Situation check, advice needed (Canada)
Hi all, I’m 3.5 YOE in Canadian east coast. At a multi-national consultant doing transportation. At work I’m involved a mix of municipal and P3 projects. I’ve come to be seen as dependable so there is steady work going for me. I’m compensated between 70-80k CAD annually. Currently I’m rather confused about which direction to head towards in the future.
My background is that I landed in Canada around 2 years ago but back home I was a graduate doing structures. I am much more interested in structures and heavy civil than I am transport but I have no luck getting interviews for structural roles. I’m thinking that it’s my lack of Canadian education and lack of local structural experience. On top of many junior roles being non-existent given the trend of outsourcing to India. I’m getting calls however from recruiters for transportation roles.
In my experience, I see that the industry here is more geared towards roads and transit infrastructure. At least my boss thinks so, they also suggest me to get into the energy sector given future government spending is heading towards expanding Canada’s energy infrastructure. On top of that they constantly advocate against structures given the higher complexity and responsibility borne by the EOR despite similar pay (according to them). So that has me second guessing my desire to go back into structures sometimes.
Yet while I am studying for my P.Eng technical exams (I need to do them since I am not a Canadian grad) and revisiting structural concepts, I truly find that my interest lies in heavy civil / structures. Statics and dynamics and designing structures is why I studied this degree and what I was trained to do in my graduate role. I am currently working towards P.Eng and I’m hoping that would land me more structural interviews, despite the lack of Canadian experience thereof. If it doesn’t get any better after P.Eng, I’m considering doing an M.Eng in structures or something related to energy infrastructure or perhaps something that overlaps(?) to take advantage of the future fiscal spending policy.
Writing to seek opinions from others in the industry about my situation. Is my current compensation fair? Worth it to do a masters to get back into structures? Would you agree/disagree with my commentary of the Canadian industry? Any other paths to land a structure role without committing a year of full time study to get that credential? Fully pivot into energy? (I don’t even know what that looks like) Or continue sticking it out in transport?
Any and all thoughts, discussion and suggestions welcome.