How To Get Traveling Engineering Jobs

How To Get Traveling Engineering Jobs

How To Get Traveling Engineering Jobs 1920 1280 Joaquim Miro

With my little brother well on his way to becoming an engineer, I wanted to help him out and show him its possible to grow your career through travel.

He should not deprive himself of travel because he is an engineer. And so shouldn’t you. If you feel the drive to discover the world, then do so! The world is limitless in possibilities and pleasures. You can travel as an engineer, practice, and explore new environments.

If you’re ready to begin, reading this piece is a good start. This is a product of intense research to offer you the best options. Read and choose what works best for you! If you know of other ways to grow your engineering career through travel please contact me or leave a comment to help others who have the same dream.

Cheers and enjoy!

The Peace Corps & USAID

These two are only available for US Citizens, so if you are not a citizen feel free to jump to the next section!

 

Peace Corps

 

If you want to leave the country, the Peace Corps is a good option. It is a United States Government program. It aims to help you understand American culture and the cultures of other societies. If you care about social development, this is a good one.

As an engineer, you will be involved in solving social problems. Consider it as giving back to society. Members of the Peace Corps are found in Mexico, Haiti, Honduras, Costa Rica and many other countries.

To be selected, you have to be at least 18 years at the time of application. You will also be interviewed.

Please note that this is only for American Citizens. To find out more, you can either read up on Wikipedia or visit the Peace Corps Site.

 

USAID

The USAID provides an opportunity to meet people’s needs. You will be working to provide relief in places hit by disaster. If you want to help those in need, this is a good way to do so.

You will be assigned to places that need urgent help. You get to ease their strains of living as you travel around the world.

It is a very good option for engineers with long breaks. You can sign up for a short period and help put a smile on someone’s face, all the while keeping your CV in check before coming back to the workforce.

It is a great opportunity to travel around the world and use your skills to make our world a better place. You will come back with a better understanding of world cultures, a new set of skills that can make you stand out from other engineers… and amazing stories!

Are you interested? Read more about the USAID here.

 

Cruise (or Cargo) Ship Engineering Jobs

Cruise ships and cargo ships always need engineers. These jobs pay well and allow you travel without having to spend on accommodation. This could be a great option for recent graduate or young professionals that haven’t started a family yet.

If you are interested in working on a cruise ship, this book is a must this book is a must. For less than $30 you will learn the ins and outs of how this industry works, and get all the professional advice you need to get jobs more quickly.

Tour as a freelancer

freelancer - the alternative ways

Want to work as an engineer without geographical boundaries? Then you should consider becoming a freelance engineer. The concept is simple. You pick up orders for your services from engineering companies throughout the world. This is easier for software engineers, but there are ways to make it happen for many types of engineers.

This works especially well if you want to be your own boss. You choose your work time frame and the jobs you are interested in.

One major advantage is gaining a varied working experience. You will work with different individuals with different cultures. It is sure to be a colourful experience.

However, you will need to make yourself visible. You can use social media to advertise yourself as a freelance engineer. You can also follow major engineering firms to see what jobs are available.

Learning additional languages can be a great advantage. There are many apps that exist to learn languages for free (or at a very small cost) which you can find here.

Another great app you can use is Fluent In 3 Months. It’s a great program that helps you become conversational in most languages in 3 months.

There are different areas of engineering to choose from. Take your pick and tour the world.

For more details you can also check out the travelling engineer’s survival guide.

Study abroad (on a study grant)

study abroad on a study grant

You feel like taking a break and going back to school? That’s one of the best ways to live abroad and grow your career. By basing yourself out of a major city, at first every day will be like you are traveling, and after a while you can go travel on weekends.

Who knows, you might fall in love with the new environment and decide to live there.

There are a lot of study grants available to engineering students. You can also apply for international scholarships too. If you work for a firm, you can apply for a sponsored study in another country (this is subject to the policy of your company).

Here is an updated list of available study grants for engineers per country. Feel free to bookmark this page and come back for grants research. If I haven’t gotten to your country yet, I recommend you invest a few hours of research on Google as I guarantee you will find study grants that apply to you. You should also check your university’s scholarship programs!

Study Grants Per Country

For English Canadians – There are so many grants available throughout the country it’s insane. Here are a few resources to get you started. There are so many more available if you do your own research specific to your circumstances.

 

For French CanadiansThe Quebec Loans & Bursaries Program is an amazing way to get essentially free money. As long as you are past your third term you are considered financially independent you can receive considerable money. I received a few thousand dollars in bursary and $3000 in loans. That’s basically free money! It was definitely worth the time to apply.

 

For Americans – There are both private and public grants available for students. Here are a few.

