Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
(OP)
I got a question, with an engineering degree from South Africa, I have found it hard to get a good job here in the US. Is there any one out there that would advise me as to how I should go about getting a good electrical job? I am now currently studying to take the EIT exam, while working an entry level job in the state of Illinois information agency. The South African degree is IEEE accredited.
i am thinking the PE and some experince might be helpfull!
Thanks
i am thinking the PE and some experince might be helpfull!
Thanks





RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
the course work is the same as here in the US. thanks for the follow up though!
Bruk
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
BTW what part of Pretoria are you from, I grew up in Pretoria East.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
We tend to knwo about schools in our own country, and not so much outside our country.
Even if your school is perfectly excellent, the fact that I don't know much about it means I probably am biased against it.
From your posts, it seems you are also a recent grad? If so, that compounds your problem of getting a job.
If I am hiring, I would probably hire a recent US grad (from central statename here) than a recent grad from out of country.
Not saying this is fair, but then again, life isn't.
You seem to be thinking correctly. A US PE and US experience will help you get the job you want.
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I am not from south africa myself, i am from Ethiopia. But i went to school overthere, i was leaving in campus first but moved to hatfield area. Good memories of SA.
Anyway, i was hoping to hear from engineers with degrees from overseas, that have somhow manged to get in to the US job market with out any help(from family ...)
it's been hard out here.
thanks
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I agree with flch95. Permanent Residency is a big deciding factor. Good luck.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Just curious if there are any hints/suggestions out there from more worldly folks.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
These two nations anyways are LOOKING for US and UK trained personnel, working for US and UK companies for at least 15 years and up. They love ex-Shell,BP,Exxon engineers it seems.
I have been told that the pay is good, the compounds are nice, the food is western and they don't shovel snow.
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I've already run the numbers and do qualify to go to Oz, but is it worth it? What's the avg pay for a junior engineer over there?
I also hear that alot of young professionals are leaving b/c of a lack of work.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
In automotive a graduate engineer would start on 50k, an experienced senior engineer would be on 80-105k. Toyota, Ford and GM are hiring engineers at the moment. I can't believe that /good/ engineers can't get work over here, if they are prepared to move.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I'm from the UK originally. BEng in Aerospace Systems Engineering from University of Southampton (in the top 5 universities in the UK in my subject at the time).
I worked in aerospace/defence for about 5 years in UK before moving to the US to be with my wife (US citizen).
Without US citizenship this line of work is virtually closed to me in the US. Due to where I live in the US this is virtually the only engineering available.
Spent about a year working free lance (not quite full time) for my old company in the UK because immigration were real slow getting me a work permit. Once I got the permit I had to work another year at Rite Aid due to the lack of suitable engineering jobs locally (I mean within a few hundred miles).
Eventually got an engineering job 200 miles from home in the semi industry, purely because they used one of the CAD systems I used previously and it's not very common in this part of the states. Pay is pretty good though cost of living is too high to move, so work there during the week back home at weekends.
Finally got my full green card just a few months ago.
So it can be done but it isn’t easy and takes time.
Getting your EIT will probably help a lot and having permanent residency will probably help too. Citizenship should only be a major problem in defence and related fields but I may be wrong.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I say EIT because it came up in a few of the many jobs I looked at while taking my sojourn at Rite Aid.
I agree it primarily seems of relevance in Civil/Structural/Architectural but it did come up in a couple of job postings I'd have otherwise been qualified for.
Maybe I over emphasized it though with hind site, it will perhaps only help a little as your specialty wasn't civil.
(And of course according to a couple of recent threads if you don't have PE you're not an engineer, sorry couldn't resist)
I had a work permit and it still took over a year to find an engineering job, so though a major stumbling block for many it's not the only one.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Definitely take the EIT if the jobs you have seen requiring it appealed to you. There's no reason not to take it, really. You open some doors that were closed without the EIT, and don't close any doors that don't require it.
As far as your 'crack' about PE and being an engineer, by law in most states, you cannot call yourself an 'engineer' and offer your services to the public unless you have the PE license. Every state has manufacturing exemptions which let most working engineers off the hook. So just because you don't have a PE doesn't mean you aren't an engineer, it just means you can't call yourself an engineer. Not that anyone will care--the whole licensing system stinks, relying completely on engineers ratting out other engineers.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I think you're right about the work permit. While the fact was because of my situation I was 99.9% guaranteed permanent residence before my work permit expired I'm sure it put at least some companies off.
Out of people who actually responded to my applications however, the number one reason for not taking me was because I wasn't a US citizen, but these were aerospace/defense companies.
In fact on jobs that listed residency type issues I seem to recall the most common requirement was citizenship. LPR came up occasionally but most just said equivalent of 'right to work' or nothing.
If you're fairly fresh from academia or just better at academic stuff than I it looked like EIT would be fairly simple/cheap, that's partly why I brought it up. Also as I posted elsewhere I thought it might 'Americanize' your qualifications some.
Sorry 'bout the crack, personality flaw that will one day cost me a job no doubt. Your summary was more or less how I understood it, some people (including me occasionally) get worked up about it though.
bhabte, out of interest what is your immigration status, do you think this might be an issue?
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
No need to apologize about any 'crack', didn't take it personally. Most of us have thicker skins than that.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I know it's frustrating when you come from a foreign university just as good if not better than most universities here. Or if you come from a work history that is as long as your arm; you know you could do the job as well as anybody else, because you have done the job already, yet it's difficult to even get the door open.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Now, if you've got real verifable job experience (not to hard to figure out if someone is BSing engineering experience)- that is pretty unfair to be overlooked.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I always thought it would be an issue but a surprisingly large people this side of the pond who I thought might know better than me said that being a Brit it shouldn't be too bad. They were wrong.
I'd love to think of myself as a hot shot but that's just in the false reality in my head.
Annoying thing is I actually worked a USAF program while in the UK as well as working on American kit used by our forces. I've even had the pleasure of supporting testing at Eglin and China Lake, But hey, I picked to come here so I've no right to feel sorry for myself.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Didn't mean to imply you weren't a hot shot--I should have said 'famous', for instance, Nobel Prize winner or the acocmplisher of a significant engineering feat such as the V-2 (that is, famous like Werner von Braun). For such people any law can be waived.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
I did have a very slight hope that as I'd worked in a fairly specialized field I might stand a chance but was over optimistic.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
But the clients of the company I work for (our patients) don't know where I went to school, just the people who hired me. I'll bet the hospital knows what school the doctor went to and I'll bet it played a role in bringing him onboard.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
While doctors are all technically competent based on their passing the medical licensing exams, they are not all equally competent.
TTFN
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Good Luck.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Certainly not all doctors have same skill. You know what they call the person finishing last in his/her medical school class?
"Doctor"
((same as the one finishing first in his/her class))
A couple of years into your career and no one cares what college you attended.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
That got me to thinking......
It goes to show that the doctor/patient relationship is team and the patient gives the final approval for any course of action. Even though I was being helped by one of the best general surgeons in the Pacific Northwest (USA), I ask him to justify all his conclusions before I agreed to allow him to procede. What made him a great doctor is he didn't have any problem with me asking him to do so.
RE: Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree
Only if you're already in the US.
I recently met a professor of medicine from Serbia, who was in his sixties? He was competing with the 20-somethings for a 1st yr medical residency, as if his decades of experience were nonexistent.
As I said before, I certainly pay attention to my doctor's C.V.
TTFN