how to advance in Civil Engineering career

[pinoyce]

Hi,
Do you guys know a course or program that will help me be more competitive in civil engineering?

For the last 4 years all that I've been doing is compaction, concrete and laboratory testing.

I wanna do more than that and Ive been sending resumes here and there but no luck.

Thank you.

 

[oldestguy]

More info needed:

Age;

Education (H.S., Tech School yrs and course, college years, date, and course specialty, degree)

For college, what standing in graduating class

Past jobs, especially college summers.

Years and description of current job, organization size, fields of work

Memberships in engineering associations (ASCE?), seminars attended.

 

[pinoyce]

age: 32

Civil Engineering-Philippines

Company working for is Geotechnical. Lab, materials testing.

Past experience: Construction Management-Philippines
Lab testing-Toronto
Compaction, concrete and Piling-2.5 years Alberta

Passed Fundamentals of Engineering by NCEES

E.I.T. - APEGA (ALBERTA)

 

[oldestguy]

Many of us have spent early years doing technician work. It doesn't hurt to have that in your bag of experience. However, more education may be needed and those who know you may take an interest if they know you are active there. I checked the WEB site for the APEGA group, but don't see a great deal of help there, other than hopefully rubbing elbows with those that can help in meetings and conferences.

Check out membership in ASCE, since they have many programs that are geared to increasing your knowledge.

One of the main tasks of us CE's is report writing. Your first post gives the impression that some improvement in that sector may help. It was quite vague, and your reply as to education, class standing and degrees leaves me wondering if there is something to hide.

Hopefully others here will chime in with help. but one should know that simply (lazy way) sending resumes alone won't get much attention. Even though it is difficult, make every attempt that you can to actually get to speak to and interview with those that are in authority at engineering organizations. Have you inquired of contractors for possible employment? While not designing much, the experience of building things can't be ignored later. Hours and conditions may be rough, but engineers are needed there.

Are you active in civic organizations? One never knows what that may lead to. Volunteer for committees and leadership. Do so in any engineering organization also. If nothing else on a resume it shows you are one to be a "go-getter".

So it's not just one avenue you should travel on. It is many.

 

[pinoyce]

Thank you for your reply oldest guy.

Sorry for not giving in too much information. It's just that when people learned that my bachelor's is of outside North America they dont seem to give much credit for it. There's this one instance that there is an internal opening for an engineering job in our company and I've applied but didn't get it. One of the reasons that my friends told me overhearing conversations from the office is that my bachelor's degree is of outside Canada.

To answer fully your question, I consider myself average.In a list of general standing rrleased on my final year of college I belong to top 30%. I have a bachelor's degree in Civil engineering. My report writing is not lagging behind my Canadian counterparts based from our field reports. I did passed the Fundamental of Engineering by NCEES in one try. I wrote that five years later after finishing my engineering degree, right after I migrated to Canada. APEGA is Alberta's regulatory body for engineering and geoscience.

I do agree that further education is required as I feel there's much to learned. First I thought of Masters degree. But I met people who did their Masters but is still working as a technicians. I also met immigrants who have their engineering from their home country and went back to university to redo four years of engineering. Some have jobs others doesnt.

So I told myself, it has to be something in demand or something employers are looking for. I know the market is competitive and education alone is not enough to get hired or to advance your career.

I am not very active in my community. But I do participate in my church activities.

I also agree that working as a tech will definitely help. But Canada is different from the states, they dont count tech experience towards your professional experience. I applied for professional designation but the four years tech experience was evaluated by APEGA to be equivalent to only one year. I was told to get three more years of engineering experience.

ASCE? I'll look into that.

Thank you.

 

[jayrod12]

If you are doing lab testing and writing the reports are you not working underneath an engineer? Those hours under an engineer's supervision should count. If they aren't under the supervision of an engineer I suggest contacting geotechnical firms. They would be happy to have someone with testing and report writing experience and you would be working under a geotech engineer with would allow your work hours to qualify.

 

[oldestguy]

Pinoyce:

I did a quick search for ASCE Ontario and see there apparently may be a branch. needless to say they list some jobs there.

http://careers.asce.org/jobs?keywords=&place=ontario&sort=

 

[pinoyce]

@jayrod12

My supervisor is a technologist but the owner of the company is a P.Eng.

@Oldest Guy
Thank you.

 

[jayrod12]

Do your lab reports and testing reports not need to be sealed, at least on occasion if not each time. If so, is the engineer that seals them willing to sign off on your hours. You'd be surprised how quickly the 3 years can go by.

Either way that isn't necessarily the question here. You will have much more luck finding new employment through networking. Talk to the engineers you deal with on a regular basis and straight up ask them if they know anyone looking for employees. A good word from an established engineer carries much more weight than just your P.Eng. I've met many a people with their seal that are useless in the office.

 

[pinoyce]

I agree networking is the key. Sending resumes online isn't gonna help. I guess I need to be more aggressive in applying and work on networking.

Thank you.

 

[msquared48]

Never age past 50.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[oldestguy]

In addition to the articles in Civil Engineering magazine (from ASCE), take a look at Engineering News Record (ENR). A good way to see what is going on out on the job. Current magazine shows the advantages of high strength steel rebars.

 

[chicopee]

The Philippines may have a lot of interesting jobs for CE's especially after what this country went thru.