My 10 months in Canada

This is my first post here in this forum. After ten months, I think I should share my job experiences in Canada.


I am from Pakistan, an electrical engineer, masters in 'Information and Communication systems' from Germany. I worked for Siemens in Pakistan for a couple of months after my graduation and then worked in Germany in IT after masters for a couple of years, where I applied and got my PR for Canada.


I came to Edmonton-Canada in Sept. 2005, just after 3 weeks of my landing I got my first job in a Call centre of Dell Canada. It was more like a survival kind of job I worked there for a couple of months; in the meanwhile I was continuously looking for a better job.


I got an offer in a small engineering company, but I had to start from scratch with 36k per Annam. The company was assembling library automation products, mainly for the USA. I was working ...well there were no specific job duties, like in a small enterprise consisting of only 15 staff members.
I was mainly working in parts assembly, after assembling products we had to pack them and load in trucks (that’s the most difficult job, to carry almost 50 kg of assembled products with hands without overhead cranes). I had to shovel snow in front of our office building premises in the cold weather and had to collect garbage and dump it to garbage bin at the end of the day being the most junior person. I worked hard there and never hesitated doing any thing related to my job. I volunteered for HMI software development (in C++), and after sales support and installations of their products. They were very happy for my performance, as they don’t need to out source software development work and they could save money. I worked there for 6 months and naturally I was looking for a better job.


I got a phone interview in an automation company, they were doing the same kind of work but on a bit larger scale, they were providing automation solutions and services to process industry. After a couple of interviews they offered me the job with 60k. My manager gave my work reference for this new job, as he was happy with my performance, and I had a good terms with him. Although he was a bit disappointed that I was leaving them I told him I will give a notice period of a month before joining the new company, in the meanwhile I can train a new employee. My new employers were understanding, they agreed that I join them after a month.


Now I am working for this automation company since a couple of months, I really enjoy my work.


I don’t know if this is a success story but for sure this is a mile stone for me. My immediate target is to register myself as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) I am working for it.
When I left Germany I had a valid work contract there but I had a temporary residency status therefore I prefer to migrate to Canada.


Now I look back I never regret on my decision. I would say, no work is meager or mean, always think positive and last but not least hard-work, which will build the professional references here in Canada.