Engineering in Europe: Graduate Degree Requirement?

[canuckflyboy]

I recently graduated with a bachelors in mechanical engineering from Canada. Right now I'm working and am really wanting to take off to Europe at the first chance I get.

When looking at job openings in Europe I was surprised that the majority of positions available required master’s degree. Is a graduate degree a minimum requirement for practising engineering and getting a license in Europe?

 

[Fearless]

Ok, I will make this a very informative post. As much info as I could give at this present moment (without googling that much... google at your own discretion).

You come from a rich country with a western pragmatic view. (not saying that anything else is bad, but you will have a bit of a difficulty due to discrimination against non-whites and non-westerners). You will have probably no problem at all with the issuing of a work visa for the EU. Especially when you have much needed expertise. Although I wouldn't do "ski-bumming" that much.

The countries which have the greatest potential for a non-russianspeaking engineer (but english and may I be so dare as to say a bit of french?) would be almost any country west of Berlin. The working language of many european corporations are in fact english (surprise ) although on breaks they probably will be talking the native tongue. For a mechanical engineer I would probably go to the following countries; UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Benelux-countries, spain and scandinavia. Maybe a couple of central european countries to, but the pay isn't that good there (unless you're with a brand-name multinational).

Next off, put your CV and cover letter on monster. A number of corporations should be contacting you. Besides, I would save up a lot on money for the phone bill, because you will google a lot and actually talk to international recruiters situated in europe.

Plus, the majority of positions doesn't require a masters degree. Those are the only one that gets coverage across the atlantic I presume. There are a lot of positions that only require a bachelors. But those positions you probably need to be on-site to apply for.

 

[oedipa maas]

You come from a rich country with a western pragmatic view. (not saying that anything else is bad, but you will have a bit of a difficulty due to discrimination against non-whites and non-westerners).

Isn't Canada considered a "western" country?

As a Canadian you probably won't be discriminated against in Europe - at least you will not experience any more discrimination than a Dutch person in France would experience. People in Europe mostly think that Canada is a sort of low-fat America.

I know a Canadian guy with an engineering degree (from a Canadian university) who works for the European Space Agency in the Netherlands.

http://www.esa.int/hr/vn.htm

 

[Fearless]

Oedipaa maas: the allusions are all wrong I think. I certainly mean that Canada is a western -style country. Almost a model western one. But I also put a little info in parenthesis for the non-western people on this forum which lurks and also are avid readers/posters that scrounges for information on this subject.

 

[canuckflyboy]

Thank you for all the replies and I wouldn't worry at all about the cultural aspects of working in europe, but more over the academic requirements.

Looking at some oil positions in Scandinavia I was stunned to see that there were Jr. Engineering positions requiring a masters which I found odd when in Canada only about 10-15% of engineering undergrads continue towards a masters degree. This kind of worries me as I'm not sure if a masters would be required to obtain a license in Europe. I know foreigners in Canada have a very hard time getting their PEng in Canada especially if their degrees aren't recognized. (I think this maybe employment protectionism more then anything else, not that I agree with it)

 

[bill nye scienceguy!]

Hi. In Europe very few students actually do the BEng, most doing MEng in the form of a four or five year undergraduate course.