Florida Engineering jobs?
 

I know this is a long shot and kind of off topic but, I am a senior Mechanical Engineering student at Manhattan College and I will be graduating in May. It has been a dream of mine to move to Florida after graduation to enjoy some of the greatest boating in the world. Since there is such a large number of OSOers from Florida, I was wondering if anyone is an engineer that can help guide me or anyone that knows of companies that are hiring.

Thank you!

Good Luck
 

I live in Florida and have been searching for construction management work for over a year. I've been in the biz for 27+ years so I am as they say "seasoned". Very little going on here so I have since gone nation-wide in my search. Would love to go back to the Chicago area but I'll go where ever I can at this point.

AIC - depends what you want to get into. Turbine is about the only indusrty that sustains a large number of engineers in Florida from what I saw.

I looked at Florida towards my graduation as well but wasn't too thrilled with the market (little different coming from the MotorCity!!!). However, I have seen a very large shift of engineering jobs leaving Detroit for the Carolinas' and Texas...may want to open your options to those areas as well.

I am a mechanical engineer and work for a comapany in Naples, Florida. Where are you looking to live? There are alot of engineer jobs in Florida. Most are in the Tampa and orlando area. It all depends on your back ground and emphisis in college. What are you looking to get into?

Hope this helps
Don

Wages are typically lower than most anywhere else in the country - it's the price we pay for living in paradise...... so we keep telling ourselves. Florida is feeling the same economic slump the rest of the north is - but I think our area is worse since our local economy has been driven by the building/real estate boom that went bust. We definitely need more educated people in the work force in Florida, so I'd encourage you to look just the same.

HTH, David

There are a lot of engineering positions in Tampa, every time I take a gander at monster, I find tons in the area. Nice place to live, too.

We're looking for someone at the moment, but we need someone with experience in Aerospace, and we need the position filled like yesterday - otherwise, I'd try to hook you up.

Good luck!

What do you know about bridges? My guess is there should be plenty of that kind of work to go around for at least the next ten years. We've got a few bridges here in FL.

Harris and Northrop Grumman in the central east coast area always seem to be hiring. (Near Port Canaveral / Space shuttle)

Oh yeah, and speaking of the Space Shuttle... I hear they have an engineer or two on staff over at NASA :)

Fantastix,
Thanks, I’ll give the Carolinas and Texas a look too.
dg,
I prefer Aerospace, but I am open to other areas (construction, marine, energy, automotive, etc) as well. I enjoy just about all of the mechanical engineering areas. In terms of areas in Florida, I also am very flexible. I have visited South Florida, Tampa and Orlando and enjoyed them all, so location in Florida is not a huge factor.
Cigdaze,
Please keep me in mind if anything comes up!
Vette,
Thanks, I will defiantly be applying to all three of them. :D

Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate it!

I work for Jacobs Engineering, I know we have an office in Lakeland. Not sure if thats the only location in Fla or not. I'm sure if we're down there, other engineering firms are going to be there as well.

I believe Sea Ray is in florida and posts on Monster quite a bit for openings.

Too be honest I always thought searching out jobs on my own was the way to go but now i swear by headhunters. Its not always just what ya know but who you know. Just a thought to give them a try in the areas you're interested in as well. many of the best jobs never even get posted. its how majority of CEOs get their jobs so theres gotta be something to it!!! :D

Ditto. A lot of headhunters don't want to work with new graduates though.

AIC,

Not sure what branch of ME you are looking to pursue but the company I work for has offices in Tampa, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Miami, Deerfield Beach, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee. We are consulting engineers to the building industry and our ME's focus primarily on commercial and industrial HVAC. If interested, let me know and I can hand deliver your resume to our HR director. Also let me know what office you may want to work in.

Mike

Thanks but AIC is the ME looking for a job. I'm Chem E and pretty happy where I'm at. :cool-smiley-011:

Wow, you responded within the time that it took me to realize my error and correct it!



AIC,

If interested in the field of consulting engineering in the Tampa area, I can also help you understand which companies you do NOT want to work for.

Mike

So.....You have an office in Fort Myers? I would love to stop driving 50 miles one way to work in Naples. I might be intersted. Do you need to be a Professional Engineer to be in the building industry?

