[b3n99]

So I'm going to be graduating from Sheffield University with a Masters Mechanical Engineering degree in about June time (and can't wait to be done with it to be honest) and am trying to find ways of earning some money that will also allow me to travel and spend some extended periods away on climbing trips. Im not afraid of hard work, and originally planned to just work for a while somewhere (climbing centre, cafe or the like) to earn some money and allow me to go away for a few extended trips.
Anyone got any advice as to what sort of jobs may be suited to me? Somewhere I'm not going to get tied into a full time job but preferably decent pay so I can save up some money.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks!

[tomtom]

I know a few people (and some are on here) who work in Engineering and IT and their work is contract based. IE work a 6 month contract then have a break for a few months (sometimes enforced sometimes not!) then pick up another contract. Though they all have experience in the field - not sure how easy it would be for someone to do this from scratch (ie for their first job..).

[shark]

CAD Design Engineers often work on contract

[Falling Down]

PhD after the Masters?  I did mine with backing from the EPSRC rather than a grant so I got a proper salary (£16k per year - a lot in 1993) plus extra for lecturing part-time.  I went climbing, surfing, biking and had loads of fun for three years.  Just make sure you write the thing up. 

[dunnyg]

Not useful right now due to oil price, but offshore work maybe? usually 2 weeks on 2 weeks off at least so plenty of time for trips.  PhD is a good idea if it is your kind of thing.

[Fultonius]

In my experience (M.Eng Mech Eng too) it is likely to take a few years to be useful enough that you'll be able to pick up contract work. I worked 5-6 years before becoming a contractor, did that 3 years while living in Chamonix and now I'm back at Uni again doing another Msc, as the oil industry ... well, you know.

Alternatively you could try and get some site work - working in petrochem/coal/nuclear doing maintenance shutdowns/turnarounds (TARs as their known in the industry) - those are more likely to be able to give you contract work early on, but it's pretty shit (IMO)

So, the problem isn't really the hard work, but the time it takes before you're useful enough to become a contractor.

[205Chris]

As tomtom mentioned you might struggle to get contract work as your first job, it also has the potential to be a bit 

It's usually well paid, however you might well find yourself working long hours, away from home with no time / energy to train during the week. You're obviously offsetting that against being able to take longer trips after working for a few months.

FWIW I've got pretty much the same degree and work full time in Sheffield, 4.5 days a week. A bit limited in being able to do long trips but plenty of time to train and get out at the weekends / evenings during the summer.

It depends how much time you want to take out but some graduate schemes allow you to defer entry for a year, so you can take time out but with the security of knowing you have a job to come back to.

[cha1n]

I reckon getting a few years experience in mEng and then having the flexibility to do contracts is a good idea or as suggested, lots of the Sheffield climbers are doing PhDs!

I can't think of many jobs that lends itself to long trips away long-term except contracting or I'd be trying it out! You're certainly at the age to give it a go.

[tomtom]

PhD after the Masters?  I did mine with backing from the EPSRC rather than a grant so I got a proper salary (£16k per year - a lot in 1993) plus extra for lecturing part-time.  I went climbing, surfing, biking and had loads of fun for three years.  Just make sure you write the thing up.

16k in today money or back then money? I got 7.5k in 95 for mine and lived well (bought lots of records ), so you must have lived like a king for that back then! Tax free too \o/

[Falling Down]

Back then money - couldn't believe my luck.  Bought my first house (and lots of records), got married and probably only worked properly for three days a week.  Good times.

[andy popp]

probably only worked properly for three days a week.  Good times.

Just like Tomtom now, in fact.

[b3n99]

Cheers for the advice guys, some interesting suggestions. Contract work does look ideal but obviously need to have some experience and specialise quite a bot more before i'm going to be at that stage. Offshore work is another thing I've looked at but seems incredibly competitive to get into in the first place and all the graduate schemes seem to be aiming at people willing to commit to all their time off the rigs studying (compensated by getting paid a ridiculous salary, £45,000 for a graduate which is crazy, but money isn't really my main concern at the moment).
Im more looking for a completely different job for the next few years (not engineering at all) to allow me to save some money, travel and enjoy some time off as I've constantly been in education my whole life, before jumping into something like whats been mentioned here.

Anyone suggestions for that type of thing? Don't mind hard/manual work if the pays decent, could be fruit picking to reception work, just anything park time, as flexible as possible and hopefully not minimum wage.

