Once we are caught up in the routine of our lives, even if we find that it doesn't sit well with us, we are almost shackled to the avoidance of the discomfort that arises from changing that routine. I can testify to that. Now that I am removed from my life of Engineering - even though it has only been a week - I feel released. I've chosen to feel like a whole new pleasant and fulfilling set of experiences lie ahead of me. The past is gone. I have chosen to take a break in order to re-establish myself.
Why was it so hard to leave?
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Engineering Is A Highly Vulnerable Profession
....or rather, Engineers will almost always find traditional engineering jobs in volatile or vulnerable industries.
How do I have the confidence to say this?
Because if you look at most of the industry collapses in the last 50 years, you'll notice a trend. Although people from all walks of life are affected when an industry takes a hit, the ones that take the 'hardest' hit are the ones that trained specifically for that industry. And Engineers do just that.
Aerospace engineering takes periodic hits all the time. Even wonder what happens to people in the industry? It's not exactly an up-and-coming field. People who have the experience and manage to hold on to their jobs during the downturns are lucky. Those that accumulate, say, 10 years of experience and then sadly lose their jobs... what do they do? Wait around till the industry returns? Fat chance of that happening in a predicable fashion.
Nuclear engineering. There are 'n' number of people working in this industry. It's a non-growth industry. After Fukushima, this field became extremely unpopular, and many people lost their jobs. Let's follow that thought to completion - many people - mostly engineers - lost their jobs permanently. So now, after 4-5 years of education and highly specific nuclear-engineering training and experience, these people are left without a job and without any foreseeable job prospects. What a sham. I sound disappointed because some part of me was convinced when my University implied that after I get my degree, I'll be employed in my field for as long as I was going to work. What an utter lie. These lies are especially true for highly specific areas of expertise. Nuclear engineering is not an easy program to get into, nor is it an easy program to complete.
Electrical Engineering: Let's take this broad field as an example. People that get a job in a utility company after graduating end up staying in the field of utility and power transmission all their lives - if they don't get laid off. Can they transition into another area, like say, Oil and Gas? The truth is NO they can't. If a person with 6 years of Utility and Power transmission experience applies to the Oil and Gas industry, they will be rejected due to lack of relevant experience. I tried to make a transition from the Municipal industry to the Power transmission industry. 3 interviews later, I gave up. Despite their 'need' for people and my extensive knowledge and experience in the relevant field of Industrial applications, they did not want me. And that was during a boom. There is no way, NO WAY people can make a transition from say Oil and Gas to say Municipal during an economic downturn. I used to listen to my boss' conversations when they screened applicants. Utterly stupid things like this were said, "Although we're working our staff to the bone and we have the budget to get a couple more guys on the team to meet these deadlines, all the applicants are from the Oil and Gas sector. I don't want to hire them and then have to lay them off in 2 years." What a joke. They overworked their employees and didn't hire enough personnel because they included "Overtime Exempt" clauses into the contract. That's it. The bottom line is sweeter with one less employee on payroll. And for the guys working themselves to death, there's the Employee Assistance Program with psychologists to help you 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. So fuck off.
Anyway, my message is this: There are many, many, many other industries that are far more stable and versatile than engineering for the amount of effort that goes into becoming and engineer and for the luck that is needed to stay active as a practicing engineer. The medical industry is always flourishing. HR, Accounting, Marketing and BD are ever-versatile: You can piggy-back on any industry and not only save your career, but flourish in it.
If you don't LOVE engineering, don't get into it. If you do get a job after graduating, you are most probably going to lose that job in 5-10 years. Then, if you want to keep working in the field, you will have to move or retrain yourself. Or if you are like me, you will never want to return to the field again because you will be so burnt by it.
How do I have the confidence to say this?
Because if you look at most of the industry collapses in the last 50 years, you'll notice a trend. Although people from all walks of life are affected when an industry takes a hit, the ones that take the 'hardest' hit are the ones that trained specifically for that industry. And Engineers do just that.
Aerospace engineering takes periodic hits all the time. Even wonder what happens to people in the industry? It's not exactly an up-and-coming field. People who have the experience and manage to hold on to their jobs during the downturns are lucky. Those that accumulate, say, 10 years of experience and then sadly lose their jobs... what do they do? Wait around till the industry returns? Fat chance of that happening in a predicable fashion.
