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Where would an engineering technology diploma take me?

Newbie
Jul 7, 2010
2 posts
1 upvote

Where would an engineering technology diploma take me?

I'm currently in my first year of engineering at the University of Alberta, but I'm very strongly considering withdrawing since I've been really struggling with some of my math courses. At this point I don't believe that I will pass if I continue on and have begun looking at other options, like the engineering technology programs at NAIT. I'm trying to find information on exactly what kind of jobs a tech diploma would lead to. The few people I know of that have gone this route seem to all be working in places like Ft. Mac and other smaller cities throughout Alberta, which isn't really where I want to end up. Sure they make good money there but I would like to be able to live in a bigger city, preferably even somewhere outside of Alberta like BC or Ontario eventually.

Does anyone have any information about this? In particular, I've been looking at the chemical engineering technology and biomedical engineering technology programs. Any recommendations on different disciplines that might be of interest to someone in my position? What is the job market like for someone with an engineering tech diploma outside of Alberta?
6 replies
Member
Sep 30, 2012
305 posts
42 upvotes
Hamilton
I graduated from a 3-year Advanced Diploma in Software Engineering from Mohawk College and currently have a very solid career job with a very good pay. I still want to go back to school and get a degree in Computer Science but that's a whole other topic.

To be honest, in my field the job market for College graduates seems pretty good. All the guys that graduated from my program have good jobs now and they're all getting paid good money. What's good money? At least $40k start and eventually got to the $60k to $80k a year after 5 years, some even made it to the $90k but luck along with your abilities does play a role. The good thing about College is you're getting good technical hands on skills. I can't speak for all Colleges in Ontario but my program at Mohawk was pretty decent, sure the education part is not as advanced in theory when compared to a University, but you can bet that when you graduate, you'll have the essential skills to land a job. For example I worked in the past with University graduates (Even from UofT and Waterloo), yet I noticed with entry level, the College graduates were more capable developers than the University graduates, what does that say? I'm not sure since I only speak for my experience, but the bottom line is, if you graduate from a decent College program in whatever technology, you will be ready for the industry.

One more note, if you decide to go this route, make sure to choose a co-op program, if there's no co-op program, forget about it. Despite all the school flame wars, don't pay attention to people, after your first job, it's all about your job experience in the future, and your first job is usually easier to land when it's through a co-op.
Member
Feb 14, 2011
306 posts
3 upvotes
Toronto
How about computer hardware engineering? I'm a high school student, getting decent marks (I guess) took university level courses
Member
Sep 30, 2012
305 posts
42 upvotes
Hamilton
sneakynoob wrote: How about computer hardware engineering? I'm a high school student, getting decent marks (I guess) took university level courses
I think the field you're looking for is called Computer Engineering. It's basically an overlap between Electrical Engineering (Mostly designing electronic circuits) and Computer Science (Low level programming in Assembly and C for most part). An old friend of mine graduated from Waterloo Computer Engineering program with co-op, he's doing pretty awesome right now.
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Mar 6, 2015
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This is only an information post.
kuhai2001 wrote: Should you go to college for certificate, just avoid the coiny private institutes with low reputation.
If the post or comment helps or delights you, please CLICK that LIKE BUTTON!
Meiji: Ambassador Swanbeck, I have concluded that your treaty is NOT in the best interests of my people. So sorry, but you may not.
Swanbeck: This is an outrage!
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User avatar
Mar 23, 2008
13006 posts
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Edmonton
cybercavalier wrote: This is only an information post.
Why would you threadsurrect a 5 year old thread for this?

C
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Mar 6, 2015
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CNeufeld wrote: Why would you threadsurrect a 5 year old thread for this?
Your question is appropriate. I want to save readers time who may have similar interest in the subject. Please read the following two threads, in 2005 and 2011. The OP of the second thread might not realize that six years ago someone had asked a similar question about where to study for making films at university. If the second OP had tried tags or read the posts in the first thread, the contents of the second OP's post would have been more informative in possibly asking for advice to pick between college and university programs.

Why answer seekers need to search for information each time when previous seekers and readers -- myself for example -- can help by posting relevant information in one post. As the previous seekers have been reading and seeking the information at the moment, they can tell whether the information is relevant. The case may be different months later when latter seekers ask previous seekers for similar question. At that moment, the attention would be elsewhere so previous seekers could not help but feel only sorry. One post saves minutes if not hours of searching....
If the post or comment helps or delights you, please CLICK that LIKE BUTTON!
Meiji: Ambassador Swanbeck, I have concluded that your treaty is NOT in the best interests of my people. So sorry, but you may not.
Swanbeck: This is an outrage!

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