Field Engineering 1

[knight185]

Over the past couple of years I have gotten several calls/emails from recruiters asking about field engineering jobs for steam turbines, combustion turbines, generators. Is there a huge demand right now for field engineers in this field? It seems so. Despite the seemingly high demand, some field engineers in this industry have told me to stay away if I can help it. They said some of the USA assignments are okay but overseas assignments can be bad…many months away from home, certain areas require that you be under armed guard protection, no more tax advantages to working overseas, etc. I think one of the particular engineers got paid straight time for his overtime work and had to pay for expenses himself and get reimbursed afterwards instead of being able to use a company credit card.

Is there anyone one this thread that has worked at a single location and decided to go into the field? What was the primary incentive?

 

[berkshire]

Scotty,
I do not think you can, unless you can claim that the milage was business use, even then, in the UK the employer has to reimburse you.If you can claim milage I think the going rate is 40p per mile.
Of course with Petrol at 141p per litre even that is not going to help much.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[Ron]

knight185...you are making good money for your experience level. Your job is stable and your family issues are a huge priority. Stay where you are.

 

[ScottyUK]

Berkshire,

Yeah, wishful thinking rather than a realistic option here, at least for staff guys.

Folks in the US cursing about fuel at $4 a gallon always gets a wry smile from me; if only they knew how good they have got it!

 

[berkshire]

Scotty,
I know what you mean, Every time I complained about US petrol prices to my late father, he would throw up his hands in mock horror and say " Oh you poor thing".
Anyway I will soon find out how bad they really are, I am taking my wife on holiday ,and am going to visit some of my old stamping grounds in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Looking at the latest weather I guess I will have to bring a Pac-A-Mac.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[lacajun]

How The Wealth View Money

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[macmet]

I'm a Field Engineer. My first role was for about 5 years and was only North American travel. I got laid off eventually because it was a small company and the owner let go everybody except the admin assistant, his partner and the senior design guy. But I learned a lot. It was a very cool job and although the pay and internal company politics were a pain I am glad I had it.

Then I found a couple of office type jobs and I found them slow. The second one wasn't bad, but I did it for a year and was ready to move on. In my search for that next job I found in my job interviews I was only really asked about my field work. Not even just for the company that ended up hiring me, but it always seemed to get a lot of attention. Especially for technical roles.

The travel can be intense and this is not something I can do forever, but the money is good (although sounds like you're doing alright yourself) and I think the experience is great. I've only been in this role for a year and I find I know more about how our systems work and power plants in general work than our office engineers.

But when I say the travel can be intense, I mean it. It controls my life and my SO's, my friends, her friends... It is chaos. Try planning a vacation in a field job, it is not easy. I am really hoping this pays off in the future and helps me get a well paying job. One of the office jobs I did have was with a company who all the senior management was former field guys... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[moon161]

120 mile commute ~90 minutes each way, 24000 miles/year, $16 gas/day, the civic will be worn out by the time it's paid off, you must be gone 12 hr/ day minimum = beat or absent for soccer games, plays, date nites, etc. If you got a local job, you could give up $10k/year and not see the difference, being there priceless anyway.

What is your mortgage rate? Talk to a banker. if you bought it before the big suck, you could probably refinance & consolidate at 1/2 the rate or better.

Lower utility bills? Look at home energy/efficiency-insulate, solar hot water, solar electric.

Love your job? Move.

 

[knight185]

The 120 mile commutes took place from 2007 to 2010. Like I said, my job transferred as part of a rotating assignmeny program. The plant was far from where my work had her part-time job and her college, so I chose to stay in a city that was 60 miles from the plant to make it easy on my wife. The year prior to the move gas was well below $3 and then spiked up to $4. My commute now is 70 miles round trip. I chose to live 35 miles from my work location because it is a low cost of living city and keeps me and my wife within good driving distance of our respective families. Moving closer to the plant would have required that I live in a rural setting, which I didn't want, or move into a suburban area with modern homes that are more than 2x the cost of my house.

Assuming a 5 year payment plan, 24,000 * 5 years = 120,000 miles. I wouldn't call that wore out. My parents cars, the car I drove in college, my wife's old car, and the car that had gotten wrecked all had over 120,000 miles and still ran okay. My wife's Chevy Cavalier had a 170,000 miles on it when I gave it up in 2009. It still ran but I was tired of certain repairs. We gave it to a friend for free and the car is still on the road today. My first car was a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. I put 120,000 miles on it in less than 5 years and it still felt nearly brand new. No major maintenance repairs had been required up to the time of the wreck. So I guess I'm not worried about the kind of miles on a Honda Civic. This is different thinking from a cousin of mine, who likes to replace his cars at 60,000 miles. Several of my coworkers have cars with 200,000+ miles...primarily the ones with Honda and Toyota vehicles and Ford and Chevy pick up trucks.

Mortgage rate = 3.75%.