Graduate engineer looking for something different
Discussion
I graduated in 2006 from Glasgow University with a BEng(Hons) in Aeronautical Engineering. Since then I've dabbled in a bit of CAD work before working full-time with a water/energy consultancy in Edinburgh.
What I really want to do leave the UK and work abroad (Preferably continental Europe). Having travelled to the likes of Italy and France I just love the lifestyle there. I suppose my main barrier for any potential posts is the language, but I get the impression there are (UK) organisations out there that require English mother-tongue canditates in foreign offices. Does anyone know the best resource for jobs like this? Have I snowball's chance in hell? (long shot) anyone need an engineer in Rome?
Cheers,
Chris
What I really want to do leave the UK and work abroad (Preferably continental Europe). Having travelled to the likes of Italy and France I just love the lifestyle there. I suppose my main barrier for any potential posts is the language, but I get the impression there are (UK) organisations out there that require English mother-tongue canditates in foreign offices. Does anyone know the best resource for jobs like this? Have I snowball's chance in hell? (long shot) anyone need an engineer in Rome?
Cheers,
Chris
You could always try Westlands, as they are owned by Finmeccanica (I would say another loss of British industry etc etc, but they might actually improve under the Italians). You might have to spend time in Yeovil, but there should probably be opportunities to act as an English-speaking liaison in Italy.
Did you get as hacked off with the Glasgow aero course as most people do, or were you one of the few who enjoyed final year?
Did you get as hacked off with the Glasgow aero course as most people do, or were you one of the few who enjoyed final year?
Cheers, i'll check them out.
I found that 3rd year was the toughest to be honest. What year did you graduate?
Get the feeling the department has changed siginificantly in the short time since i left, it was in a state of flux in my last few years which meant elements of the curriciculum were a joke. The main reason i chose the course was for the CFD experience in the last year, which wasn't available by the time i got to my final year due to lecturers leaving. This is something which would've been very attractive for prospective employers and something i'd love to get into as a career. Instead I had to a generic course on lasers or something.
Cheers
Chris
I found that 3rd year was the toughest to be honest. What year did you graduate?
Get the feeling the department has changed siginificantly in the short time since i left, it was in a state of flux in my last few years which meant elements of the curriciculum were a joke. The main reason i chose the course was for the CFD experience in the last year, which wasn't available by the time i got to my final year due to lecturers leaving. This is something which would've been very attractive for prospective employers and something i'd love to get into as a career. Instead I had to a generic course on lasers or something.
Cheers
Chris
Phugoid said:
Cheers, i'll check them out.
I found that 3rd year was the toughest to be honest. What year did you graduate?
Get the feeling the department has changed siginificantly in the short time since i left, it was in a state of flux in my last few years which meant elements of the curriciculum were a joke. The main reason i chose the course was for the CFD experience in the last year, which wasn't available by the time i got to my final year due to lecturers leaving. This is something which would've been very attractive for prospective employers and something i'd love to get into as a career. Instead I had to a generic course on lasers or something.
Cheers
Chris
I graduated 2004. Left halfway through fourth year, so only a BSc with Merit. Basically received no assistance for my project (CFD!) due to my supervisor not even being there for a term, and a few other things just frustrated me. Should have stuck it out really, but was just not seeing the big picture at the time.I found that 3rd year was the toughest to be honest. What year did you graduate?
Get the feeling the department has changed siginificantly in the short time since i left, it was in a state of flux in my last few years which meant elements of the curriciculum were a joke. The main reason i chose the course was for the CFD experience in the last year, which wasn't available by the time i got to my final year due to lecturers leaving. This is something which would've been very attractive for prospective employers and something i'd love to get into as a career. Instead I had to a generic course on lasers or something.
Cheers
Chris
I'm now off to do a marine engineering course in January, which should be a bit more hands-on and hopefully get me an engineer's Officer Of the Watch ticket to work on merchant vessels.
You gradded 2006? You know either Colin McIlwraith or Mark McKeachan?
would have thought airbus / EADS would be one option.
rule out jaguar / landrover. i work for a tata subsiduary and they are only after posting experienced R&D guys abroad for the time being. loads of indian guys coming here for experience then returning to tata.
might not be up your alley but have a look on the UN jobs website. water/sanitation is a big area of humanitarian ops and you may be able to find an entry level posting. with a bit of field experience it'll be much like working for any engineering consultancy but will more worthwhile projects and the potential to travel globally.
also check out oilcareers.com
in europe, the netherlands is a good option due to english being very widespread. makes a good base to travel around from too.
rule out jaguar / landrover. i work for a tata subsiduary and they are only after posting experienced R&D guys abroad for the time being. loads of indian guys coming here for experience then returning to tata.
might not be up your alley but have a look on the UN jobs website. water/sanitation is a big area of humanitarian ops and you may be able to find an entry level posting. with a bit of field experience it'll be much like working for any engineering consultancy but will more worthwhile projects and the potential to travel globally.
also check out oilcareers.com
in europe, the netherlands is a good option due to english being very widespread. makes a good base to travel around from too.
