I am not a real engineer, tho my job title often includes the term. 🙂 I've lived or worked in the USA, England, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Canada and the USSR.
- If you like snow, Canada has plenty of it. The citizens are cordial. In Montreal they know how to party. Lots of elbow room.
- France has a great quality of life and culture. Paris is too crowded.
- Spain is the place if you like to party and hand out with friends.
- England is very pleasant, outside of London. London is better than it used to be.
Upward mobility is generally very poor in the US.
U.S. lags behind peer countries in mobility | Economic Policy Institute
That said the OP has already passed what I suspect is the greatest hurdle for social mobilty: The very, very high university fees in the USA.
U.S. lags behind peer countries in mobility | Economic Policy Institute
That said the OP has already passed what I suspect is the greatest hurdle for social mobilty: The very, very high university fees in the USA.
Not sure about the point you guys are making, we have informed choices which now include food sourced completely out of the normal chain. I should have been more clear small isn't in itself good, I meant heritage crops, variety of whole grains, grass fed livestock, co-op farms. Living in America does not mean you have to choose McD's, Burger King, or Papa John's you can do fine having nothing to do with any of them.
Last vacation I had some very special lamb from the UK that I would consider as unhealthy as any I have ever seen. Fat marbling so gross I could not find the meat.
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All good things eventually come to an end. I walked into the Motorola plant in 1972 in response to a "technicians wanted" add. There were no stated educational requirements, so I showed up.
There were about 500 people applying for 3 jobs. The HR girl stated that they would hire 3, but 2 would be gone within a month (she was right). The crowd was thinned by a written application, interviews, and demonstrating the work required. We were down to 50 or 60 people when they announced a written electronics test. I scored the second highest score ever seen and was hired.
After 2 years building, tuning and testing HT220 two way radios, I transferred to the test equipment calibration lab for 10 years, then into development engineering as an engineer, without any formal engineering education.
During those 12 years government regulations had determined that giving an electronics test for an electronics related job was "discriminatory" and therefore discontinued. A formal 2 year associates degree from an accredited college or technical school was required, which I never had.
It also seems that a few people had made it to engineer without a formal engineering degree, which could also be questioned. Those of us in this group were contacted several times an strongly encouraged to enroll in an engineering program at one of the local colleges, but nobody responded. At the time Motorola had a tuition reimbursement program where they would pay for the school.
During an economic downturn it became evident that the non degreed engineers were targeted for layoff, so I enrolled in a computer engineering program at a rather expensive private school and Motorola did indeed cover most of the costs.
Several years and several job assignments later, I wound up in "advanced development" formerly called Motorola Labs. They wanted an "advanced degree" and again paid for my masters degree in electrical engineering. After completing that, and with some prodding, I enrolled in a PHD program. After about a year, Motorola announced that "corporate" would no longer fund ANY tuition reimbursement programs, although an individual department could fund an existing program out of the department budget. My department said no, and formal education came to an end in the early 2000's.
Very few companies fund such programs any more, primarily because the "employment agreements" usually signed by the employee promising a number of years of service in exchange for tuition were deemed illegal.
The bachelors degree cost Motorola about $30K in the early 90's. The masters degree was cheaper because it was at a state owned school, but still about $15K. The PHD would have been about $25K in 2000. School is much more expensive now.
Thank you all very much 
As it seems the US is not for me. Atm Canada is my favorite. But writing my masters thesis in Canada also doesn't seem to work.
I honestly thought, that countries are looking for skilled work force, but it seems I have been mistaken (after reading Johnny2Bad's post on how hard it is to immigrate to Canada).
This morning (last evening from you pov), after talking to my professor and fellow students, I was planing on writing my master thesis in Germany and after that go for 1 or 2 years to Canada and work...but it seems that won't work either (I will finish next summer).
Well, now I have to think everything over again.
On the mater why I want to leave Germany: I don't know why, but I like English as a language. Also I am somehow looking for an adventure (not in an extreme way) and I had a feeling that Canada would feel comfortable as a new home (I have now gf or kids right now, so I am still flexible).
