personally, I surpassed all of the prereq. for freshman by quite a bit, declared early decision, and was deferred to regular admission. No big deal, but that had me freaking out for a while. If they don't accept you into the college of engineering, you can go undecided "university studies" until you're eligible to transfer into the college, and at least rack up some gen-ed/required classes. At VT, you can't declare into the exact discipline you want to study until your sophomore year (or 2nd semester if you make dean's list) so you'd be hitting up some gen ed classes then anyways. Personally, I loved the MinE program and would 100% do it again. If you have ANY questions the department head is an amazing guy and would love to help you. Dr. Greg Adel - adel at vt dot edu You can email me at pbauden at vt dot edu if you have any questions you think I might be able to answer.
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Jul 24, 2011 13:13
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I don't suppose there's any professional chemical engineers watching this thread? I'd really like to talk to a design engineer or just anyone who can give me the low-down on what industry is like, in particular oil&gas/refining. I really enjoyed my design project and it's been the design classes that I've enjoyed the most so that's basically my dream job. I have no idea how likely I am to find that kind of work though, every piece of news about the western fine chemicals and pharma sectors have indicated plants moving to the east and no/limited capacity being constructed. Is it the same for oil? Can you expect to at least find work, if not developing/building new plants then carrying out plant improvement and optomisation projects?
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Jul 24, 2011 19:43
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Dead Pressed posted:I just graduated from VT's MinE program in May. To add to this, I did the University Studies -> Transfer into Engineering route (Mechanical), so if you have questions about that I'll be around.
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Jul 24, 2011 20:37
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A Jew in Manhattan posted:Thanks for the input. It's certainly possible; I'm an EE/CPE double major, and I got a job involving serious travel straight out of school. Try the power field, either in generation side or in industrial/substation equipment side (I'm in the steel industry). Europe is pretty hard, my company has a few projects there, but they tend to be shorter term than the China/India/Brazil jobs. I've personally been to China and India (a few other places as well) on the job, working on a domestic job at the moment. If you have EU citizenship too, you're much easier to get into several countries, so that's a definite plus.
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Jul 25, 2011 05:28
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Dead Pressed posted:Personally, I loved the MinE program and would 100% do it again. If you have ANY questions the department head is an amazing guy and would love to help you. Dr. Greg Adel - adel at vt dot edu Awesome, thanks. Sent him an e-mail with a few questions. So my main thing is preparing myself so I can get accepted, and since I have plenty of time to get whatever I can out of the way I'd rather do it now rather then waste more time when I get out. When you apply for admission are you applying to the college itself and then have to apply to a program later, or do you apply directly to get into that specific program. I'm completely ignorant on how universities work.
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Jul 25, 2011 18:36
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Daviclond posted:I work in chemicals, but the need for a process design engineer will always be there. If you want to go pure design, then I recommend going for a large design firm - you may be pigeonholed into an a specific area depending on the company and most first years will just do pipe, valve and pump sizing. You might even get seconded to a site by the design company to help with projects or to do uprates. But even operators will have an in-house design division (Shell Global Solutions for example). And even if you work on-site, there's the projects team for small-medium in-house projects and day-to-day process optimisation type stuff. For larger projects, you may help a plant do uprate work. Working directly in industry itself is a different kettle of fish all together. I've done a design, plant and commissioning role. It's pretty diverse, and you get a lot of experience this way. The job market is fairly good, so there's a good chance you'll get what you want if your grades are decent and your heart is in the right place (i.e. one of those people who went into engineering because you like building stuff as opposed to the ones who wanted just a job out of it). Otherwise you can always go into banking or risk engineering I guess...
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Jul 25, 2011 19:16
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Rhaegak posted:Awesome, thanks. Sent him an e-mail with a few questions. So my main thing is preparing myself so I can get accepted, and since I have plenty of time to get whatever I can out of the way I'd rather do it now rather then waste more time when I get out. At tech you apply to the university for admission directly into the college of engineering. If they decide your grades aren't good enough for engineering but are good enough for university studies, they'll put you in there instead. After your freshman year you'll transfer into the specific department you want to study (Mining, mechanical, whatever).
