engineering jobs

[JasonAnc]

The good news is that doing what sounded like a CE internship, not so much an ME internship, sets you up very well to get into water industry jobs if you decide to go that route in the short term while the oil industry figures itself out.

[varun2123]

Originally Posted by JasonAnc

The good news is that doing what sounded like a CE internship, not so much an ME internship, sets you up very well to get into water industry jobs if you decide to go that route in the short term while the oil industry figures itself out.

It was very much so a CE internship. How are the salaries for water industry jobs from your experience?

[riceme]

Well I hate to break it to you but even though you were serving as a CE intern, it seems that you were kept on-task because no matter what kind of an engineer you are, you will ALWAYS have that same sort of paperwork to fill out or keep. It will differ slightly everywhere you go but recordkeeping is key, particularly if you do work in private industry on government contracts. It might seem like busywork, but it will follow you your entire career.

I would look for internships at the local businesses and contractors from Alyeska to BP to CH2M, Kinross, Sumitomo (Pogo), Usibelli... pick up some business journals at school and thumb through them and brainstorm about what ways each business needs MEs as you thumb through it.

Alyeska Pipeline - Employment - Internships/Development Opportunities

http://www.akaerospace.com/docs/2015...%20Details.pdf

^just a couple I found when I googled internships for this summer.

Ack. Phone call. More later.

[JasonAnc]

And AECOM. They're in AK too.

Water engineering jobs can be right up there with O&G from what I've heard from actual engineers, but perhaps without as much opportunity for doing like slope jobs where the pay rate is very high. I don't think there's a lot of opportunity for large scale stuff in AK though. From what I hear, most of the water infrastructure investments are going through the native land corps, working in conjunction with the feds doling out grants to get clean running water and sewer systems into the Native villages, and remote areas.

Think of the scale of the projects in the water industry though... A project I worked on earlier this year here in FL is a $668 million waste to energy conversion power plant (lots of water and steam piping, valving and control systems, complex calcs accounting for fluid dynamics, water hammer and all of that stuff beyond me). I guarantee the engineering bill is tens of millions. You do the math.

Reservoirs are typically tens or hundreds of millions to build. (worked on the repair of a 5 billion gallon reservoir. Repair bill is almost $140 million. There are miles of bubbler tubing (to oxygenate the stagnant water) and stuff like that to engineer... New water and sewer plants are the same range. Plant upgrades can be several million to tens of millions... Transmission lines, pump stations, lift stations and wells, 6-7 figures per project, but those kinds of projects are nearly constant.

And anywhere there is such monetary responsibility, there is generally corresponding pay.

Natl average for MEs in water industry is $72k+ according to this link.
http://www.workforwater.org/resource...nt.aspx?id=228

[varun2123]

Originally Posted by riceme

Well I hate to break it to you but even though you were serving as a CE intern, it seems that you were kept on-task because no matter what kind of an engineer you are, you will ALWAYS have that same sort of paperwork to fill out or keep. It will differ slightly everywhere you go but recordkeeping is key, particularly if you do work in private industry on government contracts. It might seem like busywork, but it will follow you your entire career.

I would look for internships at the local businesses and contractors from Alyeska to BP to CH2M, Kinross, Sumitomo (Pogo), Usibelli... pick up some business journals at school and thumb through them and brainstorm about what ways each business needs MEs as you thumb through it.

Alyeska Pipeline - Employment - Internships/Development Opportunities

http://www.akaerospace.com/docs/2015...%20Details.pdf

^just a couple I found when I googled internships for this summer.

Ack. Phone call. More later.

BP i know didn't hire any interns from UAA the past two years. They might have openings this coming summer possibly. The paperwork isn't bad its just the nature of job like you're saying.

I can definitely search through the schools business journals that is great advice, I appreciate that.

[siobhandem]

Try the federal agencies, such as Bureau of Ocean Energy Management or Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. They are the federal government agencies overseeing offshore drilling. Their Anchorage office is only 80% filled. They hire engineers, geologists, chemists, biologists, and other scientists. Their positions are available at USAJOBS (dot) gov.

The pay is less than working for a private company, but the position is much more stable.

[varun2123]

Originally Posted by siobhandem

Try the federal agencies, such as Bureau of Ocean Energy Management or Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. They are the federal government agencies overseeing offshore drilling. Their Anchorage office is only 80% filled. They hire engineers, geologists, chemists, biologists, and other scientists. Their positions are available at USAJOBS (dot) gov.

The pay is less than working for a private company, but the position is much more stable.

Thats true once you get hired with the state its hard to get let go plus the benefits are awesome. Even with the stable economy that Alaska has are private company entry level jobs hard to find in the engineering field?

I would prefer working for a private company but not quite sure what is the best way to go about it other than using my schools resources.

[varun2123]

The position that i'm in currently is this :

-Senior in ME degree at UAA with one more summer left to get an internship before I graduate
-Successfully interned for the DOT/PF last summer
-GPA is 2.4-2.5 after this semester.

With this position I'm in can anybody give me some guidance on how to go about applying for private companies? My worry is they won't even look at me since my GPA is not 3.0 but I do have experience already which makes up for the GPA to some extent.