Well since plan B (working for 1 or 2 years or longer in Canada) doesn't seem to be realistic, plan C (South Africa) plan D (stay in Germany and get a phD) will have to be considered 😀
Greetings Michael
PS: New zealand sounds nice, but a little too isolated for my taste (also I can't image much mechanical engineering work going on down there). But I definitely will take a closer look at it 🙂
As it seems the US is not for me. Atm Canada is my favorite. But writing my masters thesis in Canada also doesn't seem to work.
I honestly thought, that countries are looking for skilled work force, but it seems I have been mistaken (after reading Johnny2Bad's post on how hard it is to immigrate to Canada).
This morning (last evening from you pov), after talking to my professor and fellow students, I was planing on writing my master thesis in Germany and after that go for 1 or 2 years to Canada and work...but it seems that won't work either (I will finish next summer).
Well, now I have to think everything over again.
On the mater why I want to leave Germany: I don't know why, but I like English as a language. Also I am somehow looking for an adventure (not in an extreme way) and I had a feeling that Canada would feel comfortable as a new home (I have now gf or kids right now, so I am still flexible).
Well since plan B (working for 1 or 2 years or longer in Canada) doesn't seem to be realistic, plan C (South Africa) plan D (stay in Germany and get a phD) will have to be considered 😀
Greetings Michael
PS: New zealand sounds nice, but a little too isolated for my taste (also I can't image much mechanical engineering work going on down there). But I definitely will take a closer look at it 🙂
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Don't give up on Canada so easily. (1) I think you had a completely unrealistic idea about getting a company to pay you to write your thesis, and (2) you are reading too much into the opinion of Johnny2Bad.
Canada admitted 271,000 permanent residents in 2015.
2016 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration
Oops, formatting screwed up. Note that there's 48,744 in the Skilled Workers category, and if want to come for 1 to 2 years, you could get a temporary visa much more easily.
EDIT: One last point is that you seem to be basing important life decisions on conversations and opinions of other people, some complete strangers on an internet forum!!!!!! Do some research yourself on hard data, if at least by googling.
Canada admitted 271,000 permanent residents in 2015.
2016 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration
Oops, formatting screwed up. Note that there's 48,744 in the Skilled Workers category, and if want to come for 1 to 2 years, you could get a temporary visa much more easily.
EDIT: One last point is that you seem to be basing important life decisions on conversations and opinions of other people, some complete strangers on an internet forum!!!!!! Do some research yourself on hard data, if at least by googling.
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As a mechanical engineer you should absolutely go to New Zealand!
Their sheds are magical engineering places which famously gave us not only The World's Fastest Indian but they also gave us what is still the most advanced racing motorbike (Britten) and functional 'jet' packs (Martin).
Their sheds are magical engineering places which famously gave us not only The World's Fastest Indian but they also gave us what is still the most advanced racing motorbike (Britten) and functional 'jet' packs (Martin).
I moved to an island (south end of Vancouver Island) in BC in 1976 and never looked back. As long as you don’t mind the rain in the winter, the best climate in Canada. There are growing number of tech jobs, housing is not as bad a Vancouver (which we call the big smoke), smallish city (300k in the greater Victoria area). A ferry ride from Seattle, Vancouver, or the smaller islands. A decent ski hill without leaving the island and lots of opportunities for outdoor activities. Decent surfing (as long as you have a wet suit). A very good university. Good health care — i just experienced a 5-month stay in hospital and am in subsequent rehab.
I would certainly be hard pressed to consider living anywhere else.
dave
Cool.
Don´t understand why you want to write your Thesis in another Country, besides: WHO will check/approve it?
Another University?
It would be weird to enroll "just for that",although it might be technically/legally possible.
And you increase odds against, at least they will do things slightly different from what you are used to.
Why not fully end your Education in Germany, reach as high as you can, and only after that move elsewhere else?
If anything, for post graduate studies, but with a full Degree under your arm.
FWIW my Son is studying Industrial Engineering in Buenos Aires (same as I did 40 years ago) but speaks perfect Japanese, is a Japan fanatic, and would love to "study there".
OK I said: get your full degree here, then study as many *post* Graduate courses in Japan as you wish.