Nuclear engineering. There are 'n' number of people working in this industry. It's a non-growth industry. After Fukushima, this field became extremely unpopular, and many people lost their jobs. Let's follow that thought to completion - many people - mostly engineers - lost their jobs permanently. So now, after 4-5 years of education and highly specific nuclear-engineering training and experience, these people are left without a job and without any foreseeable job prospects. What a sham. I sound disappointed because some part of me was convinced when my University implied that after I get my degree, I'll be employed in my field for as long as I was going to work. What an utter lie. These lies are especially true for highly specific areas of expertise. Nuclear engineering is not an easy program to get into, nor is it an easy program to complete.
Electrical Engineering: Let's take this broad field as an example. People that get a job in a utility company after graduating end up staying in the field of utility and power transmission all their lives - if they don't get laid off. Can they transition into another area, like say, Oil and Gas? The truth is NO they can't. If a person with 6 years of Utility and Power transmission experience applies to the Oil and Gas industry, they will be rejected due to lack of relevant experience. I tried to make a transition from the Municipal industry to the Power transmission industry. 3 interviews later, I gave up. Despite their 'need' for people and my extensive knowledge and experience in the relevant field of Industrial applications, they did not want me. And that was during a boom. There is no way, NO WAY people can make a transition from say Oil and Gas to say Municipal during an economic downturn. I used to listen to my boss' conversations when they screened applicants. Utterly stupid things like this were said, "Although we're working our staff to the bone and we have the budget to get a couple more guys on the team to meet these deadlines, all the applicants are from the Oil and Gas sector. I don't want to hire them and then have to lay them off in 2 years." What a joke. They overworked their employees and didn't hire enough personnel because they included "Overtime Exempt" clauses into the contract. That's it. The bottom line is sweeter with one less employee on payroll. And for the guys working themselves to death, there's the Employee Assistance Program with psychologists to help you 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. So fuck off.
Anyway, my message is this: There are many, many, many other industries that are far more stable and versatile than engineering for the amount of effort that goes into becoming and engineer and for the luck that is needed to stay active as a practicing engineer. The medical industry is always flourishing. HR, Accounting, Marketing and BD are ever-versatile: You can piggy-back on any industry and not only save your career, but flourish in it.
If you don't LOVE engineering, don't get into it. If you do get a job after graduating, you are most probably going to lose that job in 5-10 years. Then, if you want to keep working in the field, you will have to move or retrain yourself. Or if you are like me, you will never want to return to the field again because you will be so burnt by it.
Why It's A Big Mistake To Do Free (Unpaid) Overtime
A Purely Financial mistake because: The way the economies of this earth work, it makes perfect holistic sense (from one angle) that companies make workers work extra hard (and by that I mean over 40 hours a week) during economic highs. The trade-off is that it lays off workers during economic lows. The extra time the workers worked, helps accumulate the personal fat that is (expected) to be used during lean times. So if your company - or profession - wants you to work for free after you've completed your 40 hours a week, then they are setting you up for your personal financial ruin. To me there could be nothing more malicious than this. There is a very high chance - nearing the inevitable - that you will be laid off during lean times. By not paying you for your extra efforts fairly, the company is actually conspiring to put you and your family out on the street.
It is a Moral mistake, because you don't take anything for free from your company, yet your company expects to take your irreversible time and precious effort for zero compensation. Some of you are thinking, "It's the price I'm willing to pay to stay employed." Ok, no argument there. Just be aware of the trade-off you are engaging in. It is worthwhile to explore professions or jobs where you are compensated for your time with payment or time-off. I wasn't. I was being swindled by a mega-corporation. And I agreed to it by signing my name on that contract of servitude. Thank the stars it wasn't the equivalent of indentured servitude - which many unfortunate souls are subjected to when they sell their company. Several of my co-workers did not file expense claims in the order of thousands of dollars and I thought that was obtuse. Yet there I was, working 80 hours a week and getting paid for 40, effectively reducing my hourly salary to half. Stupid isn't a strong enough word or descriptive enough word for what I did.
