Job market for engineers in/around Austin? (Houston, Freeport: loans, how much)

[Latsabb]

I am considering a move back to Austin after I moved away in 2009, but I am curious what the job market is like, specifically for engineers. The job market was amazing in 2009, but it seems now that everything I am seeing in Austin as far as engineering goes is for mid-level to senior level stuff. Has the oil price flooded Austin with too many entry level engineers?

[Trainwreck20]

What kind of engineers?

[Latsabb]

Chemical engineering, with a focus in process technology.

[Trainwreck20]

Semiconductor is the only 'established' route that I can think of off-hand for process. Freescale has recently been bought by NXP, so there has been some restructuring and a few layoffs, but they are still hiring, as well. Samsung and Cypress are options, as well. The design places probably don't hire many ChemEs, but possibly a few?

Are you looking into career changes? ChemE is very marketable in environmental, as well, but hard to make equal pay, especially if you currently have no experience.

[Latsabb]

I had a job with Schlumberger lined up, and was going to Houston for it, but things fell through, so I have yet to get anything related. Just trying to see if Austin would be a better place than Houston. The energy sector isnt doing well, and the humidity is killing me, lol.

[Trainwreck20]

Well, there are a ton of chemical plants down there. I am a ChemE (BS '91) and worked for Dow Chemical for a while in Freeport (speaking of humidity), but the coast is just covered in ChemE jobs down there. Not sure on what the turnover is, though. Also, how much are you needing to earn. Austin pays lower (generally speaking) for the same job as you would find in Houston, but not catastrophically so. Are you a PE? Consulting is always a possibility. If you can leave on mere peanuts compared to the private sector, you could look at the city/state jobs. Some of them actually have decent salaries if you hang in there and move up. And pensions .

[Latsabb]

I have been in Norway since 2009, and moved to Houston after graduating in early June, as was the plan from when I had a job offer. I had assumed that it would play out a bit better, to be honest. But, I have no loans or anything like that, just the wife and two kids. As I have been abroad, and only recently graduated, I dont have a PE, no.

I had hoped for decent wages in the private sector, but lowered my expectations after about the third week of job hunting in Houston, and realizing that a similar offer to what I had originally gotten was unlikely. But I was just trying to get a general feeling of what the job market was like there, as the searching on LinkedIn, Indeed and Monster have not turned up much in the way of entry level stuff being offered, so I sort of prodding at a couple locations trying to see where I might want to focus. Since I used to live in Austin, and liked it there, I thought I might check.

[Trainwreck20]

I have not 'job searched' since....91? I dread the though of having to do that and empathize .

ChemE, though, is probably one of the more versatile engineering degrees. You should be able to find an entry level environmental job (no experience) at a consulting firm for $60k or so. Within five years or so, if you are good at it, you should be making $90k-$100k via promotions/raises or returning to the job search with the experience under your belt. From there, you can try to make a career of it in consulting or jump to the industry jobs for a big raise but a bit more job insecurity.

My own personal overview (YMMV) of environmental jobs:

State - Lowest pay/highest security/low stress
Industry - Highest pay/lowest security/highest stress
Consulting - middle pay/middle security/high stress

Consulting is the most portable of the jobs; state, the least. A state job is an excellent launch pad for moving into industry or consulting, but the pay for somewhere like the TCEQ is still probably starting around $40k (I have not looked in years, but it is very low).

[Latsabb]

Ok, thank you very much. Last I was in Austin, I was working for 11 dollars an hour at Time Warner Cable, so even 40k a year is livable for a while. Better to get the foot in the door, and have some sort of relevant experience for something else later. I will try cold calling, or just show up later this week and do some drop ins, since no one seems to be advertising. I was just afraid that it was more like down here in Houston, where the energy sector engineers are filling all the other jobs. Or at least that is how it feels.

[Trainwreck20]

Well, most state jobs will have multiple applicants, so getting them is not necessarily easy. You have a slight advantage in many of the technical jobs by having an engineering degree. The TCEQ job postings currently:
https://www.tceq.texas.gov/adminserv...html/jobs.html

On that current list (it will change frequently, though), the Enforcement Coordinator II position ($37k/yr) or Environmental Investigator II (Central Texas, $37k/yr) would fit your experience/education. The investigator job requires quite a bit of travel, most likely, but it would be day trips for the most part, not overnight. It would also put you in a myriad of different types of facilities that are great for exposure to what is out there as well as the beginning of a network in central Texas.

You will notice that the pay goes up significantly (and the jobs option increase greatly) with a PE, which you can pursue while you are at the state. If you are dedicated (not just working for a living at the minimal level), you can work your way into a $50k-70k position in 5 or 6 years, possibly. Several friends of mine that stayed when I left (in 2000) are now making ~$100k and started there at $30k/yr circa 1993.