Mechanical P.Eng to Marine Engineer
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 12:26 pm
Hello, basically I'm curious if anyone has ever gone from a degree in mechanical (or other) engineering, to a marine engineer, and exactly what the process would be. I've done 7 years in oil/gas field engineering, and currently in process of registering with APEGA as a P.Eng. However, I'm not sure if this is sort of the life I want long term. The hands on work, contract nature/large blocks of time off, and travel I find really attractive, and is what drew me to the oil industry. I was laid off about 18 months ago, travelled a bunch, I'm tossing around the idea of working again, but am just thinking of moving to something a bit more stable and predictable than the oil industry, but that would still allow for a lot of the same perks in terms of travel and time off.
Reason this crossed my mind, is that I met an interesting guy a few months back who was both a professional engineer, and a marine engineer. He would take contracts to help rich people design their own boats, was able to sign off on drawings, and then once boat was built, actually go out in capacity of a marine engineer to see how the systems functioned on the water. Seemed like an interesting "all around" package to have the two certifications. In his case however he started as the Marine Engineer, then upgraded to a degree later.
I guess my question too, is it even worth it? I'm early 30s now and at least looking at the course schedule at NSCC, a lot of the courses seem similar to things I've already done. Further for the TC exams, all my classes were 10+ years ago, so not sure how rusty I'd be. Does any credit exist for previous industrial experience, or would I essentially be starting all over again shoulder to shoulder with 18 yos fresh out of high school.
Reason this crossed my mind, is that I met an interesting guy a few months back who was both a professional engineer, and a marine engineer. He would take contracts to help rich people design their own boats, was able to sign off on drawings, and then once boat was built, actually go out in capacity of a marine engineer to see how the systems functioned on the water. Seemed like an interesting "all around" package to have the two certifications. In his case however he started as the Marine Engineer, then upgraded to a degree later.
I guess my question too, is it even worth it? I'm early 30s now and at least looking at the course schedule at NSCC, a lot of the courses seem similar to things I've already done. Further for the TC exams, all my classes were 10+ years ago, so not sure how rusty I'd be. Does any credit exist for previous industrial experience, or would I essentially be starting all over again shoulder to shoulder with 18 yos fresh out of high school.