Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomvart
Dave,
I agree, this is not the same country that I was brought into by my old man!
For the record - moving abroad to work/live is an incredibly brave thing to do, sounds like your happy there, so it was obviously the right move.
I moved to Sweden for a few years for similar reasons - after doing depressing contract work for the MOD procurement people - However I made the mistake of coming back when the project was paused awaiting funding, whilst living in Stockholm, I was able to see the UK from a totally different perspective....and I wasn't impressed with what I seen! The Brexit fiasco has just cemented that view into my mind and I am now wishing that I had of stayed there!
Tom
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Tom,
Quite true.......I just did not fit in anymore! There are two types of "Wallaseyans", those that stay, and get nowhere, or those that leave! To be perfectly objective, IF you have certain skills/experience, they are not appreciated in UK. Upon returning, I remeber two comments, one in the company where I worked: "Oh, so you claim to be a real engineer!: and another (from a plumber that installed paint systems at auto plants),"So, you're an engineer, like me! But then again, I'm a company director!". Yeah, mate, we're the same...........
I had come from an 81M USD contract where I had been tasked with finishing the entire project in twelve months. It was already in comissioning in ten months. This was with an Italo-Argentinian company. I built a bridge, I replanned civil works, I worked in the field planning very complex and difficult heavy lifts, I got stuck into electrics, instrumentation and power distribution. If I didn't know, I damn well found out quick. I also did a stint in Pittsburgh as a furnace specialist when an engineer came down with appendicitis and then peritonitis!
Lessons learned? Of course! Back in the UK, it was a case of endless tutting,"Ooh! we don't do things like that here!" (a-la Kenneth Williams). Various projects that utilized the wrong technology (known to the company) and lost money - Except for mine, where, because of "forward thinking", not only by me but my other two operative colleagues (other personages on the outer bounds!), we made good money for the company. In part, and because my face didn't fit, I was offered fixing projects (after successfully completing a 24M EUR project for St. Gobain in Spain which had been abandoned), but Iran, Siberia and Reading were not my cup of tea and I left. I was immediately offered a job in Newport for a steel plant, a good job, three year duration and high status, but, for the sake of my family, Mexico beckoned again. That last offer was from an international company that knew of me first hand (They had audited us on the 81M project).
Where I now work, my profile and abilities were a perfect fit, albeit a fourth change of country in six years. I now cover from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego and act as a specialist consultant on a worldwide basis. However, the paint is never dry and who knows where I will be in a year's time!
Rgds.
Dave