Thanks
Don

I'm quick like that. :D

BigMike,

I am extremely interested! May I have your email address or if you prefer my email is [email protected]

Thank you! :D

Fla is really sucky right now,taxes,ins,will kill you not to mention that in the summer here is like living up north in the winter,kinda have to hibernate cuz its too damn hot.i would advise to pick somewhere in the middle...
The Breaking Point Could Be Near



New trends in economic activity continue to show Florida homeowners may be at the breaking point. Property taxes and insurance despite some tinkering continue to sap property owners of their ability to pay. A recent Zogby International poll shows half of South Florida residents and 37 percent statewide are considering moving out of state. Home Foreclosures continue to rise and Florida is second only to California nationwide. Florida however is closing the gap and predictions show a 27 percent rise in foreclosures as a sluggish housing market continues. South Florida has been particularly hard hit with overvalued properties and high property taxes. A lot of property owners are more than three months late and their lenders have notified them of their intent to foreclose. This in turn is going to cause late notices going out in the fall and a new glut of homes on the market by next summer. Tighter credit and fewer options for homeowners with nervous lenders is spelling disaster for Florida and across the nation. This credit crunch sent the Dow plummeting 280 points Friday alone. The impact on the economy of the excessive local government taxation is reflected in the 1.5 billion sales tax revenue shortfall to the State of Florida. The Local government continues to spend on corporate welfare and failed social programs. The insatiable appetite of Unions for excess government worker benefits has required ever higher taxes to fund their pension and health benefits plans. These perks are so generous that no private sector worker could ever dream of having them.



These results underscore the need for further reform for property owners. The voters in January will vote on whether the super-homestead amendment is right for them or reach for something more substantial. Decisions are being made by our legislative bodies that may or may not be in our best interest. The constant lobbying by outside groups has diluted what reform we get, and now we are in the midst of an economic crisis. The Orlando Sentinel has estimated that population growth in Clearwater and St. Petersburg has decreased in 2005-2006. Indicators in the housing market are not showing a rebound any time soon as residents are deciding if it’s worth staying. While all these indicators alone may not be that significant, but together pose a significant threat to Florida and the American dream of home ownership. Those that do have it are finding it increasing hard to hold onto it. Each month that goes by we are losing a piece of our state to reckless and arrogant lawmakers that have put on blinders to what is happening. The voters need to regain control of their way of life. The time may be right for a constitutional ballot amendment for November 08. If it’s a proposition 13, California equivalent or a Sales tax amendment that needs to get the job done then so be it. You decide.

I am ME and took a job at Mother Ford right outta school, took a pay cut to come work for Raytheon (Mil Electronics) in St. Pete (Tampa area). I love it here and I have not missed Dearborn for even 1/2 second. Most of the mechanical engineering work in Florida is electronics packaging or HVAC. It is true the pay is less compared to NE, and our property taxes sux, but we have no state income tax and that helps, a little. My personal focus was to have a job I could tolerate and live where I wanted to live, hence my move to Florida. I am curious, have you done any internships while at school? That helps figure out what style of work you want to do, ME is pretty broad and you can go lots of directions (which is good thing).

My brother lives in Pompano and is a construction manager for commercial builder. There building a United Rental in Miami and a 24 hour Gym around Lauderdale now, I'll ask him if he knows if their looking for anyone.

I think that is my goal as well. Like you stated ME is a very broad disciple, which is one of the reasons I was attracted to it. With that said, I would prefer aerospace, but I enjoy a lot of other fields (consulting, automotive, marine of course, electronics, etc.)

It's funny, because I read all that sht in the doom and gloom newspapers all the time, but I sure as hell don't see/feel it.

Unless one bit off more than they can chew, or were dumb enough to take out an adjustable rate mortgage on a home that was 50% overvalued and stretched themselves to within 90% of their debt-to-income ratio, you won't feel the pain. As a matter of fact, home values falling to "normal" and "reasonable" levels will only help a young, ambitious, new-comer to the state.

Don't get discouraged, AIC.

I'm with mneal. All's well, for the most part. Something will always suck, no matter where you go, it's no different here...you just focus on the positives.

I'm from the shthole known as Jersey, it's a one-way move, no going back.

:cool:

AIC,

Shoot me an e-mail with your resume, salary requirements, and preferred location. My e-mail address is *[email protected]*. Remove the * before and after.


dgduck13,

The need for a PE depends on what you want to do. If you want to be in project management, a PE is a must. If you are interested in design work, a PE is optional. Let me know if you are interested.

MIke

AIC

I'm currently looking for a new ME. We build custom CNC machines and I have more work coming at me than I can handle right now. Experience would be nice, but I'll take a new grad that can handle the work. We are located in Austin, TX. I know it's not Florida, but I would put Austin up against just about any other city. Shoot me an email ***s2quick at austin.rr.com***.

I just received an offer her in WI from cummins filtration. My advice is use the head hunters. They were the best helping me find a job out of school. Also if your looking for a ME job in the marine industry call.......
Linda Gelinas
1-886-870-4003
She is a great recruiter in the marine industry.
http://marinejobs.biz/index.html

Try Avalon Engineering in Cape Coral. Good luck!

Thank you for the replies guys, I truly appreciate it!

you might want to try FPL, they are always looking for engineers