Mid-life crisis or good idea?

Hard to say if it's right for you; the job market in the UK doesn't seem too friendly at the moment. On the other hand, pushing back your re-entry to it untill you are in your mid-thirties might be a little bit too much. I appreciate the contributions of the others in this thread, but what you also should keep in mind when evaluating their upbeat support is that American culture is different. The 'starting over' thing they have going isn't quite as strong here in Europe. It also isn't as widely admired by employers as I'd wish.

One further complication I haven't mentioned yet as I didn't want to complicate an already complicated discussion is I'm looking to emigrate. For personal reasons we're wanting to emigrate to Alberta, western Canada. If I was to return to education I'd be applying at eg the University of Alberta etc and then re-entering the job market in western Canada not the UK.

I've already checked immigration law there and can easily get a work permit under Skilled Worker laws with my current degrees and work experience so that doesn't make much difference. It'd take a few months to get a work permit and a few weeks to get a study one (Amanda could work off my permit either way I believe) so not really an issue either way there. I'd probably apply for a permanent work one even if I got a study one as it'd cut the fees once that went through.

I imagine from what I know of western Canada engineering probably would be more useful than physics too? In an ideal world if I could choose my ideal Physics research it'd probably be something like CERN.

if you're going to start fresh you might as well go all in.


when the marriage collapses in a few months/years. I reserve the right to post at least one nelson.

Nelson?

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

One further complication I haven't mentioned yet as I didn't want to complicate an already complicated discussion is I'm looking to emigrate. For personal reasons we're wanting to emigrate to Alberta, western Canada. If I was to return to education I'd be applying at eg the University of Alberta etc and then re-entering the job market in western Canada not the UK.

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Isn't Alberta big in petrol? And Canada has lot of oil sands? Yeah right:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands

I suppose there is a lot of engineering going on in this field. When I looked for a job I took the intersection between what I like and what is demanded. ;-)

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

Nelson?

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http://kirktastic.com/wordpress/wp-c...-0.preview.gif

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

One further complication I haven't mentioned yet as I didn't want to complicate an already complicated discussion is I'm looking to emigrate. For personal reasons we're wanting to emigrate to Alberta, western Canada. If I was to return to education I'd be applying at eg the University of Alberta etc and then re-entering the job market in western Canada not the UK.

I've already checked immigration law there and can easily get a work permit under Skilled Worker laws with my current degrees and work experience so that doesn't make much difference. It'd take a few months to get a work permit and a few weeks to get a study one (Amanda could work off my permit either way I believe) so not really an issue either way there. I'd probably apply for a permanent work one even if I got a study one as it'd cut the fees once that went through.

I imagine from what I know of western Canada engineering probably would be more useful than physics too? In an ideal world if I could choose my ideal Physics research it'd probably be something like CERN.

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Well, that's an entirely different story then. I'd be inclined to say 'go for it then. Though you might as well forego the going back to school thing unless you really want it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

One further complication I haven't mentioned yet as I didn't want to complicate an already complicated discussion is I'm looking to emigrate. For personal reasons we're wanting to emigrate to Alberta, western Canada. If I was to return to education I'd be applying at eg the University of Alberta etc and then re-entering the job market in western Canada not the UK.

I've already checked immigration law there and can easily get a work permit under Skilled Worker laws with my current degrees and work experience so that doesn't make much difference. It'd take a few months to get a work permit and a few weeks to get a study one (Amanda could work off my permit either way I believe) so not really an issue either way there. I'd probably apply for a permanent work one even if I got a study one as it'd cut the fees once that went through.

I imagine from what I know of western Canada engineering probably would be more useful than physics too? In an ideal world if I could choose my ideal Physics research it'd probably be something like CERN.

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Western Alberta has precious little industry other than petroleum and resource extraction. Plenty of petrochemicals, so you could do chemical or petroleum engineering.