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Jul 25, 2011 20:47
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Pieces posted:I graduated last year with a degree in engineering (Civil), and I took a year off just to travel and pursue some personal interests. This has just been my very limited experience, but having worked with some geotech consulting guys as well as stuff more on the infrastructure side, there is definitely a stigma that comes with oil and gas. It tends to come from them making lots and lots of money for soul-less work and the associated attitude it comes with though. At the last company I was at they hired a guy who did oil and gas for 10 years out west to do some drilling things, where he was quite useful. I would be careful of staying too long though, and I wouldn't expect your experience to hold as much weight when you come back to non-Alberta as the work really is night and day in a lot of ways. Enjoy that cash though!
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Jul 26, 2011 02:54
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namsdrawkcaBehT posted:. Thanks so much That's really good news, I really enjoy the degree (for all it kicks my rear end sometimes) and I've got pretty strong grades plus the top design project marks in my year so I'm feeling good about selling myself as a graduate. With regards to large design companies, could you point me to any big names to kickstart my search?Am I right in thinking the distinction you've drawn between "industry" and the design comapnies/divisions separates the pure design contractors and the actual plant operators? Would you be inclined to steer a young graduate towards one of those over the other? Thanks again for your input, it's incredibly useful to get the low-down from someone who knows the business.
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Jul 26, 2011 19:26
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Has anybody found a good place to find actual entry level mechanical engineering jobs? I'm sick of applying to 'up to 5 years of experience' jobs. I've run out of friends, cousins and uncles who can get me any kind of 'in' at a company and the only interviews I've gotten are for jobs I can do but really don't want to.
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Jul 26, 2011 22:01
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I had good results on Craigslist. You'll mostly get smaller companies though.
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Jul 26, 2011 22:46
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T.H.E. Rock posted:I had good results on Craigslist. You'll mostly get smaller companies though. To be honest I prefer smaller companies, I get the impression (mistaken or not) that I would have slightly higher better chances if the person directly receiving my resume is an engineer or at least has more of a connection to what their company does than some HR dude.
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Jul 26, 2011 23:06
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jul 27, 2011 01:38
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Daviclond posted:Off the top of my head there few big international design companies ones that specialise in oil and gas or have an oil and gas division are WorleyParsons, Fluor, AkerKaeverner (These guys change their names 10 times a year so not sure what they are now), Technip, Bechtel, SNC Lavalin, KBR. There are a bunch of them out there, just ask your uni for a list. Yeah, you either work for a consultant or an operator. Operators run/own the plants. I would say go for an operator, they have much more varied work, but I may be biased because that's my background. Although, some of my friends in consulting are still in the same kind of role they started off with. And, which ever you chose, go for a large company - they already have established project processes and standards and more slosh money for training.
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Jul 27, 2011 07:25
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Thoguh posted:What do you want to do? ME is a pretty broad field. Well since I don't have much experience to think of I've been trying to leverage my SolidWorks modeling skills and take any position that is asking for that, without much regards to industry and location. The problem is that a lot of these positions are asking for plastic/sheet metal experience too, which I don't really have either. I have been looking at normal quality assurance/engineer positions too, but a lot of them ask for experience with lean manufacturing/six sigma/etc.
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Jul 27, 2011 14:57
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Originally posted in the federal jobs thread, thought I'd get more input here: What happens at a job fair / how should I dress? I'm planning on attending a Hispanic Engineers career fair (I'm nowhere near Hispanic) and it looks like the only one USACE will be at in the area. Is a suit and tie too much? Do they typically just meet and greet or interview on the spot? Should I bring anything other than resume and examples of my work? Thanks.
