u/Stoipex

Hi, i am a 23 year old graduate with a masters degree in mechanical and sustainability engineering. I love wind turbines and wind energy. Just to be specific what I am interested in is hands on work, travelling to sight, going into and on top of turbines to perform inspections and maintenance, I have been working an office job for a few months since I've graduated and this dormant office work life style is not suitable for me.

I am based in Ireland and I have been applying to various roles related to the wind turbine industry however it seems to me that if i wanted to be a technician I should not have got a masters degree... It doesn't look like my masters is actually very useful for this. In hindsight I should have just don't some sort of apprenticeship which would give me the necessary experience and qualifications.

I am wondering if anyone has any tips of advice for breaking into the technician industry.

I'm curious if couples do this or am I being really irrational. My gf is Turkish, it is extremely difficult for her to even get a tourist visa to visit me in Ireland or anywhere in Europe for that matter. it is borderline impossible for her to get a work/working visa and actually come to Europe and start building a life. The easiest entry point for her is Germany due to her being a physio and Germany having a pretty robust system for accepting skilled Turkish migrants, the main hurdle here is the language barrier.

My gf hates Turkey and she wants to get out. Her plan has always been the Germany pathway and she has made serious progress in that direction, she managed to secure a volunteering position in a German school for special needs kids. She is supposed to start in September and work there for a year, during this time she could develop her German to B2 level and then hope to secure some form of intern or entry level physio position in Germany. During this time i guess I am just living in ireland, working and saving. I guess our hope is that when she's in Germany it will be easier for us to see each other more often. However this all together is maybe a 2 - 3 year long process where she invests a lot of resources into being setup in Germany and we are still continuing long distance.

Now with all this being said, all our problems would be resolved if I simply married her. She could come to Ireland and have full mobility and working rights within a few months, she already speaks good English and instead of learning a new language (German) she could invest her energy into perfecting her English, she could start working here as a physio quicker and start making good money and most of all we would be together, we could find a place to rent and we could actually start developing our relationship and building for our future NOW rather than wasting years of time and following paths that don't necessarily lead in the same direction.

The reason why I am hesitant is because we have only known each other for a year and met in person 2 times. Looking at the fact that we have only spent maybe 10 days together in person makes marriage sound a little crazy. However in my defence I love this girl and she loves me, I feel like I can truly be myself around her and I know she loves me for me. She is everything I would want in my ideal wife. But also if we got married it would drastically change my life. Currently I rent a room alone and make decent money and have a very large level of freedom. If i brought my gf over to my country and she is now my wife i think this would be a huge huge shift for me, i would now essentially be responsible for two people and I would be the only person she has here. Now this doesnt really scare me so much because I love her and want to care and provide for her but it is definitely something that needs considering.

I really dont know what to do, long distance sucks and if we go with plan A, she goes to germany bla bla it feels like we are just spending an extra 2 or 3 years apart in order for me to end up moving to germany or her coming to ireland eventually once she maybe has a few years work experience in europe. Or alternatively we could get married now, only formally. I wouldnt even want to have a full blown wedding with friends and family i feel like im not ready for that but just administratively we could get married and start working on being together NOW, I dont want to spend my 20's without the love of my life and then regret it when we eventually get married anyway.

Is it ridiculous to consider marriage ? have other long distance couples found themselves in a similar situation ?