Canada Explained

[askhan]

A Sardar Jee told me the Canadian employer thinking.
WITHOUT THE LICENSE AND CERTIFICATION YOU ARE JUST A LABOR.
That’s what I have seen here. MSc. Electrical Engineering from Canadian University doing basement renovation business and MSc. Mechanical doing jobs on food chains. A red seal electrician is more worthy than an MS degree here. A six Sigma Black belt is job ready and an A+ certified guy can earn more than a Phd computer science. Those who are telling on the forums that they got $3000 job just after landing are lying. There are no jobs here if you are not certified.

The only solution here is to get certified. After all the applications to fake job ads and not getting any replies I decided not to do a job until I get each and every stupid certification this country offers. There are so many that you can get these on hourly basis. In one day I was WHIMIS and OHSA, next day I was First aid and CPR and next day I got fall arrest (Spiderman) certification. Now I am a superhero certified guy so I decided to take this certification business to the next level. THE INTERPROVINCIAL RED SEAL INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICIAN 442A. I had experience of dealing with machines in Pakistan and a strong electrical background and I luckily found a bridging program for electricians in HUMBER COLLEGE. 5 weeks and they made me exam ready in just $250 which I got back after completion. Electrician here is a very good business. Despite of my refusal a friend paid me $100 for fixing a broken wire behind a switch (15 min job). He told me another could have asked for $250. After Humber I got the job in Bell Canada and this one is the best employer here in Ontario. Job is protected by Union and 40 hours per week are guaranteed. All we have to do is installation of CAT 5 and fiber optic.
Great work and great employer.
So finally I am able to save money instead of spending.
My next targets are
OACETT certification
RED SEAL 309A
Allen Bradley PLC certification
A+ certification
CCNA

Thankyou very much Salman for this wonderful post. I am also an Electrical Engineer, arrived 3 months ago, got my G license. To be honest its very tough here, its not like what we thought it would be, but still i have met some people who got jobs in their fields inside 6 months, so trying my best for everything.

Anyways i was wondering if you can please elaborate a little more on how to get the "Red Seal Industrial Electrician 442A" certification. Also please let me know about the name of the bridging program in Humber College, i might be interested in it as it also closely matches my experience.

Thank you!

 

[salmanahm]

A misconception about entering the electrician trade is the Diploma. The word electrician have different meanings in Pakistan and Canada. Here the electrician is responsible for a lot of high level maintenance tasks which only qualified engineers used to perform in Pakistan.
In order to do trade equivalency assessment ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TRADES IS NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND. They only need grade 12 with Maths and Physics which you can get from ICAS. They only need 9000 hours of work experience with an on job training completed as per Canadian Benchmark of Apprenticeship training standards. Skills for Change is offering the bridging program of 11 weeks. (6 weeks of employment training and 5 weeks of technical training at HUMBER College). This program alone has no value and you can sit in the Ministry of trade exam without this bridging program but it gives an idea of what will be the exam and also some hands on training. Anyone interested please contact Skills for Change. So far I have found them excellent and most professional community workers here in Ontario.
http://skillsforchange.org/
The best thing about the program is that it is almost free.
They need $ 250 which can be refunded as a bursary. The only difficult thing is the Time investment. The timing of the program are morning and you might have to sacrifice your earning.

Thankyou very much Salman for this wonderful post. I am also an Electrical Engineer, arrived 3 months ago, got my G license. To be honest its very tough here, its not like what we thought it would be, but still i have met some people who got jobs in their fields inside 6 months, so trying my best for everything.

Anyways i was wondering if you can please elaborate a little more on how to get the "Red Seal Industrial Electrician 442A" certification. Also please let me know about the name of the bridging program in Humber College, i might be interested in it as it also closely matches my experience.

Thank you!

 

[salmanahm]

Degrees even Canadian ones don't count here. If your have an MS or Phd degree you will be over qualified for a lot of jobs. Foreign experience is also useless. Only thing we Immigrants can do is certifications. Certifications here means you are professional. I don't know why but even Canadian education doesn't matter here. I planned an MS degree but later I found a guy at gas station counter having having an MS degree from Mc Master University. Business Administration Degree is a good option but it is very costly and Admission is very difficult.
So in this country
Man is known by the certifications he keeps.
IF SOMEONE IS SAYING THAT HE HAS GOT VERY GOOD JOB IN HIS FIELD WITHOUT CERTIFICATIONS BE VERY SURE THAT HE IS LYING. A LOT OF PEOPLE LIE TO DEPRESS NEW IMMIGRANTS AND PROVE THEIR SUPERIORITY. THERE IS NO JOB WITHOUT CERTIFICATIONS.

was going thru this thread, nothing more informative i found than what u have described.. u have taken ur time to write ur experience.. hats off to u.. I am software engineer with 10+ years of experience in mobile technology.. what are the job oppurtunities in my field? shall i start appling before landing?

plz guide..

thanks.

