Oil Rig Jobs -Kirsten Petersen had a job waiting for her and a good career six months before she graduated. Almost all of her friends in her engineering class at Western University did."It's very promising," she says, looking at her professional prospects. "Engineering is a lifelong-learning kind of career."
Petersen graduated in 2011. Now she works as an engineer-in-training at a major oil rig jobs among the office towers of downtown Calgary. As an electrical engineer, she's in high demand.Petersen is keenly aware of the opportunities awaiting her as works to become an accredited professional engineer (Peng). "One thing I like is the flexibility in my career," she says. "Later in my life, it's going to free me up."
There is no shortage of choice: civil engineering, mechanical, chemical, electrical, environmental, computer, industrial, materials science, engineering science - and further sub-specializations.Jessica Parker is planning on working with aquifer storage and recovery technologies that can be used in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.
She took a civil engineering in international development degree at Western and is now taking her master's in environmental engineering."It's a way of providing - we hope - fresh drinking water," says Barker, who hopes to work for a non-government organization (NGO). "Right now in these coastal areas, there's no fresh drinking water sources."
It's just one example of how her civil engineering degree could be applied, of course. She could also design bridges and towers, water treatment plants or huge environ-mental projects.A gliding instructor for the past three summers, Alex Walsh is, naturally enough, specializing in aerospace during the third year of his mechanical engineering degree at McGill University.
The 22-year-old hosted a student aerospace forum this week where 300 engineering students from across Quebec and Eastern Ontario gathered to meet industry professionals to talk about their careers and types of projects they're working on."It's very important because once you graduate, going into the oil field jobs market is completely different than studying in school," he says."There's a lot of different jobs you can apply for, but it's a good idea to have some focus."
Celine Ko worked a summer job under the wing of her uncle at Telus and something in the work sparked her imagination. "I was inspired by the work that I saw in telecommunications and decided to change my stream."
She went into a blended computer/ electrical engineering program at the University of Toronto.Instead of going into the job market, though, Ko is applying to take her master's degree after she bumped into a professor from her first year. She is confident a job awaits her when she graduates.
"The engineering field is in such high demand," says Ko.
Part of the reason is that the skills are applicable to so many roles. Corporations, especially those involved in the oilpatch, are rapidly investing in young engineering talent to re-place retiring baby boomers.
Graduates often end up going into areas of business, management or consultancy."It's very popular for a lot of companies - to promote engineers into management," Petersen says from her office in downtown Calgary. "People like the discipline and the approach, the way of thinking that engineers have."
When choosing a pathway within engineering, Petersen suggests students actively network. Join the student membership of the provincial association that regulates the engineering profession in each province - the Association of Professional Engineers, Geophysicists and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGGA) - and interact with working engineers.
"You go through high school and you have no idea what you want to do with your life," says Petersen.
She decided to put her strengths to use in electrical engineering, a field in particularly high demand among software and hardware companies, utilities, manufacturers, mining firms, telecommunications, health and robotics.No matter which discipline you choose, you end up with a great Alberta Oil Careers.
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