If possible, also work for, say, 1 year at a Japanese Factory as training.
By the way, he´s now going there on holiday, and staying 2/3 months, as much as (current) University allows.
I suggested doing the same in other Countries, specially Germany and Italy, for starters his University is "associated" to one in Dresden, so like it or not he will have to assist a semester there.
I mention this , because he´s in a situation *similar* to yours, including studies, age, "freedom" and love for foreign Cultures and Languages (he currently speaks perfect Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, Japanese and Arabic and can hold a reasonable conversation in German).
Please keep us updated with what you do, now and in the future 🙂
Don´t understand why you want to write your Thesis in another Country, besides: WHO will check/approve it?
Another University?
It would be weird to enroll "just for that",although it might be technically/legally possible.
And you increase odds against, at least they will do things slightly different from what you are used to.
Why not fully end your Education in Germany, reach as high as you can, and only after that move elsewhere else?
If anything, for post graduate studies, but with a full Degree under your arm.
FWIW my Son is studying Industrial Engineering in Buenos Aires (same as I did 40 years ago) but speaks perfect Japanese, is a Japan fanatic, and would love to "study there".
OK I said: get your full degree here, then study as many *post* Graduate courses in Japan as you wish.
If possible, also work for, say, 1 year at a Japanese Factory as training.
By the way, he´s now going there on holiday, and staying 2/3 months, as much as (current) University allows.
I suggested doing the same in other Countries, specially Germany and Italy, for starters his University is "associated" to one in Dresden, so like it or not he will have to assist a semester there.
I mention this , because he´s in a situation *similar* to yours, including studies, age, "freedom" and love for foreign Cultures and Languages (he currently speaks perfect Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, Japanese and Arabic and can hold a reasonable conversation in German).
Please keep us updated with what you do, now and in the future 🙂
I'm truly envious, my deepest regret is not having that aptitude. I know a little French and ancient Latin but need to refresh everytime I travel. The Latin is just to translate old monuments for my family. My daughter speaks Japanese and we have 1/2 American 1/2 Japanese family near Tokyo BTW.
I am a bit astounded no one mentioned:
In the US technical PHD programs pay you. But are difficult to get accepted. Best is a strong personal recommendation from a proffesor to one of his peers at the desired university.
Second is getting a job with a German firm that will give you a position in the U.S. Bosch would come to mind.
Third is the item to compare is the murder rate of the localities. Where guns are not used, knives often are. But it is still your spouse that is most likely to do you in.
Fourth is that in the U.S. Not all universities are of the same quality. What would get you a B.S. at a top university would be more difficult than a masters degree at another. Same for a P.H.D.
As mentioned the U.S. Varies enormously by location. I would suggest doing a student vacation and visiting no less than New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and Seattle. Hitching and prearranged flights or even trains would be an inexpensive way to travel.
BTY at the moment I am in N.Y.C. in a "comp'd" room at a very nice hotel where most of the guests are Eruopean. Most expensive item is parking as driving four folks was the least expensive method. Suprisingly food costs are on par with Seattle.
As to health insurance, for folks in their 20's it can cost as low as $150 per month but you can have out of pocket expenses as much as $7,000.00 which the prudent keep in a special tax catagory "Health Savings Account." At my age the policies run $450.00 per month. My other option is pretty much full coverage at $900.00 per month. The exception is the insured pays $20.00 per doctor visit. The idea is this filters the need for visits.
For urgent care it is same hour service. I had a nose bleed that actually worried me so I splurged and went to an emergency room on a Sunday. This did cost extra, $50.00. (I was worried as I hadn't had one in 50+ years and being an engineer when it went past a measured pint, didn't know what would happen if it reccurred while sleeping.
My prior visit a few years before was for stomach pains, as that turned out to be appendicitis, there were absolutely no charges.
As to gun violence, as mentioned, it gets great TV coverage, but I have never seen a gun in illegal use. I first learned to use a rifle at the age of 6 and was on my high school rifle team. So guns are extremely common, violence is really a more localized issue. Easy to get the local statistics.