 

For Foreigners Studying in Europe – With many European countries coming from a socialist background, you can expect lots of help through grants. Here are a few.

 

For Europeans – Finding European Grants has never been easier! There are many per European country, and some available to EU citizens. Here is a few to get you started.

 

For Australians – Australia has a lot of money to give as scholarships. Here are a few resources that should help.

 

For British Peeps – If you are a UK citizen, you are quite lucky! There are even grants specific to travel! Here are some of the best I’ve found.

 

For Indians – There are more and more study grants available for Indian citizens. Here is a small list to get you going.

 

For Vietnamese – There are a few scholarships available for Vietnamese that want to go abroad.

And the list goes on! Applying for bursaries allowed me to fund my schooling and use my own pocket money to do an exchange program in Hong Kong for 4 months. You could do this too with a bit of research!

Start (or join) a community project in a developing country

how to get traveling engineering jobs

Starting a community project will allow you to travel somewhere new, while opening your horizons to a whole new industry. Your engineering background will make you a great asset, offering specialized knowledge that most in this industry cannot.

The best way to make this happen is to partner up with someone with a business background, having them take care of the finances and business development, and you take care of the technical know-how, recruitment, or product/service development.

You can find like minded people through networks such as the social innovation partnership or by looking at existing campaigns on websites like Kiva and Indiegogo.

 

Here are a few grants available to make this happen

 

 

Work abroad

If you are working in an international company and want to keep your job, you can apply for a transfer. This requires guts and preparation, and you need to be considered a top talent in the company. It’s easier for HR to transfer you to another branch in another country rather than having to recruit someone else. It’s also in their interest to do so as they keep talent and you become more loyal to the company.

I once met a girl with a background in engineering that worked at Siemens, and she had an incredible story. This girl loved to climb and dreamed of living in Germany. So after 2 years working as a systems management engineer, she gave HR an ultimatum; either she be transferred to Germany in the next 6 months, or she would resign.

It took her 3 months to get an offer to move to Germany, with Siemens paying for the entire move!! If she can do it, so can you!

Find companies that require mobility

As a civil, mechanical, chemical, or electrical engineer you can find multiple jobs that require mobility. Many of these require you to work 1-2 months full time, and then give you 3-6 weeks off.This type of job is not for everyone, but doing this will give you the opportunity to travel on your time off and see remote places when working.

Most of these jobs are available in the gas and oil sector. A few companies that do this include Maersk Drilling, Petroplan, and Wind Rose Network.

You can also find jobs on Rigzone or using the Indeed Job Search below:

Find an Engineering Job Abroad

 

 

Become a NASCAR pit crew member

This is probably one of the most exhilarating and demanding jobs around. And having a mechanical engineering background could help you immensely! Making a name for yourself in this industry will require skill, dexterity, wit and determination. But the rewards are more than worth it; you can expect to make 200K – 300K per year and travel all around the world.

If this is of interest to you here is a great resource to get you started.

Become a Field Service Engineer

Working as a field service engineer will undoubtedly offer you the opportunity to go explore some of the most remote regions in the world. The work usually consists of long hours for weeks at a time, followed by 2 or 3 week vacations. The pay is great and it will look great on a your CV, allowing you to grow your career through travel. One of my friends is actually doing this right now, and while he says it's not something he would do for 20 years, he does plan on sticking around for 2-3 years to enjoy the luxury of work travel.

 

Here are some of the available jobs on Indeed.

Work in Technical Sales

After posting this list on reddit to get even more alternative ways to travel as an engineer, I got a response related to working in technical sales. I was not aware of how much traveling is involved in this industry. After a bit of research, the conclusion is that yes, this is probably one of the best career paths for engineers that crave travel. It is a high-intensity job that requires both technical know-how and sales fundamentals.

Nevertheless if you really are thinking about traveling as an engineer, this is one of your best bets!

Become an engineer-blogger

how to professionally start a blog

There are a lot of reasons why you should consider blogging.

First and foremost, you can showcase your knowledge on specific subjects, giving you a portfolio to showcase when you apply for new jobs, grants, or opportunities.

Secondly, you can build a niche website around a specific subject that only a select few know about. Then you can generate enough income through ads, affiliate links and other partnerships, allowing you to travel and work full time simultaneously (like I am doing!).

Finally, you will learn a new set of skillsets to compliment your existing ones, allowing you to offer more value to employers once you return. Your thoughts will become more coherent, your network will grow, and so will your toolbelt.

If you already have a blog, I recommend signing up to the course below. This course, run by New York Times Bestselling author Nomadic Matt, taught thousands of people how to make a business out of blogging. Instead of wasting hours figuring it out yourself, learn all the tricks early on and join a community of successful bloggers. For $400, I think it’s one of the best investments you can make!

