Dear Friends,
I am newly landed immigrant and looking for job. My experience is related to building construction, design and execution. Please suggest me few contracting / consulting firms in GTA whom i can approach for job.
Besides i also want to improve my software skills, Auto CAD and Revit. Please tell me the appropriate college / uni for this purpose. Humber College is starting a program in September but that is too costly for me, i am looking for some kind of govt funded program. Also please suggest that a person with my experience should get which certificates or attend which programs that can make my integration into canadian job market much easier. I am already attending a bridging program conducted by Acces which unfortunately is quite generic and not specific to my field, though it is called an engineering connection program but it more oriented towards job search and interview preparation. Thanks
Quote:
Originally posted by Hasni
Dear Friends,
Besides i also want to improve my software skills, Auto CAD and Revit. Please tell me the appropriate college / uni for this purpose. Humber College is starting a program in September but that is too costly for me, i am looking for some kind of govt funded program. Also please suggest that a person with my experience should get which certificates or attend which programs that can make my integration into canadian job market much easier. I am already attending a bridging program conducted by Acces which unfortunately is quite generic and not specific to my field, though it is called an engineering connection program but it more oriented towards job search and interview preparation. Thanks
They will laugh at you here, but I will not do that to you, when you say that you are a Mechanical Engineer who wants to build Homes here in Canada.
First take up CMHC Course, which I did, not for work, but just to build my own house. I found that these local builders are not Engineers.!! they are just copy cat builders. They will take some body's Plan and copy it and call it their own. So, you will have to just do the same.
Get into Reid Sweet, and other building catalogues and explore. Also use some generic CAD and practice.
You are still wet behind the ears. So, for your first lesson, sit down and see how the place that you live in was built and find a reverse engineering solution for it. Then write your own report and submit to a Building Engineer. See if he can correct it for you.
Also, if you have spare time, form a nice group and take it upon you as a project and see if you can get a FREE house for yourself as a fee when you build about TEN or TWeNTY Houses for them at a cost of 1/3 the price of the GOING RATE. ( I can ) and not too close to civilization. About 40 klicks from town, where the land is dirt cheap.
Good Luck.
FH.
Humber program is good way to start at least you get some connections and possible networking with prospective employers may land you in your first job.It was free 3 years before when I joined there, but I dropped the program in the first week of my joining as I got a job.,But I know few ppl who took the courses there got jobs by the end their course.
Although Humber says the success rate is 80% which is very good.
check with them if you can get OSAP for this course.Then you don't have to worry about it.
You can slowly pay it off once you land in job.
btw I am a mechanical engineer with diffrent background.
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 02-06-15 01:52:42
Hasni,
Welcome to Canada.
As a person involved in the building industry in Canada and other places (incl. India), I donot understand the nature of your job.
Were you like a project coordinator, who with all the drawings and specifications, instructed trades to get buildings built? (like jake of all trades). I am guessing your role was like that. This is the profile of the job that I am doing now.
With respect to the above, the chances of working in Canada are low. COndo's is one place where you can find some job but it is so difficult to find jobs as they need Canadian experience.
Or are you proficient in MEP service (you being a mechanical engineer). if so, you can try some MEP contracting companies. Here, your gulf experience can help you, as the formula's are the same, anywhere in the world.
I used to draft in Autocad when I was in Canada. Only house designers will employ you and pay you only $ 12 an hour as you have no cdn. experience. There is no Autocad / Rivet learning centres (atleast till 2011) and so the college is your best bet.
My sugesstion is to follow HW 36's proposal $ 20 is a very good sum of money (even $ 16-$18) and more career growth will be there.
Murali
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
Dear FH, Thanks but i am bit ahead of houses, have done commercial, residential and institutional projects. I am an MEP guy. I do mechanical services (HVAC, Plumbing and fire fighting works) for various building projects.
Dear sathish, Thanks for guiding. They do have bursaries but you cant get it for sure. Problem is that you have to pay the full fee, and at that time you apply for bursary also. Now if you fail to get bursary, the fee you deposited cant be refunded or you cant withdraw, in a way you are stuck.Otherwise i would love to go for this course.
Dear happyw, thanks for your suggestion, but i am not in a position to spend this much for learning. If at all i have to spend some, i would like to invest in the area which will help me ensure getting my job in my main profession. I dont mind learning any trade certificates but am not in a position to go for any extra spendings now.
Dear TK, Thanks. You are right, as i said i am an MEP guy with good exposure to mechanical services design and installation. If i manage to be little proficient in AutoCAD,or learn Revit, i can be a good fit for many contracting / consulting companies here. We are being taught to go for cold calling and approach companys executives through phone, is it a good way to explore the opportunities !
Tell me if someone can help me teach AutoCAD / Revit, i am ready to pay some money for that.
You seem to know a lot. I take my hats off to you. Also your experience will reward you only if you can find a suitable opening.
I can safely say that you do not have a qualification that is equivalent or recognized here in Canada by any institution. If you do have one, you will have to come out clean and tell us what it is. If not, pull up your socks and get back into the schools. OR alternately, take a ONE Month course and cough up the $1000 that they will ask you and get going very smartly and accept the $20/hr job after you get qualified. Till such time study smartly and gain a piece of paper that will feed you from day to day. After that at a later date, when you find that you have a few bucks to spare to learn your Revit, or CAD 3D courses, then take it upon yourself and get into your MEP line of work at a later date.
Now be truthful and tell us if got your qualifications recognized here in Canada after landing. If so, what are they equivalent to. If not what are the courses that you will have to do to get back in line. Do remember that you do not have any Canadian Experience or any experience that they will give you credit here in Canada. If not then, you are back to Square ZERO. You will have to start all over again.
All of this is because there are KIDS here who have graduated with a very little bit of experience, who can do better than you can here in Canada who are also looking for a similar opening to get into the industry and I feel you cannot compete with them. And there are no demerit points attached to you as a new immigrant, it is because the locals have a slight advantage over you, because you are still looking to do Revit and Auto Cad 3D or better.
Others are way ahead in this game. So, wake up and smell coffee. You are at the cross roads and there is no one to guide you vocationally. The BALL is in your court. Play it wisely NOW.
You have lost very valuable time thus far, because there is a mental block.
These are valid observations. So, listen to a few who are on your side, trying to help you.
FH.
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 02-06-15 13:54:29
HAsni,
FH is write. Follow his advice.
Let me objectively tell you my advice. I assume that I have your qualifications and experience.
First as an MEP engineer, I have two options. Mechanical standards (HVAC)are almost the same world over.
So first option is to identify HVAC companies or consultants who design HVAC systems. See if they can hire you as an estimator or Designer. Cold calling is good but you may get .5% Sucess. They will ask you to send in your resume and then file it and not call you. Networking is the best.
Second option is approaching construction companies. Ask them that you will coordinate the erection at site.
For both these, see if there is any HVAC tecnician course that you will have to do to get a HVAC Technician certificate.
The two options that I said are good and decent paying ($ 20-$ 25 an hour to start with) provided you get the job which has a 0.01 % chance.
Otherwise, cough up $ 1000 and follow HW36's advise. I know one Mechanical Submarine engineer from the Indian army do that course in 2002 and he has not looked back since. He started with $ 20 an hour and now is getting may be $ 60 an hour.
All the best.
Murali
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