A Personal mistake because - and I can only speak from my experience - I paid for that free time I gave to the company with more than lost income. I paid for it with my health and more important to me - my peace of mind. Overwork and exhaustion made me prone to anxiety and directly caused me to lose sleep and my appetite. I would wake up after 2 hours of sleep in cold sweat thinking of all the unachievable deadlines. Unachievable purely due to logistical reasons. If you throw one person at a three-person job, you won't be able to meet a deadline. Under-delivering is swindling the client. Far too many EPCMs engage in this far too often.
A Professional mistake because you will burn out like I did. If you enjoy your work, don't make this mistake because you'll pay for it with your career. I don't know if I can say I was fortunate that I didn't particularly love my line of work to begin with, so it didn't matter that I permanently burnt out. But if this were a field I was truly passionate about, I would be bitter at the company for taking away something from me that I enjoyed - my work, my means of livelihood.
EPC definition
"Engineering, procurement, and construction management" (EPCM) is a common form of contracting arrangement for very large projects within the infrastructure, mining, resources and energy industries. In an EPCM arrangement, the client selects a head contractor who manages the whole project on behalf of the client. The EPCM contractor coordinates all design, procurement and construction work and ensures that the whole project is completed as required and in time. The EPCM contractor may or may not undertake actual site work.
An EPCM contract is a natural progression for an EPC contractor as, if one is able to do an EPC of a project, then getting a bigger EPCM job is advantageous. It helps to tap the already present competencies while ensuring better control over the project. Also, the value of the project managed through an EPCM contract is far greater than the individual EPC contracts.
Normally, an EPCM contractor completes the basic work such as site surveys, getting clearances from authorities, doing the basic engineering and preparing the site for the subcontractors. Subcontractors are chosen by the EPCM company, but they have an agreement directly with the final customer.
EPCM stands for Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management. This type of contract is different to an EPC Contract in that the Contractor is not directly involved in the construction but is responsible for administering the Construction Contracts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering,_procurement,_and_construction_management
Engineering, procurement, and construction management
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An EPCM contract is a natural progression for an EPC contractor as, if one is able to do an EPC of a project, then getting a bigger EPCM job is advantageous. It helps to tap the already present competencies while ensuring better control over the project. Also, the value of the project managed through an EPCM contract is far greater than the individual EPC contracts.
Normally, an EPCM contractor completes the basic work such as site surveys, getting clearances from authorities, doing the basic engineering and preparing the site for the subcontractors. Subcontractors are chosen by the EPCM company, but they have an agreement directly with the final customer.
EPCM stands for Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management. This type of contract is different to an EPC Contract in that the Contractor is not directly involved in the construction but is responsible for administering the Construction Contracts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering,_procurement,_and_construction_management
Engineering, procurement, and construction management
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Economic Downturns I've Experienced and Witnessed
I got into Engineering school dewy-eyed about the promise of eternal employment and supernatural job satisfaction and fulfillment. That was in 1997.
I participated in the University's Cooperative Education Program that found me 4-months contract work after the completion of each 4-month study semester to get a taste of the employment market. I tasted the joy of making money and being a student who had minimal expenses, I was able to pay for my education and living expenses.
I had no trouble finding work between 1997 and the year 2000. But at the start of the year 2000, reality winked at me. The technological giant Nortel Networks burped. It had acquired too many companies too fast and stock prices started sliding. In 8 months, the share price fell from roughly $125 to $10. I was shocked and thought - like many, many others - that it was a temporary event, and that Nortel would inevitably recover. This giant castle that was built in the clouds couldn't possibly come crashing down. But it did. And many were devastated. My devastation was only emotional and psychological. For others it was financial and professional. My personal banker lost her life savings because she didn't follow her own advice: Greedily, she put all her retirement money in tech stocks. All of it.
Closer to the epicenter, my ex-boss at Nortel who had only worked at Nortel all his working life (for 20+ years) was laid off, along with almost all the employees of Nortel. I doubt he found another job in the same industry, if he did in fact decide to stay in the same city.
That calamity lasted for …. well, the hi-tech industry in Ottawa never recovered, actually. All that work migrated to India and China. All the classmates I graduated with, never had the chance to truly enter the industry because it collapsed before they could even get their first full-time job in it. Disastrous. And this disaster was completely Engineer-specific.
I moved Provinces to Oil & Gas country, but found work in the Municipal world which kept me safe from recessions. I still thought what had happened to me in Ottawa was a one-off, an exception rather than the rule. But I was wrong.