Alright Phugoid,
Having been in a similar situation (and by similar i mean identical - same course, same degree, same company), I would say there are a couple of points to be made.
It is possible to get out, but I'd recomment taking an intermediate step and finding something more mech/aero/oil&gas/energy related in the UK. You might well find that they offer placements abroad, but more importantly, you'll find it a lot easier to get a job abroad when you're working for a good engineering company in the UK. I wouldn't say aforementioned water/energy consultancy could be described as "good".
Secondly, I reckon the best way to go about it is to keep your eye out for career and recruitment events in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Application forms and CVs don't show off the skills that you've developed that set you apart from all the fresh graduates out there. You're likely to be more mature, and have an air of competency about you that fresh graduates haven't yet developed. I'm pretty sure I'd never have had a chance of getting my current job if I hadn't turned up at the recruitment event the company was running in Glasgow, and been able to speak to senior managers, one of whom is now my director.
Cheers,
Having been in a similar situation (and by similar i mean identical - same course, same degree, same company), I would say there are a couple of points to be made.
It is possible to get out, but I'd recomment taking an intermediate step and finding something more mech/aero/oil&gas/energy related in the UK. You might well find that they offer placements abroad, but more importantly, you'll find it a lot easier to get a job abroad when you're working for a good engineering company in the UK. I wouldn't say aforementioned water/energy consultancy could be described as "good".
Secondly, I reckon the best way to go about it is to keep your eye out for career and recruitment events in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Application forms and CVs don't show off the skills that you've developed that set you apart from all the fresh graduates out there. You're likely to be more mature, and have an air of competency about you that fresh graduates haven't yet developed. I'm pretty sure I'd never have had a chance of getting my current job if I hadn't turned up at the recruitment event the company was running in Glasgow, and been able to speak to senior managers, one of whom is now my director.
Cheers,
Looks like there is some sort of aero reunion going on in here...
If you want to live and work in Italy you will have to learn the language at some point. My advice would be to start going to Italian evening classes. Perhaps find one on a pay per class basis so you can show prospective employers you are serious about working abroad and are prepared to learn new skills without paying out for 20 lessons up front if things change.
Also agree with magnum about attending careers events, definitely a good way to make contacts. Going to grad fairs definitely helped me get interviews and ask lots of questions that would have been difficult to ask in any other environment.
Good luck.
If you want to live and work in Italy you will have to learn the language at some point. My advice would be to start going to Italian evening classes. Perhaps find one on a pay per class basis so you can show prospective employers you are serious about working abroad and are prepared to learn new skills without paying out for 20 lessons up front if things change.
Also agree with magnum about attending careers events, definitely a good way to make contacts. Going to grad fairs definitely helped me get interviews and ask lots of questions that would have been difficult to ask in any other environment.
Good luck.
Alright lads,
Aye, need to get out of the water game in the near future and get my ass into something a bit more exciting. That said it's not bad as such but I need to justify 4 years of toil with something a little more technical Buggered up a good chance with the Toyota graduate scheme a month or so ago which would've fitted the bill (body & powertrain design in Brussels). Still fancy the aero route but there isn't much available and it's bloody hard to get into as a result!
Plan B is to go to WA with the parentals but if I do that then I fear I'll forever be working in water/energy/oil.
How's the new positions?
Aye, need to get out of the water game in the near future and get my ass into something a bit more exciting. That said it's not bad as such but I need to justify 4 years of toil with something a little more technical
Buggered up a good chance with the Toyota graduate scheme a month or so ago which would've fitted the bill (body & powertrain design in Brussels). Still fancy the aero route but there isn't much available and it's bloody hard to get into as a result! Plan B is to go to WA with the parentals but if I do that then I fear I'll forever be working in water/energy/oil.
How's the new positions?
Phugoid said:
Alright lads,
Aye, need to get out of the water game in the near future and get my ass into something a bit more exciting. That said it's not bad as such but I need to justify 4 years of toil with something a little more technical Buggered up a good chance with the Toyota graduate scheme a month or so ago which would've fitted the bill (body & powertrain design in Brussels). Still fancy the aero route but there isn't much available and it's bloody hard to get into as a result!
Plan B is to go to WA with the parentals but if I do that then I fear I'll forever be working in water/energy/oil.
How's the new positions?
