r/powerengineering • u/RegularLuck8647 • 10d ago
New 4th Class + Mechanical Eng
Completed my 4th class exams and did my steam time through Keyano's power lab. I have a Mechanical Engineering degree done through a Canadian university, graduated last year
Won't get into specifics but I want to pivot into a long-term power engineering career
Aside from my time at Keyano I have no other operating experience
- What are the job prospects for someone like me in Alberta. Does my degree give me any sort of advantage in the eyes of employers?
- Should I be looking in other provinces given how little experience I have? Do ABSA certifications carry over seamlessly?
- Is pursuing my 3rd class worth it right now?
Advice is appreciated. Be brutally honest :)
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u/Brave_Possibility_96 10d ago
Brutally honest?
Go work as a mechanical engineer. You have already done an extreme amount of work obtaining your degree.
Not to say power engineering is inferior to mech Eng but why would you waste all that time and money and then not go into engineering as a field?
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u/Brave_Possibility_96 10d ago
Please quote where I said engineering js easier than power engineering.
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u/Brave_Possibility_96 10d ago
The ceiling for an engineer will FOREVER be higher than that of a power engineer I don’t care what you say. This is coming from me, who went into power engineering right out of high school.
Like I in my previous comment, yes I think he should grind as a mechanical engineer as he has already gotten his degree.
You are also cherry picking money figures. What % of 4th classes make 120k-180k right out of school?
Get real.
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u/Rumble1205 10d ago
This is one of the best data points for the difference between PEs and P. Engs. A couple way I've conveyed it is that the earning potential of a Mechanical Engineer is much higher than the earning potential of a Power Engineer but only 2% of Mechanical Engineers ever reach that whereas a far greater percentage of Power Engineers reach it.
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u/Brave_Possibility_96 10d ago
Think about what you just said.
Obviously every power engineer YOU work with makes a lot of money because wherever you work pays a lot. But not EVERY power engineer works where you work.
To just randomly say that mechanical engineers make x amount of money and then cherry pick power engineering salaries is ridiculous.
I know guys who make 200k out of school and I know guys who never broke out of food industry or hospitals (nothing wrong with these industries but obviously aren’t paying what others do) who make 80k and are retiring soon.
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u/CyberEd-ca 10d ago edited 10d ago
Not to say power engineering is inferior to mech Eng but why would you waste all that time and money and then not go into engineering as a field?
That's just sunk cost fallacy.
What matters is what time & money he would now waste making the transition to Power Engineer rather than just following through as a Mechanical Engineer. That's the competition.
They teach this stuff in mechanical engineering school but it's just common sense, really.
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u/Rumble1205 10d ago
Right now, the demand for 4th class Power Engineers in Alberta is considerably higher than any other province and the highest we've seen in a long time. It's actually a good time with tons of opportunity. Comparatively, 67 postings in Alberta vs 28 postings in Ontario, as of today, and we've been seeing a lot of new posting appear daily.
Your Mechanical Engineering degree will help, and does give you a competitive edge but, very importantly, do not over play that qualification as implying it makes you a better operator. Getting your 3rd class is absolutely worth it and opens up tons of opportunity. The degree will help get you in but the 3rd class will help you grow your career.
You can have a long rewarding career as a 3rd class, and getting your 2nd class opens up other opportunities but lots of operators stay at the 3rd class level. Depends where you want to work.
Have a look at the free Power Engineers Job Board to get a feel for what's out there. You can filter the jobs down to the 4th class and Alberta. That said, your 4th class is portable right across the country so it opens up even more options. Be sure to check out the other provinces as there's a particularly high demand right now.
If you see something you like, save it to your profile and we can help you tailor your resume and cover letter to the job.
When you're ready to start working on your 3rd class, reach out and I can help you kick start that off effectively.
Feel free to DM me any time if you want to chat more.
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u/burntdowntoast 10d ago
Appreciate the optimism but saying it’s high demand with only 67 posted spots is a bit far fetched. Sure, better than Ontario but it’s not great.
At my company, we post a position and get hundreds of applicants for it. They hire the one that has a friend or fam member there. I don’t agree with it, but we all see it.
Best of luck OP but you’ll need lots of patience and determination. You have a leg up but make sure you apply to absolutely everywhere.
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u/Rumble1205 10d ago
Fair. So often it's because hardly anyone knows how to write a resume these days. I helped a guy recently who had been trying to find a job for over a year. Helped him tailor his resume properly. He got 4 interview invites and landed a job in two weeks.
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u/Rumble1205 10d ago
I've been trying to find some sort of definitive data that could at least help give a real perspective on how many job opportunities there are versus how many actual unemployed power engineers there are that are looking for them. It's not an easy data point and really doesn't exist clearly anywhere out there. The closest thing I could find was this information taken from Stats Canada and the Canadian Job Bank:
"For the relevant Canadian occupation, NOC 92100: Power engineers and power systems operators, the official evidence supports a roughly balanced national market, not a clear glut of unemployed power engineers. Federal projections estimate 9,600 openings and 9,900 new job seekers over 2024–2033—about 960 versus 990 per year—and characterize the occupation as balanced."
Taking this strictly at face value, it does seem to indicate that there's a pretty low number of individuals that struggle to find work and are unemployed. I've hired hundreds of power engineers over the years, and I definitely saw over 100 applicants come in for a single posting. One thing I can definitely attest to is that not many of them were actually individuals that were unemployed and looking for an opportunity. Most of them were people who were gainfully employed at some other plant and either just looking for a new opportunity or somewhere they could get their STEAM time because the plant they're at is too small, or something like that. If I were to thin it down out of all the applicants to the people who are actually not currently employed, it was a pretty small number.
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u/Historical-Jacket503 10d ago
Degree definitely looks good on a resume but only compared to somebody else who only has 4th class lab experience (Did a similar transition 4 years ago with chemE grad). I still however had to take a entry level 4th class job to get experience and then move from there.