question for CANADIAN engineers

My girlfriend is applying for medical residency in several "outlying cities" across Canada and her city ranking-order will be somewhat influenced by my ability to find employment in these cities.

If you have a sense of ENGINEERING employment availability across Canada, please rank the following cities from "best to worst" in terms of the QUANTITY of engineering jobs available in each city. More specifically, this would be for electrical or biomedical engineering.

Here is the list: Winnipeg (Manitoba), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) St-John's (Newfoundland)

General impressions about the cities are also appreciated. Thanks.

Reply to
enginquiry
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My girlfriend is applying for medical residency in several "outlying cities" across Canada and her city ranking-order will be somewhat influenced by my ability to find employment in these cities.

If you have a sense of ENGINEERING employment availability across Canada, please rank the following cities from "best to worst" in terms of the QUANTITY of engineering jobs available in each city. More specifically, this would be for electrical or biomedical engineering.

Here is the list: Winnipeg (Manitoba), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) St-John's (Newfoundland)

General impressions about the cities are also appreciated. Thanks.

Reply to
enginquiry

All are cold, St. John's is not as cold but much wetter. On the other hand you can find *lots* of great local music anywhere in Newfie.

I grew up in Vancouver and now live in New York, because the scientific and engineering employment picture was so grim.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

New Orleans, California, ditto (except for the temperature gradient.)

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Hey, I heard all the chemical and civil engineers are being sucked into Alberta to work on the oil sands out there. A contractor (chemical) who used to work there said that in the cities, you can hardly find an engineer, they're all working on the oil sands...

Reply to
onehappymadman

Consider Fort McMurray .. It is oil sands boomtown.

Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see: Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs (among other things)

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void _-void-_ in the obvious place

Reply to
Boris Mohar

AFAIUI there is some offshore oil work in St. John's (eg. Hibernia). There's some telecom-related high-tech in Saskatoon, IIRC. Winnipeg has a relatively small but diverse manufacturing sector. All are pretty lightweight in terms of overall engineering jobs AFAIK (but I don't know for biomedical so check into that), and all are fairly isolated. St. John's has the the friendly "down East" atmosphere and is a bit warmer. Saskatoon in the middle of the vast flatlands and is the only one with its own song (the Guess Who "Running Back to Saskatoon"). Saskatoon and St. John's are similar size and very small (200K), Winnipeg is more substantial but still less than a million (so it's the only one that comes close to being a real city). Last time I was in Saskatoon was so long ago my impressions are doubtless outdated, but it was dominated by grain elevators, full of friendly folks, and rather nicer than the capital Regina.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

The Guess Who also wrote "So Long Bannatyne" about a street in Winnipeg. I forget who wrote "Moody Manitoba Morning", but I'll bet it was also a Winnipegger. Doesn't exactly make you want to move there. I would pick St. John's.

For what it's worth, try to get assigned to Ottawa - it's a very nice place and the people are the friendliest I've ever met. But then, I'm from Winnipeg.

-- Joe Legris

Reply to
Joseph Legris

Hello Spehro,

Saskatoon can be really cold in winter. Our flight didn't have the luxury of a gang way and I thought somebody had bitten into my nose when stepping outside.

Friendly they are indeed, and that's what would matter most to me.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

There is not as much minority gang violence in the cities you listed, although I would hesitate at calling them "outlying" Some of the smaller cities have above average quality of life.

Reply to
not i
[snip]
[snip]

Ha! Sounds like Pocatello, little 12-place, 2-prop puddle-jumper, from Salt Lake City... lands sideways because the wind is blowing so hard.

You think you'll die before you complete the walk to the terminal.

I made the car rental guy walk me to my car because I was afraid I'd get lost in the blizzard ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Did you see the movie _Cool Runnings_ based on the true story of the Jamaican bobsled team (ha)? The scene of them arriving for the Calgary winter Olympics... temperature -40 or something like that. No problem, mon .

I wouldn't be surprised if there are fewer grain elevators, but the people will be the same.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

But they are outlying in terms of proximity to a substantial city. There are also many smaller cities that are within an hour's drive of a major city, so one could live in the smaller community and visit the big city when you want to.

All those places have universities, which is a very good thing IMO for the quality of life. And there is always the internet for all the things you can't find locally, except I'd expect the restaurant situation to be fairly grim if you crave good inexpensive ethnic food. It's always a trade-off, and depends on individual tastes and interests. IME, special interest groups often have a more cohesive core in smaller cities than in larger cities where there is a much larger group of people-- probably because the meetings fulfil other needs.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

I've heard that (outside of the techie communities, which are always friendly) both Ottawa and Winnipeg are a bit err.. stratified socially at the upper end. Don't know how true that still is.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

No, no, no. There are no civil engineers, and only a few that appear to be mechanical. Don't believe me? Read S. E. D. for a week without using a killfile.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Hello Jim,

Or Minot, ND. My wife did a clinical trial there and after picking up the rental car keys she asked where the hotel is. "There, just across the street...". Then the TV crews came because there was an out-of-state person doing something in Minot. Wow. On the way out the aircraft taxied towards the runway and the pilot announced "We're the first in line for take-off". There was no other airplane around...

But as Spehro said, people in those kinds of places are really friendly and that's what really matters. I could never live in a place like NYC, LA or SF. If I had to live in AZ I'd check out Sedona or something more remote.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

On sober reflection, "chemical" explains a lot.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

That may be a characteristic of most fairly large cities. Being firmly embedded in the middle class I never noticed it, which may be because it is true.

-- Joe Legris

Reply to
Joseph Legris

Sno-o-o-ort ;-)

"Friendly" certainly is critical. Sedona has become too high end, though we often retreat to Enchantment Resort (watch for the possible wrap)...

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The kids went together one Christmas and treated us to three days. Now we go back about once a year.

But there's lots of semi-rural Arizona places to live... with high-speed Internet ;-)

(Also, it SNOWS in Sedona, so I'd probably opt for some place like Tubac :-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

It makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. Since you love your girlfriend, your highest priority should be that she goes to wherever she wants to. Wherever it is, you will find work that's appropriate for your skills. There's always _something_. And if your girlfriend is happy, what difference does anything else make? ;-)

("Honey, you pick whichever is the best for you, and I'll follow you to the ends of the earth, yadda, yadda, blah blah blah... Kiss me!")

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

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