Crossroads

[hangar3]

Ok so I find myself in a bit of a bind here, I was hoping to get some advice.

So I am in Calgary, and educated as a mechanical engineer. I was in oil & gas before things hit the fan. I have 3 years experience which basically means nobody will hire me as I am not a "professional engineer." I didn't like it anyways, so I took a course to get into aeronautical engineering. I finished the course part, and all I have is one internship opportunity abroad that would drive my finances into the ground due to low pay while living in an awful location, so I don't think it's worth it (France, where interns get paid $500/month...). Long story short, this has led me nowhere, and I still can't seem to find a job anywhere in the country.

I do have about 120 hours or so on my PPL. Sometimes I have this feeling in my gut to just drop everything and finish my CPL. Like even though I paid for my engineering course already, I feel like not completing it. Clearly the right thing to do would be to finish it and say I have it, but I just don't want to go do this internship because I was so turned off by the place. Meanwhile, I have friends who work as pilots, and they report they are overworked, and life seems good.

Any thoughts on this? Are there any engineers who have been in that position? Would the prospects be any better?
Is it an issue getting flying jobs with an engineering degree?

[telex]

Who are your friends flying for?

[milotron]

Calgary is pretty dead for engineering right now. Have you tried elsewhere in different aspects of the engineering industry? I am in electrical engineering, and very busy in BC. While your oil and gas skills do not transfer over directly, if you are sharp and motivated you should be able to find something related to building systems, shipyard-maritime, municipal infrastructure, etc. Not sure what you didn;t like about your current work, but life in a big company is not always good.

I looked at moving to aeronautical engineering halfway through school and the job prospects were not good at all ( early 2000's ) with all the big employers in the states and wouldn't consider a non US citizen.

I am wrapping up my CPL for personal aviation use ( I fly myself around for work ) and many days would love to have a job doing that full time. Then I read some of the stories here and will stick with the green grass I already have.

[fish4life]

Apply to Boeing in Winnipeg

[hangar3]

Telex, my friend is working with Jazz.

Thanks for your thoughts Milotron, I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side. I've been looking all over the country, but so far no bite, guess I'll keep applying and wait a bit longer. Basically it was the big company feel that I didn't like, the lack of exciting things happening, and the location (I was in a small town in the middle of nowhere, took me 6-7 hours to drive home).
That's cool that you're doing your CPL, that's basically what I would like to do when I get a job!

Thanks fish4life, I didn't see much last time I looked there, but I'll check them out again.