[Oldmanmatt]

Second Engineer, Mega yacht (500 GT +) ~€5-6K tax free pcm. Chief Eng (so 2nd + min 18mth sea time) ~€7-10K tax free pcm. Usually you can work either the Med season (Monaco GP to Monaco Boat show) or the Caribbean season (Sept - April).
Progress to project management or refit management (winters only) ~€10+ pcm.
Owners rep on a new build, ~€lots (depends on the prestige of the build).
Get to play with all kinds of high tech gizmos, from Helos to subs.
Always working in very nice places.
Parley your experience into a Ship yard management position.

Pissing it all away, optional..

http://www.insull.com/newsite10/crew.html

http://www.camperandnicholsons.com/superyacht-crew/yacht-crew-agency.htm

https://www.burgessyachts.com/en/burgess-crew-services/

It also seems to be quite recession proof. Turns out the rich are always with us.
Well, on us really.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tomtom]

probably only worked properly for three days a week.  Good times.

Just like Tomtom now, in fact.

Cheeky... (2.5 days actually... ) though rather scarily, accounting for inflation 16k in 1993 is very close to what I'm getting paid now...

[Oldmanmatt]

Second Engineer, Mega yacht (500 GT +) ~€5-6K tax free pcm. Chief Eng (so 2nd + min 18mth sea time) ~€7-10K tax free pcm. Usually you can work either the Med season (Monaco GP to Monaco Boat show) or the Caribbean season (Sept - April).
Progress to project management or refit management (winters only) ~€10+ pcm.
Owners rep on a new build, ~€lots (depends on the prestige of the build).
Get to play with all kinds of high tech gizmos, from Helos to subs.
Always working in very nice places.
Parley your experience into a Ship yard management position.

Pissing it all away, optional..

http://www.insull.com/newsite10/crew.html

http://www.camperandnicholsons.com/superyacht-crew/yacht-crew-agency.htm

https://www.burgessyachts.com/en/burgess-crew-services/

It also seems to be quite recession proof. Turns out the rich are always with us.
Well, on us really.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I was a couple of glasses in when I wrote that.
It is a serious, but very much overlooked career path and quite transferable.

I started behind you academically. By the time I left the Navy, I had used their CPD route to grow my HND to iEng and AMIME (as it was).
Took the Engineering council route to CEng and MIMarEST and then a Post Grad Dip, DipMarSur to MIIMS (International Institute of Marine Surveyors). I was progressing to FIIMS and finalising my MSc in Marine Surveying when I abandoned my career and frankly at that stage it was ego/status related because I already had a thriving practice.

There are many advantages to Super and Mega yacht work. I worked short contracts and used my time off for studying, expeditions, skiing etc etc. I was never tied to a company and so free to pursue any career path I felt like. I picked up a PPL in Rotorcraft along the way by taking the left seat of the vessels helo (where there was one) and blagging a lot of right seat hours if the pilot had his instructors ticket.

I also became a Chamber operator and Medic and Gas Blending Technician. Several of my mates became Sub or ROV pilots.
I took my Military Dive training and built it to Advanced Trimix and got to do a lot of work for National Geo.
work highly paid short contracts and mixing with the right people can be very rewarding.
It's incredibly hard work and way more more hands on than a trad Engineering career.
There is way more to say, but I couldn't recommend it enough.


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[Fultonius]

Working as crew on boats could also be an option - I knew quite a few people who did that for a few years. Or, move to Chamonix and get a job as a transfer driver - 4 days a week, but you can typically climb/ski/bike on many of your work days too. ~€10/hr and you usually get may and October off.

Loads and loads and loads of good climbing within few hours, plenty of "psyched peeps" to climb with. You don't even really need to be that into the mountains - plenty of sport and bouldering to be done too. But that would miss the point a bit.

[twoshoes]

If you decide to go for a low paid fruit picking/shop/cafe job, make sure you're careful with your savings. I took that route and managed to blow all my money on weekend trips to Font and the like, so I never had the cash for big trips. It was only when I get a 'proper' job that I could afford them (but then had a wangle with the boss for unpaid leave).

[Oldmanmatt]

Working as crew on boats could also be an option - I knew quite a few people who did that for a few years. Or, move to Chamonix and get a job as a transfer driver - 4 days a week, but you can typically climb/ski/bike on many of your work days too. ~€10/hr and you usually get may and October off.

Loads and loads and loads of good climbing within few hours, plenty of "psyched peeps" to climb with. You don't even really need to be that into the mountains - plenty of sport and bouldering to be done too. But that would miss the point a bit.

On that note,many yachties worked the boats in the summer and Chalets over the winter. Again hard work but the hour basically gave them the days free to ski/climb etc. I was too into my job, but even then, Barcelona has one of the biggest refit yards in the Med (MB92) and refit manager on a project there (I did it three times) gives you a five day week in the best city in Europe and weekends Skiing/Climbing etc with only an hours (ish) drive.


