Thanks dude. I'll be training under a team of hydrotechnical engineers for a consulting firm based in Edmonton. They deal mostly with land reclamation, but have a few large dam and infrastucture projects that'll give me the chance to do some travelling to the US and Asia if I'm lucky.
It's exciting for me, but I'm nervous as hell lol. I've learned so much, but still feel like I'm walking into it blind. I guess that's why we need 4-8 years of training on top of the degree before even having a shot at a professional job.Yeah I needed 5 years as well, but had to take prereqs my first semester and wasn't a full time student my second semester.
The travelling is always one of the best perks in engineering jobs. Training isn't bad if you can learn something valuable and avoid the drudge work famously given to the newbies or "interns". It can be pretty intimidating starting that kind of work at first but I find asking plenty of thought-out questions is always well received and better than just winging it while trying to look like you know what you're doing. Most people understand college education is about the theory, knowing whats going on behind the scenes and what kind of data looks wrong, not just knowing what buttons to push -- that's learned on the job and constitutes the difference between a professional and a technician.
Geospatial engineering seems pretty interesting. Do most engineers in your field work for the government(army, airforce, etc)?
There's a good split between government and private sector. Some become land surveyors for state departments like the BLM or a small company, others manage spatial databases / draft up pipeline maps for oil companies.
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