In the US technical PHD programs pay you. But are difficult to get accepted. Best is a strong personal recommendation from a proffesor to one of his peers at the desired university.
Second is getting a job with a German firm that will give you a position in the U.S. Bosch would come to mind.
Third is the item to compare is the murder rate of the localities. Where guns are not used, knives often are. But it is still your spouse that is most likely to do you in.
Fourth is that in the U.S. Not all universities are of the same quality. What would get you a B.S. at a top university would be more difficult than a masters degree at another. Same for a P.H.D.
As mentioned the U.S. Varies enormously by location. I would suggest doing a student vacation and visiting no less than New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and Seattle. Hitching and prearranged flights or even trains would be an inexpensive way to travel.
BTY at the moment I am in N.Y.C. in a "comp'd" room at a very nice hotel where most of the guests are Eruopean. Most expensive item is parking as driving four folks was the least expensive method. Suprisingly food costs are on par with Seattle.
As to health insurance, for folks in their 20's it can cost as low as $150 per month but you can have out of pocket expenses as much as $7,000.00 which the prudent keep in a special tax catagory "Health Savings Account." At my age the policies run $450.00 per month. My other option is pretty much full coverage at $900.00 per month. The exception is the insured pays $20.00 per doctor visit. The idea is this filters the need for visits.
For urgent care it is same hour service. I had a nose bleed that actually worried me so I splurged and went to an emergency room on a Sunday. This did cost extra, $50.00. (I was worried as I hadn't had one in 50+ years and being an engineer when it went past a measured pint, didn't know what would happen if it reccurred while sleeping.
My prior visit a few years before was for stomach pains, as that turned out to be appendicitis, there were absolutely no charges.
As to gun violence, as mentioned, it gets great TV coverage, but I have never seen a gun in illegal use. I first learned to use a rifle at the age of 6 and was on my high school rifle team. So guns are extremely common, violence is really a more localized issue. Easy to get the local statistics.
This is something I hear a lot from Americans but it is simply not true.
Australia banned many firearms yet there was not increase in violent knife crime following. All that happened is that the murder rates and numbers of other gun death fell.
And as I pointed out previously here in the UK guns are almost completely illegal except shotguns. Still more people got killed with handguns (4 in a year in my urban area of 6m inhabitants) than with any other means.
There is a lot of truth to 'God created men but Colt made them equal'.
Guns allow unfit people to kill from a safe distance.
If you could magically interfere in murders and at the last second replace guns with knives I guarantee that over 90% of victims would still be alive and uninjured.
I've never understood the ' right to bear arrms ' culture , sure i get the need and desire to protect home and family but there are many non lethal alternatives now such as tazers.
As the saying goes violence breeds violence and teaching children from a young age to shoot and see carrying a weapon as normal does nothing to lessen both the fear of violence or the act itself , our gun laws had a huge shake up after the Hungerford incident despite the ' massacre ' being an extremely rare event here .
The ' wild west ' was a long time ago now , time to move on and calm down a little ?
As the saying goes violence breeds violence and teaching children from a young age to shoot and see carrying a weapon as normal does nothing to lessen both the fear of violence or the act itself , our gun laws had a huge shake up after the Hungerford incident despite the ' massacre ' being an extremely rare event here .
The ' wild west ' was a long time ago now , time to move on and calm down a little ?
Compare rates for cities not country. (Perhaps my use of the word localities was unclear.). The classic story was when comparing rates, when my local police provided a number the question came back "for what month?" The answer was that was a years...
The interesting country comparison is between the U.S. and Canada. They still have some folks with guns and the murder rate is much lower.
The interesting country comparison is between the U.S. and Canada. They still have some folks with guns and the murder rate is much lower.
If you want to know about murder in the USA, look at Chicago. They passed 500 murders for the year, last labor day. The vast majority of murders, and thus gun crime, are in poor areas of major cities.
With 500 homicides in Chicago, time for African-Americans to get tough on crime - Chicago Tribune
Look at this map of murders, and zoom out to see all of Chicago.
Homicide Watch Chicago
With 500 homicides in Chicago, time for African-Americans to get tough on crime - Chicago Tribune
Look at this map of murders, and zoom out to see all of Chicago.
