Engineering is a complex field of work, and this work is done in a variety of environments.
Professional Engineers of Ontario Roadmap (see link below) reports: "There are about 74,000 professional engineers in Ontario and about 200,000 in Canada. Professional engineers use the abbreviation “P.Eng.” after their names. In Ontario, professional engineers specialize in a wide range of engineering activities, in areas including:
- agricultural/biosystems/bioresource/food engineering
- biochemical/biomedical engineering
- building engineering
- chemical engineering
- civil engineering
- computer engineering
- electrical engineering
- engineering physics
- environmental engineering
- forest engineering
- geological engineering
- geomatics engineering
- industrial engineering
- manufacturing engineering
- marine engineering
- mechanical engineering
- metallurgical engineering
- mining and mineral engineering
- naval architectural engineering
- nuclear engineering
- petroleum engineering
- software engineering
- structural engineering
- transportation engineering
- water resources engineering "
At The Working Centre, we work with many engineers, particularly Internationally Trained Engineers. Research and informational interviews are important in the Engineering sector. It can be important to understand the particular requirements of employers, and to understand the detailed requirements and environments where engineers apply their skills.
Following is some general information that may be helpful.
PEO
A professional engineer is one who has satisfied the requirements set by The Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) to earn a licence. This does not mean that you can’t work as an engineer without one. Often companies will hire engineers who haven’t yet been licensed so long as they can get a P.Eng. (Professional Engineer) to supervise the work.
In our experience it’s important for engineers to move quickly towards licensure with PEO as being a professional engineer will increase your desirability in the job market.
Occupational English
As an Internationally Trained Individual it is essential that you seek out ways to improve your occupational English. English is used in a wide variety of settings and it’s important that you study it as such – informal, formal, written, spoken, etc. As a professional, a prospective employer will need to be confident that you can effectively use English on the job. In a technical profession this means using technical jargon properly. Some words, terms and acronyms may even be regional, so it’s important to make a plan to improve your occupational English.
There are a number of programs across the province focusing on occupation specific language training. It’s also important to network within your field to get more of the occupation specific language, as well as learn from a mentor. Additionally, you should seek out occupational publications to not only keep up to date on developments in your profession but continuously improve your knowledge of occupational language.