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Jul 30, 2011 09:03
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FooGoo posted:Originally posted in the federal jobs thread, thought I'd get more input here:
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Jul 30, 2011 14:45
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Be prepared to chat up recruiters for the companies you want to work for. Don't just hand them your resume and walk away. Ask about the company (especially specific questions about the company to show you've looked into it), what they do, what sort of work interns do etc. The more of an impression you make on the people at the fair, the more likely they are to remember you when they are going the stack of resumes after the fair.
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Jul 30, 2011 15:50
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jul 30, 2011 18:56
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namsdrawkcaBehT posted:Off the top of my head there few big international design companies ones that specialise in oil and gas or have an oil and gas division are WorleyParsons, Fluor, AkerKaeverner (These guys change their names 10 times a year so not sure what they are now), Technip, Bechtel, SNC Lavalin, KBR. There are a bunch of them out there, just ask your uni for a list. "Who are ExxonMobil?" - the career advisor assigned to the school of engineering at my uni. He's a great guy for interviewing techniques and HR type stuff, but the practical knowledge of industry at my uni is a bit lacking. Our design lecturer has a lot of experience though so I'll try that avenue when the academic year starts, but you can see why I was desparate for any names I could get quote:Yeah, you either work for a consultant or an operator. Operators run/own the plants. I would say go for an operator, they have much more varied work, but I may be biased because that's my background. Although, some of my friends in consulting are still in the same kind of role they started off with. And, which ever you chose, go for a large company - they already have established project processes and standards and more slosh money for training. Yeah I would definitely have a preference for the larger companies, for the reasons you said and for getting to a warmer country ASAP. I really wish I hadn't gotten so interested in this search so early in the year though haha, nobody is listing graduate jobs and I doubt they will be until September earliest.
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Aug 1, 2011 18:17
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Daviclond posted:"Who are ExxonMobil?" - the career advisor assigned to the school of engineering at my uni This reminds me of the new and awful career advisor we got as I was graduating, whose choice quote was "What does Pfizer do?"
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Aug 1, 2011 19:34
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plester1 posted:This reminds me of the new and awful career advisor we got as I was graduating, whose choice quote was "What does Pfizer do?"   Oh, you're looking at Pfizer? Sounds like one of those new-fangled startups, you should apply to an established company like <x>!
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Aug 1, 2011 22:00
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Daviclond posted:Yeah I would definitely have a preference for the larger companies, for the reasons you said and for getting to a warmer country ASAP. I work on the equator, the heat is all it's talked up to be :P I would just start calling up places, can't hurt to ask. You might even be able to apply early! Also, not sure if you're already graduated, but some unis will do their final year design project or your honours project with a company - That could be your in? If not see if your uni will let you arrange for one and call up a few companies to see if they're interested. I mean hey, it's free work for them.
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Aug 2, 2011 14:54
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namsdrawkcaBehT posted:I work on the equator, the heat is all it's talked up to be :P yessssss quote:I would just start calling up places, can't hurt to ask. You might even be able to apply early! I've got a year left before I graduate and I've already done my design project. My uni, again, is a bit out of touch with industry and just has the academics come up with projects and assign them to groups. Did your degree have projects sponsored from industry? Some of the ones we got assigned were hugely uneconomical and unrealistic so that sounds like a much better way of doing it to be honest. That said I do have some industry contacts through a six month work placement I'm doing just now, but it's an R&D position in a big pharma company who outsource all their design work :/. Bit of a shame I hadn't even started my design project when I accepted the job because I'd definitely have looked for a different kind of role. I'm not too worried though, pretty sure I'll be able to sell most of the experience as transferrable (or at least useful) and I've got the good grades to back it up
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Aug 2, 2011 20:36
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Wickerman fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Nov 11, 2013 |
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Aug 4, 2011 23:53
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Daviclond posted:Did your degree have projects sponsored from industry? Litterally, all of our design topics were industry sponsored with prizes for the best project and such. I think there were about 8 or so companies with 10 different topics you could pick from. We got a grand out of it and a shiny certificate. That was the same with our honours project. Except I think there were a few uni only ones in that basket. Wickerman, since it's boring in the jungle, PM me.
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Aug 5, 2011 12:44
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