Homicide Watch Chicago
Fine, let's compare cities/regions.
I live in the West Midlands, a largely urban and (ex-)industrial region with just under 6 million inhabitants, it is the worst area in the UK for gun crime.
If I ask for a monthly breakdown of violent gun deaths the answer will be zero 8 out of 12 times and during the same year there were 3 fatal stabbings. These numbers are exceptionally high due to a turf war between two drug-dealing gangs.
Since we are comparing like-for-like: How does that compare to the gun-crime capital of the USA?
How does it stack up versus the most peaceful area of roughly 6 million people stateside?
Most of the murders committed in big cities do involve gang violence. Usually the gangs are also involved in drugs, prostitution and even human trafficking. This is the stuff that makes the news.
In the mid 70's through the early 80's there was a serious cocaine problem in the US, and much of that came into the country through south Florida. Machine gun shootouts between rival gangs, or between gangs and cops filled the TV screen. TV shows like Miami Vice were born from those days.
Googling "cocaine cowboys" or "cocaine VS FBI" will still bring up some of the more famous episodes of large scale shootouts. There was an "execution" where one gang decided to take down the leader in the Dadeland Mall, where I took guitar lessons. Several innocent people were killed. There was another ambush where several FBI agents were killed in the middle of US1, the road to Key West.
Fortunately that died down with the declining popularity of cocaine. Unfortunately, there is now a heroin problem and it brings with it the gang violence that is associated with large scale illegal activities. The heroin epidemic was spurred by the large scale diversion of opioid based pain killers. Too many people "looked the other way" in the name of profit, while a serious number of otherwise "normal" people became addicted. The unscrupulous "pain clinics" were shut down, leaving addicts nowhere to turn but heroin, supplied by drug gangs.
We have a family member who is now in jail by this path, and it seems that the bonds of opiate addiction are stronger that the bonds between mother and her children.
Guns aren't the real problem here, only a means to and end, and solving the heroin issue and reducing the gangs are the key to reducing that violence.
When I was young, my friends thought that my parents were the strictest in the neighborhood, in most aspects. They did not understand why it was acceptable to them for a young kid to take a gun out into the back yard and shoot things, but not ride a bicycle beyond the next block. That is just the way both of my parents were raised.
I have owned guns since my childhood. It was good fun to go to the shooting range and practice, or to the swamp and shoot old CRT TV sets. I had a valid gun carry permit in Florida, and despite being robbed at gunpoint at a young age, never carried a gun, and still don't.
Yes, people are killed with guns, but far more are killed in car accidents. I would not let gun violence take the US off of anyone's list, but I would research a particular city, or more important, neighborhood within a city, before moving there.
Still not quite talking. In the U.S. There are cities where there low crime rates and others such as Chicago with astoundingly high rates. So if the OP is looking around there are many U.S. cities where it is not an issue. If you odds of encountering violence are 1/1,000,000 or 1/10,000,000 is that an issue?
BTY in the town where I live the biggest crime in recent years was when the president of a corporation in the news was arrested for a disturbance he caused by banging on the door of his former mistress's house and fighting with her husband. (He did lose his job.)
BTY in the town where I live the biggest crime in recent years was when the president of a corporation in the news was arrested for a disturbance he caused by banging on the door of his former mistress's house and fighting with her husband. (He did lose his job.)
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I remember reading that you stand a higher chance of being shot by a cop in the States than another citizen.
Just been looking at some statistics published in 2015 ...
UK between 1990 - 2015 there were 55 deaths attributed to armed police shootings.
USA between 1 Jan 2015 - 24 Jan 2015 there were 59 deaths attributed to armed police shootings.
The safest location is Iceland with 1 death attributed to armed police shootings .... EVER!
Source The Guardian
Just been looking at some statistics published in 2015 ...
UK between 1990 - 2015 there were 55 deaths attributed to armed police shootings.
USA between 1 Jan 2015 - 24 Jan 2015 there were 59 deaths attributed to armed police shootings.
The safest location is Iceland with 1 death attributed to armed police shootings .... EVER!
Source The Guardian
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