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Engineers Australia Membership Folly
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tggzzz:

--- Quote from: blueskull on March 05, 2020, 05:38:32 am ---Similar bullshit in China. When a company (not all, but quite a few) hires a person, they look at his first degree. They don't care where did you have your PhD or MS as long as it is not a completely unfamiliar name, instead they look more into where did you get your BS degree.

--- End quote ---

The subject matter of a first degree should be general and enable someone to know how to learn (and continue learning) what the need for any specific job.

The subject matter in a PhD should be very detailed, specific and is unlikely to be directly relevant to any given job.

Hence it is unsurprising that a PhD is of less interest to companies. Indeed, while working in an industrial R&D lab, we came to the conclusion that there are many invalid reasons for doing a PhD (e.g. money, career advancement, status), and only one valid reason: because you want to.
johankj:
I just want to share my frustration with the Australian government and Engineers Australia, I hope I'm not hijacking this thread.

Backstory: So, me, my wife and son, though it would be nice for us to temporarily relocate to Australia from Norway for a year or so. We have close friends in NSW, and visited NSW for a wedding there last year and we absolutely loved Australia! I'm an engineer, and my skillset/education is in demand due to shortage and on the Australian immigration office eligible skilled occupation list. For that and other reasons, I should qualify to apply for a 489 - Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489) - State or Territory nominated. (I think, it's a bit of a convoluted system)

So for that reason, I'm required to have my degree and my work experience assessed by Engineers Australia. Engineers Australia call this process a Migration skills assessment. (And here I though that that was what a university diploma was for).

One problem is, I have two degrees: One Bachelor of engineering (from a UK university - a Washington/Sydney/Dublin accord country) and one Master of Science (From a Norwegian university - a non-accord country). The fee for the accord one is 428 AUD, but the non-accord one is a whooping 795 AUD! So I asked Engineers Australia, under which system should I ask them to assess me? All I got was a bullshit pretyped response to read their documents and their website (like I didn't already!). They're happy to take my money thought!

Now that I'm reading this post, I'm getting more apprehensive. I need to be assessed to the level of an engineer to quality for a visa. My BEng is a three-year degree (are there even 4-year bachelor degrees in Europe?). In Norway at least, there is no distinction between a BEng and a bachelor, and they are all 3-year degrees. Further concern: I failed two subjects in my BEng (due to illness in my final year, but the uni let me pass because of overall performance), and I have an MSc instead of an MEng (Norway doesn't really distinguish between those two either). And if I want to appeal Engineers Australia's' decision, that's an additional 540 AUD!

And then I have to pay Engineers Australia 360 AUD to evaluating my work experience (Relevant Skilled Employment Assessment). And, since I've held a number of different positions, that outcome might not be in my favor either.

And on top of that, I have to get my English language skills assessed for another 500 AUD.

Only then (and by invitation from a regional government) can I apply for a visa. (Did I mention that the visa fee is 4'045 AUD?  :o )

Sorry for bending everyone's ear  :-[ The whole thing just seems like money-grabbing bullshit, instead of quid-pro-quo arrangement.
Someone:

--- Quote from: johankj on March 05, 2020, 11:50:57 am ---Sorry for bending everyone's ear  :-[ The whole thing just seems like money-grabbing bullshit, instead of quid-pro-quo arrangement.
--- End quote ---
Yes, it is a money grab for the "authorised" bodies who confirm your skills/experience and radically different to the previous skilled worker visa process. But at the same time Australia is currently flooded with foreign engineers (and trades) pushing advertised wages down. Employers advertise for a certain period to prove there were no qualified applicants at the salary they want to pay. Tightening up the visa entry requirements is good, but ignores the real problems.
EEVblog:

--- Quote from: johankj on March 05, 2020, 11:50:57 am ---Now that I'm reading this post, I'm getting more apprehensive. I need to be assessed to the level of an engineer to quality for a visa. My BEng is a three-year degree (are there even 4-year bachelor degrees in Europe?). In Norway at least, there is no distinction between a BEng and a bachelor, and they are all 3-year degrees.

--- End quote ---

In that case I greatly doubt they will assess you as being a Professional Engineer status, that requires a 4 year degree, and even that they are picky about as Phil has found out.
johankj:

--- Quote from: Someone on March 05, 2020, 10:14:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: johankj on March 05, 2020, 11:50:57 am ---Sorry for bending everyone's ear  :-[ The whole thing just seems like money-grabbing bullshit, instead of quid-pro-quo arrangement.
--- End quote ---
Yes, it is a money grab for the "authorised" bodies who confirm your skills/experience and radically different to the previous skilled worker visa process. But at the same time Australia is currently flooded with foreign engineers (and trades) pushing advertised wages down. Employers advertise for a certain period to prove there were no qualified applicants at the salary they want to pay. Tightening up the visa entry requirements is good, but ignores the real problems.

--- End quote ---

That's a shame. My Australian colleague told me that foreign unskilled labor was being exploited in this way, but I didn't expect it to extend to skilled labor. I definitively don't want to contribute in a wage race to the bottom, competing with locals and a million third world engineers.
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