World Teach & more volunteer abroad websites

volunteer abroad with the alternative ways

World Teach is an organization that provides opportunities for individuals – including engineers – to make a meaningful contribution to international education by becoming a teacher in developing countries. If this is of interest to you, learn more here.

You can also find similar opportunities through volunteer abroad websites like Helpx and Workaway. If this sounds like something you would want to do, check out this list of volunteer abroad websites.

WWOOF

wwoof

Although this one is a bit farfetched, I figured I’d include it because it’s an awesome service. WWOOF allows you to work on organic farms in over 190 countries throughout the world. As a chemical, mechanical, electrical, or civil engineer, you could offer your knowledge to help them grow their farm. This would also teach you about building an organic farm, which is a set of skills that may prove useful as we forget to use our hands in this increasingly digital world.

As we wrap it up…

A lot of options have been listed above. Some might be a ‘no no’. Others might just be what you are interested in. While there have been a lot of options, they are not exhaustive. You need to search out what works for you.

You might have to do some of your own research. Make sure you get details about the place you are going to visit – accommodation, meals, transportation and leisure. You don’t want to be stuck in a foreign land. Trust me on that!

The world is waiting for you. Even your body wants to be free. There is a lot out there waiting for you. There are new colleagues to work with, new languages to learn, new places to visit… the list is endless.

Make a move and be glad you did.

Remember, you have only one life, so enjoy it while growing your career!

joaquim miro | the alternative ways

Grow Your Career Through Travel - FREE 7 Day Course

Welcome! I'm digital nomad and travel enthusiast Joaquim Miro! This website was created to help you learn how to grow your career through travel. With so much information out there, subscribe to a proven guide to make your travel & work dreams a reality. We offer the best resources, advice and community support to help you travel remotely and find work abroad.

    Check the box to prove you are not a bot :)

    Join 1000s of like-minded people. No spam, no bs. Just tips that will help you.

    Joaquim Miro

    As a passionate traveler, pianist, paraglider, digital marketer, blockchain and vr enthusiast, I always felt the urge to travel the world, but stopped myself because of my career. So I took a leap of faith to prove that it is possible to grow your career through travel. And it worked! Now I am on a mission to help you do the same.

    All stories by : Joaquim Miro
    15 Comments
    • Let’s get a discussion going! Anyone have success stories or know of anyone who traveled the world as an engineer?

    • Thanks for the job listing. It will definitely help people who are looking for job. Also check our Job search website which has latest job postings from all over the globe.

    • Thanks bro!

    • list of mba college in delhi ncr December 17, 2018 at 7:37 am

      thanku for this information.

    • dude what do you think about oil and gas? thats an interesting field but it may drop in some day.
      and can elaborate on the field service engineer thing for mechanical.
      maybe make a blog about it.

    • I see you don’t monetize thealternativeways.com,
      don’t waste your traffic, you can earn extra bucks every
      month with new monetization method. This is the best
      adsense alternative for any type of website (they approve all sites), for more details simply search in gooogle: murgrabia’s tools

    • thanks for providing valuable information regarding the jobs and I would like to share my experience i found a good notification in jobads these notifications are very useful .

    • It’s great to learn that civil engineer jobs require mobility when you work them. My brother is wanting to become an engineer and he was wondering how he could travel a lot through his work. I’ll let him know that he should become a civil engineer to travel a lot more.

    • Chris Pederson June 7, 2021 at 5:46 pm

      I am glad there are private and public grants for biomedical students in America. My son has thought about going into biomedical engineering. Maybe he can get a grant at some point.

    • Your article is magnificent! I trust you keep on having such quality articles to impart to everybody! I accept there will be numerous individuals who share my perspectives when they read this article from you!

    Grow

    YOUR

    CAREER

    THROUGH

    TRAVEL

    Welcome To The Alternative Ways!

    Here are a few resources to get you started

    start a professional blog
    careertravel
    best travel resources
    getting work visas
    alternative ways housesitting
    alternative ways travelguides
    altways divider
    joaquim miro | the alternative ways

    Learn How To Grow Your Career Through Travel

    Welcome! This website was created to help you learn how to grow your career through travel. With so much information out there, subscribe to a proven step by step guide to make your travel & work dreams a reality. We offer the best resources, advice and community support to help you travel remotely and find work abroad. Please feel free to contact me for more information if you would like!

      Check the box to prove you are not a bot 🙂

      Join 1000s of like-minded people. No spam, no bs. Just tips that will help you.

      The Alternative Ways