Getting discouraged :(

[Lindsey]

I need some encouragement guys. I have pretty much decided for sure that I will not be moving to Australia. I have learned that if any little thing goes wrong with Layla's bloodwork or if it's not done in sufficient time before leaving (sometimes more than 6 months prior!) she may need to be in quarantine for 90-120 days!!! It would cost me almost $800 just for 30 days.. no WAY could I afford 120 days!
So I've decided to go with my original plan that I had in college... move somewhere in the southern states for a year or two. So I checked out housing rentals, and found them still much much cheaper than here, and I got my hopes up, and then I started looking at job postings. NOTHING. The few jobs I found were paying about $12/hr and that's quite a blow when I'm making over $20/hr here Even though housing there is cheap, I couldn't afford it on that wage. Now I don't know what to do again. It seems like everytime I have my heart set on something, something else is holding me back. I'm so depressed about this!

[Marilyn]

Lindsey, Have you checked jobs in Houston?? The engineering firms there are huge, and they are needing good people. Jacobs Engineering, for one, is enormous. It's a huge city. Not sure what you are looking for. I'm doing better, income wise, than I ever imagined I would where I am, but until recently, I could have significantly increased my income by moving to Houston, but did not want to deal with the traffic and all the people of a big city. Lots of younger people love it there. There is so much to do. Virtally unlimited shopping and entertainment venues. The cost of living is not that bad in Houston. Not trying to push you there, but for someone with your skills, it may offer some of the best, if not the best, opportunities on the Gulf Coast.

Houston is about a 2-1/2 hour drive from Austin, which is another city that young people flock to. Austin is not as heavy in engineering jobs as Houston, though. Lots of people live in Houston and make weekend trips to Austin or Dallas. I've traveled this state pretty extensively, so if you have any questions about the Great State of Texas, just ask. Tirimisu can probably help also. She's in Houston & I think her hubby works for Exxon.

Hope you find your nich very soon!!!!

[Lindsey]

I did a search for all jobs in Texas and I got more results than Arizona, but the salary seemed low to me too... but then again most of the drafting jobs I found were looking for people who only needed a high school diploma! I can do so much more than JUST drafting but that's where my experience is. I just don't want to feel like I went to college for nothing!
Maybe I should just find some bigger engineering firms (the bigger they are, the most likely they'd be able to sponser someone from out of the country) and just send resumes even though there are no jobs posted.
I have been going to a Canadian expatriates forum and I've also been told that it's much easier to get a job if it's an international firm with offices in Canada as well. I know Golder Associates and Amec both have offices EVERYWHERE and they have both offered me jobs here, so those are some more options.
I actually have a friend from here who met a guy online, flew to Texas, and got married. She is now living in Houston with her husband and baby
How far is Houston from Canyon? A girl from my hometown that I graduated high school with is going to school there now too! I guess Texas is the place to be lol

[Tiramisu]

Lindsey, don't get discouraged. Houston would love to have you. Are you a Civil Engineer or a Designer? I work at ExxonMobil and my hubby is a Civil/Structural Engineer, working at FMC Technologies. Hubby and I both worked for Halliburton/KBR and have many good contacts there. I know my hubby is always looking for good Structural Engineers and Designers. Go online and check out KBR, FMC, and EM. Apply online and let me know so I can get your resume pulled. I do know that EM mostly recruits directly from college and probably already has filled their quotas for this year's openings.

[Lindsey]

My diploma is in Civil Engineering Technology... as a technologist I can do materials testing, drafting, and designing (but not final design... everything has to be checked by a professional engineer). Unfortunately since graduation I've been doing just basic drafting for a geotechnical consultant, without touching much design work at all. I did some materials testing for 8 months but I'd like to stay away from that if possible. I would love to be a sort of engineer's assistant or something, to help designing, but I'd also be happy just drafting because I feel comfortable with it. Oh yeah, and I've done a bit of structural design, but not at all since finishing college. My final project in college was the steel design of a 3 storey building I actually found structural design to be easy compared to landfills and roads and water treatment stuff!
Thank you so much for your help! I don't think I'd want to go until around or after Christmas, because I already have a trip booked for the end of November with a few friends from up here. I just want to see what the job market is like for now, and I guess I need to get a rough timeline for visa applications and stuff like that too. I will probably start actually applying for jobs in the fall Thanks again!

[Tiramisu]

Good luck in deciding what you want to do. Keep in mind that the three offerings I have are in the oil/gas business, designing mostly offshore oil drilling platforms.

[Ponyup]

Originally Posted by Tiramisu

Lindsey, don't get discouraged. Houston would love to have you. Are you a Civil Engineer or a Designer? I work at ExxonMobil and my hubby is a Civil/Structural Engineer, working at FMC Technologies. Hubby and I both worked for Halliburton/KBR and have many good contacts there. I know my hubby is always looking for good Structural Engineers and Designers. Go online and check out KBR, FMC, and EM. Apply online and let me know so I can get your resume pulled. I do know that EM mostly recruits directly from college and probably already has filled their quotas for this year's openings.

They don't have any openings for an Electrical Engineer do they? My hubby is a EE & looking for work. I would love to move to texas.

Lindsey, I know exactly how you feel. My hubby is working in a job that has nothing to do with this degree & he feels like all the money & time in school was wasted. Just keep yours eyes open, & i'm hoping something with turn up for you.

[Tiramisu]

Ask your hubby to look at KBR online. They had a job fair last month and seem to getting busy. They have jobsites all over the world.

He can apply to ExxonMobil as a contractor, but once again they are notorious for hiring straight out of college.

I'm not sure what FMC has for Electrical, but I'll try to remember to ask hubby tonight.

I also have friends in Louisiana, at MMR Group, that is an electrical company. They install wiring on the oil platforms KBR builds.

Come on down! Let me know.