New job is good, certainly not where i saw myself ending up but I really didn't know what I wanted to do and decided that I should just pick and see what happened! Will give the current role some time but I'm always on the look out for other stuff. After travelling over the summer I'd love to work abroad. Hong Kong is currently top of the list...Aye, need to get out of the water game in the near future and get my ass into something a bit more exciting. That said it's not bad as such but I need to justify 4 years of toil with something a little more technical
Buggered up a good chance with the Toyota graduate scheme a month or so ago which would've fitted the bill (body & powertrain design in Brussels). Still fancy the aero route but there isn't much available and it's bloody hard to get into as a result! Plan B is to go to WA with the parentals but if I do that then I fear I'll forever be working in water/energy/oil.
How's the new positions?
Have to agree with GTO3ROB on the energy front. You can get paid significantly more in the oil & gas industry as an engineer. Shell grads start on £33-37,000. Not too shabby. It really depends how much you want to work in aero/auto, I love cars and find aircraft really interesting but I'd much rather work in better paid industries and be able to own Ferraris, Porsches than just engineer parts of them.
shirt said:
out of interest, whats the cut-off for applying for grad. schemes? i thought if you had over 2yrs experience they wouldn't take you on and would have to apply DE?
It really just depends on the company in question. Some will only take you up to 2 years after graduation, some will let you apply for the grad scheme indefinitely. Going in as an experienced hire has its benefits, you get paid more! Girl in my office joined in the summer straight out of uni as an experienced hire! Apparently there were no grad places left but she impressed enough and now she is getting paid more and is up for promotion much earlier than the rest of us. She doesn't get to attend all the grad social events but she still has as much access to training etc.I'm slightly concerned at the moment that if I stay in my current industry for too long I might get stuck in it and find it difficult to switch to engineering at a later date if thats what I wanted to do. Decisions, decisions.
aspen said:
Have to agree with GTO3ROB on the energy front. You can get paid significantly more in the oil & gas industry as an engineer. Shell grads start on £33-37,000. Not too shabby. It really depends how much you want to work in aero/auto, I love cars and find aircraft really interesting but I'd much rather work in better paid industries and be able to own Ferraris, Porsches than just engineer parts of them.
It does all depend on what you are looking for. We may get paid more than some other businesses but there is a price to be paid. Mobility is not optional it's an expectation. An overseas location is rarely Milan or Paris, but normally the Saudi deserts, Siberia or West African jungles. To me thats more fun than Paris or Milan. Try clubbing in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea or Tengiz, Kazakhstan on a Saturday night......you'll love it or hate it, but it will be different. I am in a similar situation. I graduated 2006 with a BEng Motorsport Engineering and Design. This fundamentaly is a Autmotive Engineering degree with its bias towards motorpsort/performance applications.
That said were there any interesting jobs going-no. I ended up staying in education and doing a PGCE. I have been lecturing motorvehicle engineering for 12 months now................BORING!
I need to get into industry. I had 4 years operations management within logistics before going to uni plus the degree plus the experiance and teaching and yet, i seem to fit in between fresh grads and the 10 yrs + exp boys. Its hard!
Ive been applying for both aero (have ppl and ATPL ground exams) and auto. So we will see. To be honest I think most companys want fresh graduates who are perfectly trained (software package wise) and are cheap + kean!
That said were there any interesting jobs going-no. I ended up staying in education and doing a PGCE. I have been lecturing motorvehicle engineering for 12 months now................BORING!
I need to get into industry. I had 4 years operations management within logistics before going to uni plus the degree plus the experiance and teaching and yet, i seem to fit in between fresh grads and the 10 yrs + exp boys. Its hard!
Ive been applying for both aero (have ppl and ATPL ground exams) and auto. So we will see. To be honest I think most companys want fresh graduates who are perfectly trained (software package wise) and are cheap + kean!
GT03ROB said:
It does all depend on what you are looking for. We may get paid more than some other businesses but there is a price to be paid. Mobility is not optional it's an expectation. An overseas location is rarely Milan or Paris, but normally the Saudi deserts, Siberia or West African jungles. To me thats more fun than Paris or Milan. Try clubbing in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea or Tengiz, Kazakhstan on a Saturday night......you'll love it or hate it, but it will be different.
sounds good to me, loved my holidays to lithuania and belarus way more than any city or beach break i've had.for you guys in energy/oil, what is the best route in for engineers?
i qualified with an MEng in Aero. in 2003 but have been languishing as a production engineer / design engineer in the steel industry since then. pay is nothing to shout about and locations are pretty poor too.
looking to move in spring / summer. doubt i've got enough relevant experience to apply DE but also been out of uni too long to come in via the grad. route.
any suggestions? i usually attend a few grad. fairs each year as a favour to HR but never had any decent answers from those on relevant stands.
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