If you wanted to do CERN-like work, you can do that from pretty much any major university in the world. But it would take a LONG time for you to get to that level starting from essentially nothing.

Sorry Alberta (which is in western Canada) not western Alberta. I'm thinking probably Edmonton.

Her family lives in the mountains in western Alberta (yes: resource extraction, that does seem to be the entirety of that area).

Yeah, there's a bit more variety in Calgary and Edmonton, though the petroleum industry has crowded out other investment to a degree.

Well this isn't where I expected to be when I start this thread, so I'm glad I did. I think I might apply to study Engineering as that seems to be a good opportunity, a good mix with my existing one and the best fit for there anyway.

Not sure if I'll be able to get onto the course as the requirements listed are just based on Canadian High School courses and Chemistry is stated as a pre-requisite. I didn't study Chemistry as part of my IB, the choice when I was at school was no more than 2/4 of Physics, Biology, Chemistry and IT and I studied Physics and IT.

Cross-threaded from a discussion in a D&D thread but it appears fees even as an International Student there are significantly less than the fees I'd pay here would be.

I'm still not sure that doing an undergraduate degree is a good idea unless they'll count a lot of your previous courses. Can you email the engineering department, tell them about your background and situation, and see if they'd let you into the masters program if you take a year of relevant classes?

Yep, an engineering sub-field sounds right up your alley, Rand. Considering your education and work experience, something in Agriculture/Food/Transportation/Energy comes to mind. That might be quite valuable in Canada, either as a public works employee (infrastructure and transportation grids, energy costs, imports/exports) or working for a local or multi-national food company.

Having your skillset in economics and finance is part of all those things, since they're not just 'managed' but engineered. If you're tired of the food industry, your skills transfer well to pretty much any commodity or consumer product. How about beer? I hear it's a leading industry in Canada. ;)

I'm not interested in Food industry and definitely not agriculture. I'm quite anti-agriculture (subsidies) after all.

I like problem solving and analytics.

Look into industrial or systems engineering, then.

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

I'm not interested in Food industry and definitely not agriculture. I'm quite anti-agriculture (subsidies) after all.

I like problem solving and analytics.

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That's Engineering in a nutshell. ;)

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Originally Posted by GGT

That's Engineering in a nutshell. ;)

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Err, no. Engineering largely consists of a workflow such as this:

http://www.cyclelicio.us/wp-content/...rt-500x372.jpg

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

Sorry Alberta (which is in western Canada) not western Alberta. I'm thinking probably Edmonton.

Her family lives in the mountains in western Alberta (yes: resource extraction, that does seem to be the entirety of that area).

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Well that's a big change to throw in there! :)

But honestly, doesn't this mean your current skills could be all the more useful? The Canadian economy isn't in as bad shape and your experience could be very useful there in a non-engineering business capacity. It will realistically take you a decade to get the engineering skills and experience to enter the petrochemical industry. But those petro-workers sure need to eat, drink, bathe,have fun, etc, right?

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Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro

Err, no. Engineering largely consists of a workflow such as this:

http://www.cyclelicio.us/wp-content/...rt-500x372.jpg

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This chart is incomplete. There is no path leading to a cable tie. No way a good engineer can live without cable ties.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Cable_ties.jpg

Duct tape trumps cable ties. :D

Real men use hose clamps

I was going to make a reproductive joke about clamps and hoses, but my jokes don't translate so well. :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RandBlade

I'm not interested in Food industry and definitely not agriculture. I'm quite anti-agriculture (subsidies) after all.

I like problem solving and analytics.

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If you're going to eliminate every industry with subsidies, then forget about petro-chemicals, Canadian oil sands, or even academia. :bulb: But if you enjoy problem-solving and analytics, there are plenty of engineering sub-fields that could turn your current skills into a new career, without a new degree.

Contacting your future homeland and sussing out employment (and educational) opportunities might be a better way to begin your next, new decade. Hint, you don't have to have all the answers, or all your ducks in a row, before making your next move. ;)