 

[salmanahm]

Read this
http://www.itworldcanada.com/slideshow/15-it-certifications-that-pay-the-big-bucks

 

[Jane123]

Read this
http://www.itworldcanada.com/slideshow/15-it-certifications-that-pay-the-big-bucks

Thanks for the advice

 

[KoRnnn]

very inspiring forum, i really love to read it!

however, u have mentioned that Buss. Admin degree is good, can u emphasize more on that? i hold MBA from UK with more than 10 years experience, would I be over qualified? what are the highly demanded certificates for softskill in canada? thanks

 

[enigma304]

Degrees even Canadian ones don't count here. If your have an MS or Phd degree you will be over qualified for a lot of jobs.

This is the similar input I have heard from other engineers in Canada that MS and Phd have lesser jobs as compared to certified skilled workers. Being Mechanical Engineer, I am also planning to get diploma from NAIT in power engineering as it also helps in getting Class 4 and Class 3 Power Engineer certification. What you suggest?

 

[niagracalling]

SALMAN BROTHER...........YOU ARE GOING TO CREATE A REVOLUTION I MUST SAY....................

NO OTHER IMMIGRANT HAS SPOKEN WITH SUCH TRUTH LADEN WORDS. APPRECIATE FROM WITHIN MY HEART.

BROTHER, AS GOING THROUGH YOUR POSTS I COULD MAKE OUT THAT YOU HAVE DONE QUITE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH ON DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS. COULD YOU PLEASE SHED LIGHT ON ACCOUNTS/FINANCE FIELD. I AM A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FROM INDIA. THOUGH I HAVE ENROLLED MYSELF FOR CPA, I WOULD LIKE TO GET A CERTIFICATION IN LEAST TIME WHICH IS QUITE CLOSE TO MY BACKGROUND. CANADIAN SECURITIES COURSE (CSC) IS ONE OF THEM. HOW CHALLENGING WOULD IT BE TO ENTER THE JOB MARKET AFTER COMPLETING THE COURSE.

I AM SURE YOU MUST BE HAVING AN ANSWER FOR ME.

WARM REGARDS

 

[salmanahm]

Yes the diploma is gonna help u in understanding the power engineering system but it is not gonna help u in getting a job. U will still need trade certification.

This is the similar input I have heard from other engineers in Canada that MS and Phd have lesser jobs as compared to certified skilled workers. Being Mechanical Engineer, I am also planning to get diploma from NAIT in power engineering as it also helps in getting Class 4 and Class 3 Power Engineer certification. What you suggest?

 

[salmanahm]

If ur degree and experience is in HR then welcome to Canada. If its in finance or IT then u will need certifications.

very inspiring forum, i really love to read it!

however, u have mentioned that Buss. Admin degree is good, can u emphasize more on that? i hold MBA from UK with more than 10 years experience, would I be over qualified? what are the highly demanded certificates for softskill in canada? thanks

 

[salmanahm]

Thanks for appreciation brother. I have a lot more to share. In my opinion a guy with Chartered Accountancy from India is no match for a CSC exam designed for grade 12. U can do that for initial job but aim higher. I dont know what kind of certifications for accounting but I can hook u up with the right guy. Most of the available employment here is agency contract. Once again agencies in business but u can get good salary.
For me all the Canadian certification ends up answering a bunch of stupid MCQs for which the question banks are available. We think its difficult until we do it.

SALMAN BROTHER...........YOU ARE GOING TO CREATE A REVOLUTION I MUST SAY....................

NO OTHER IMMIGRANT HAS SPOKEN WITH SUCH TRUTH LADEN WORDS. APPRECIATE FROM WITHIN MY HEART.

BROTHER, AS GOING THROUGH YOUR POSTS I COULD MAKE OUT THAT YOU HAVE DONE QUITE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH ON DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS. COULD YOU PLEASE SHED LIGHT ON ACCOUNTS/FINANCE FIELD. I AM A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FROM INDIA. THOUGH I HAVE ENROLLED MYSELF FOR CPA, I WOULD LIKE TO GET A CERTIFICATION IN LEAST TIME WHICH IS QUITE CLOSE TO MY BACKGROUND. CANADIAN SECURITIES COURSE (CSC) IS ONE OF THEM. HOW CHALLENGING WOULD IT BE TO ENTER THE JOB MARKET AFTER COMPLETING THE COURSE.

I AM SURE YOU MUST BE HAVING AN ANSWER FOR ME.

WARM REGARDS

 

[mystique9999]

Brother Salman Jazak Allah khair for your posts. I hope that the forum admins can make this a sticky topic.

I needed some advice. I've been working as an Electrical & Instrumentation engineer in the UAE for the past 9 years. Is there any certification that you can recommend for my line of work (Red Seal or otherwise)?

 

[salmanahm]

http://www.red-seal.ca/tr.1d.2@-eng.jsp?tid=130
Read the above link

Brother Salman Jazak Allah khair for your posts. I hope that the forum admins can make this a sticky topic.

I needed some advice. I've been working as an Electrical & Instrumentation engineer in the UAE for the past 9 years. Is there any certification that you can recommend for my line of work (Red Seal or otherwise)?

 

[salmanahm]

http://www.red-seal.ca/trades/.3ct@-eng.jsp
Anyone with 5+ years pf experience in trade please read this and see where u can fit in.

 

[Lammawitch]

As I follow this thread, I feel like Salmanahm and I live in different countries ... But we are both living in Canada!!!

Example: engineers should consult the regulatory board in the province of destination, red seal is probably not applicable to degree qualified engineers ...