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[tommytwotone]

I know a few people (and some are on here) who work in Engineering and IT and their work is contract based. IE work a 6 month contract then have a break for a few months (sometimes enforced sometimes not!) then pick up another contract. Though they all have experience in the field - not sure how easy it would be for someone to do this from scratch (ie for their first job..).

+1 to this - though in my industry (IT) you'd need a bit of wool on your back (I'd guesstimate 3-5 years as an absolute minimum) to be going contracting.


After that though, something in the £400-£500 per day ballpark is totally achievable so completely possible to do 6 months on, then take a few off (assuming you're any good and get extended - contractors work on a week's notice of termination).


You can also structure your affairs (start own company, invoice your "employers" etc) in such a way as to be more lucrative than being a full-time permanent employee somewhere.


From the guys I know that do it, the key seems to be not to get used to the money - know a lot of people with the big house, the cars in the drive and the fancy holidays who now can't turn down the renewal even if they wanted to!

[Fultonius]

From the guys I know that do it, the key seems to be not to get used to the money - know a lot of people with the big house, the cars in the drive and the fancy holidays who now can't turn down the renewal even if they wanted to!

^^^^This!!  So many people get into contracting more for the coin, than the time off. Save enough to keep you afloat for 1 to 1.5 years, live a bsic life and it's easy to take the time off. Get sucked in to the dosh and you'll be working non-stop.

Not to gloat - but I was managing to work 3 or 4 months a year for the last 3 years...until it went to shit

[cjsheps]

Ben, do you play any instruments well enough to teach? I know a few people who have set themselves up to teach out of their garage, or working with a music shop etc. The only problem I can foresee is that it takes a while to establish a client base.

[Grubes]

From a Mech engineering point of view. Avoid milton keynes and northampton (i.e. F1/other racing teams) very good wages but the hours are grim and living in the flat lands.

Best option is London sign up to a 6-12month contract look into the measurements and control industry. Earn enough money to live on for 2-3 years (even paying london living expenses) then go travelling. Worry about the left of life for when you get back.

This maybe my vague plan for a few years time.

[SA Chris]

Offshore work is another thing I've looked at but seems incredibly competitive to get into in the first place and all the graduate schemes seem to be aiming at people willing to commit to all their time off the rigs studying (compensated by getting paid a ridiculous salary, £45,000 for a graduate which is crazy, but money isn't really my main concern at the moment).

I wouldn't bother at the moment, the industry is in freefall. So many experienced people have been laid off and will get snapped up in a second if there is any job going.

If you have any interest in skiing / snowboarding you could work as a liftie or something in one of the ski resorts in America for a winter, then travel the states climbing for a few months? You need to apply early  and work long hours, but worth it. At the end of the season I bought a cheap van from someone who was leaving and travelled around for 6 weeks. Pay isn't great and accommodation expensive, but if you don't blow the cash getting pissed every night and spend lots of money on new kit you can save a reasonable amount, especially if you do the odd overtime day when the weather is shit. I had so much fun I did it two years in a row!

[ohhamburgers]

I'm currently working as a lab technician for a university, but have thought about going for school lab tech jobs in the future. Long summer, Easter and Christmas holidays (and half terms holidays) without having to deal with all the shit teachers get from kids. The money isn't amazing but it's only 8 months working a year.

[Paul B]

The industry I work in (Civil Engineering, mainly the water sector) is continually looking for Mechanical grads but I wouldn't say that it's a good industry to be in if you want lots of time off. My employer (I work for a Design/Build Consultant/Contractor joint venture), the Consultancy side, is fairly flexible with the amount of leave you can 'buy' up to a maximum of 45 days which includes company days and bank holidays. I buy the maximum (obviously) and this is enough for a good balance of holiday length trips and half days during the summer to allow me to make the most of my new location. The trouble is the contractor side of things are used to working much longer hours and from earlier, with less holiday.

If you went into a consultancy type role it'd be very 9-5.

Large trips are viewed as odd. So far Nat and I have got away with them due to 'life events' i.e. getting married, end of PhD for me coinciding with a lull as above etc. but I honestly can't see this happening again for some time. Working contract would be a good option especially in the water sector as the cyclic nature of the funding available means there's a natural lull every 4-5 years. I'd imagine people would want to see you chartered before they'd employ you on this basis (as a minimum). If you want to chat about this more drop me a message on FB. I'm fairly sure my employers are advertising.

PhDs are definitely the favored route for extending the eternal climbing student life.

Shark is correct in that a lot of CAD technicians seem to work contract. However, in my industry at least you'd need to be competent in at least one other specialty i.e. Civil 3D or Revvit. Less and less work is 2D.

Just do the PhD and worry about this in 3.5/4 years...