In 2004, round about the time my sibling graduated from his grueling engineering program at a prestigious university, the automotive industry in Ontario collapsed. Tens of thousands of people were without a job. For a second time, the hardest hit was taken by the engineers - because it was an engineer-centered industry. Suddenly I suspected there may be a pattern. People with automotive-specific skills were left utterly stranded. I didn't worry so much about the young and middle-aged people that had a chance to retrain themselves. What about the people nearing retirement, which included a huge baby-boomer population? They couldn't retrain, and they couldn't afford to retire. So what did they do? Move? Work at Walmart?
In 2008 the whole world sort-of collapsed. The souffle built by the lies of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve collapsed. Alberta went through a brief spell of mass unemployment and obscurity. Tens of thousands of people were laid off with no foreseeable hope in sight. But things did pick up eventually. All industries suffered: Housing, Financial and Engineering. Engineering was not immune.
And here we are in 2014, 2015. Oil prices have stayed steadily low for 2 years now. And there is no hope of any recovery in the oil and gas sector in Alberta. Russia predicts this spat of bad oil prices will last at least 7 years. So what do oil and gas industry people do? Retrain? Work at Starbucks for 7 years? Again, the downturn is Engineer-specific. Admin staff can work anywhere. HR can work anywhere. Marketing people can work anywhere. But Engineers are fucked. Proper fucked.
Still want to do engineering?
I participated in the University's Cooperative Education Program that found me 4-months contract work after the completion of each 4-month study semester to get a taste of the employment market. I tasted the joy of making money and being a student who had minimal expenses, I was able to pay for my education and living expenses.
I had no trouble finding work between 1997 and the year 2000. But at the start of the year 2000, reality winked at me. The technological giant Nortel Networks burped. It had acquired too many companies too fast and stock prices started sliding. In 8 months, the share price fell from roughly $125 to $10. I was shocked and thought - like many, many others - that it was a temporary event, and that Nortel would inevitably recover. This giant castle that was built in the clouds couldn't possibly come crashing down. But it did. And many were devastated. My devastation was only emotional and psychological. For others it was financial and professional. My personal banker lost her life savings because she didn't follow her own advice: Greedily, she put all her retirement money in tech stocks. All of it.
Closer to the epicenter, my ex-boss at Nortel who had only worked at Nortel all his working life (for 20+ years) was laid off, along with almost all the employees of Nortel. I doubt he found another job in the same industry, if he did in fact decide to stay in the same city.
That calamity lasted for …. well, the hi-tech industry in Ottawa never recovered, actually. All that work migrated to India and China. All the classmates I graduated with, never had the chance to truly enter the industry because it collapsed before they could even get their first full-time job in it. Disastrous. And this disaster was completely Engineer-specific.
I moved Provinces to Oil & Gas country, but found work in the Municipal world which kept me safe from recessions. I still thought what had happened to me in Ottawa was a one-off, an exception rather than the rule. But I was wrong.
In 2004, round about the time my sibling graduated from his grueling engineering program at a prestigious university, the automotive industry in Ontario collapsed. Tens of thousands of people were without a job. For a second time, the hardest hit was taken by the engineers - because it was an engineer-centered industry. Suddenly I suspected there may be a pattern. People with automotive-specific skills were left utterly stranded. I didn't worry so much about the young and middle-aged people that had a chance to retrain themselves. What about the people nearing retirement, which included a huge baby-boomer population? They couldn't retrain, and they couldn't afford to retire. So what did they do? Move? Work at Walmart?
In 2008 the whole world sort-of collapsed. The souffle built by the lies of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve collapsed. Alberta went through a brief spell of mass unemployment and obscurity. Tens of thousands of people were laid off with no foreseeable hope in sight. But things did pick up eventually. All industries suffered: Housing, Financial and Engineering. Engineering was not immune.
And here we are in 2014, 2015. Oil prices have stayed steadily low for 2 years now. And there is no hope of any recovery in the oil and gas sector in Alberta. Russia predicts this spat of bad oil prices will last at least 7 years. So what do oil and gas industry people do? Retrain? Work at Starbucks for 7 years? Again, the downturn is Engineer-specific. Admin staff can work anywhere. HR can work anywhere. Marketing people can work anywhere. But Engineers are fucked. Proper fucked.
Still want to do engineering?
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