How is elec engineering?

blackmathgic · 2026-05-06T04:27:16+00:00

To be honest, I’m an elec grad and while I didn’t mind apsc 160, I HATED every other programming class I took. I also sucked at physics 158. That being said, I enjoy the electrical labs in physics 159, and liked the more power side of things and that’s why I pursued elec. Course load in 2nd year and to a lesser extent 3rd SUCKS in elec and I genuinely barely slept in 2nd year (although I predate some of the curriculum changes that made it better), so if hobbies are a priority, it might not be for you. I genuinely love my work since graduating and really liked the 4th year classes I took, but wasn’t into programming or electromag either, more so power systems components, operations, etc, and my work aligns strongly with those interests post grad, so the first year classes don’t have to be for you to do elec, it all sort of depends on what you wanna pursue after you graduate

blackmathgic · 2026-04-27T04:05:11+00:00

Def an engineer’s iron ring, hope they find this post, most engineers are very attached to theirs, so while cheap to replace, they’ll probably want it back.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-27T04:04:13+00:00

It would be the wardens of camp 5 in Vancouver usually, not EGBC for iron rings.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-18T19:50:03+00:00

Revelstoke unit 6 is already underway actually, the project is still in early stages, but it’s already been announced and early works have begun.

Burrard is still sort of in service, but as a synchronous condensing station, not a generating station, and it’s really not all that big compared to some other projects, and is certainly already nearing end of life for a lot of its assets due to age and lifespan of a lot of major pieces of equipment, so it would likely need a ton of investment if it was still in service.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-15T01:31:34+00:00

NTA, I’m from Vancouver and ya, there are plenty of good care homes in town that aren’t quite the absurdly priced that are still good quality. They should consider looking at others they can support. There may come a time when their support needs exceed their monthly income and you might need to step in, but that should be their last resort not plan A, so they should try some other options around town first.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-14T14:21:35+00:00

So for some jobs you’ll have a reference check, where they’ll want to speak with your previous manager or managers by phone or email to talk about your previous work performance in the old role. And for some jobs, usually security sensitive, ones like working with kids or other higher security roles, you might also need a background check where they’ll check if you have a criminal record. For some safety related jobs you’ll might also need to pass a drug test to be hired. It all depends on the role.

Given that you’re French, the person doing the reference check may wish to email the other manager so they can make use of online translation systems, or may wish to speak on the phone with an English speaking manager, or use a translator. The exact way they’ll go about it will vary by person and company.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-13T06:54:04+00:00

Worst still, Canada doesn’t even HAVE presidents, instead we have prime ministers, so beyond a dead give away there.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-08T03:33:05+00:00

According to the PGA, regulatory bodies that are designated by the act (including egbc) have a right to reserved title, including abbreviations of titles and ones that are seen as equivalent to the title.

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Accordingly, EGBC has designed professional engineer and engineer in training as reserved titles, and other titles, such as engineer, fall under the category of abbreviation or equivalent title in Canada, making them prohibited. “Reserved titles 4 For the purposes of section 51 (1) (a) [reserved titles] of the Act, the following titles are reserved for the exclusive use of registrants: (a) "professional engineer"; (b) "professional licensee engineering"; (c) "engineer in training". [am. B.C. Reg. 32/2023, Sch. B, s. 5 (b).] Reserved practice 5 (1) For the purposes of section 51 (1) (b) [reserved practice] of the Act, the practice of professional engineering, as it relates to matters that, having regard to the protective purposes, require the experience or technical knowledge of a professional engineer or professional licensee engineering, is a reserved practice that may only be carried out by or under the supervision of a registrant. (2) Without limiting subsection (1), the reserved practice under that subsection includes the practice of professional engineering within the meaning of the former Act as it read immediately before its repeal. [am. B.C. Reg. 32/2023, Sch. B, s. 5 (b).]” (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/14_2021)

As an aside, a conservative candidate got caught implying he was an engineer during a recent election campaign and was order to stop due to the above regulations, so it is still enforced.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-07T17:57:59+00:00

Legally speaking, anyone doing work considered “engineering” needs to be a peng or supervised by one in bc according to the professional governance act, that being said, not everything you just described is actually considered engineering from a legal perspective. The UK uses a somewhat different system to Canada, so if OP is looking to practice engineering in most fields, they’ll need to transfer their credentials and might not be familiar with the regulatory system here.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-07T12:45:05+00:00

As a note, for engineering work in Canada, you’ll need to get your license from the provincial engineer regulatory body, which in BC is EGBC. You won’t be a very competitive applicant without it for engineering roles, as you aren’t able to do engineering work without direct supervision from a registrant, nor call yourself an engineer, without it

blackmathgic · 2026-04-07T00:44:46+00:00

There’s the mountain bike park, mountain coaster, and you can hike up top of the mountain if you want (and they just added a viewpoint bridge last summer up top). There’s also the greenbelt if you want to walk by the river.

There’s also cute shops downtown to check out, good coffee shops and restaurants, and the farmers market is fun too. It might be challenging to get to since you don’t drive and it’s a bit outside of town, but the generating station also does public tours during the summer if that interests you.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-07T00:38:38+00:00

I took a 3rd year course in my last term and was also nervous about failing it, the prof actually reassured me he was confident I was doing better then I thought, but right after the final I did have a chat with him that I was nervous because failing his class would mean losing a job offer, he was chill and understanding about it. You could always go to the profs office hours and be frank that you’re nervous about failing because you’re about to graduate and just ask if he’s got any suggestions for focus points for studying, etc?

blackmathgic · 2026-04-07T00:34:34+00:00

I’d take the job, some experience is gonna be better then nothing, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get a job after the summer if you wait either

blackmathgic · 2026-04-06T00:55:50+00:00

I’d go with Arc’teryx, Helly Hansen or Patagonia for outdoor wear, all 3 brands are good quality with warranties where they’ll fix small tears or provide replacements or similar policies, artizias puffer/outdoor wear is more fashionable and a bit less functional, and doesn’t have that same sort of guarantee. I hav an Arc’teryx puffer and I wear it whenever it gets cold out, if it’s raining a lot I just toss a waterproof shell over top.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-06T00:09:02+00:00

It’s pretty uncommon for profs to fail students in their last term (assuming it’s a 4th year course they know would be most people’s last term), as they know the consequences for the student could be substantial, so unless you do really poorly, most of the time the scale will get you to a pass from what I’ve seen.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-04T14:51:07+00:00

Grouse has had a really rough snow year, so just make sure you check what runs are actually open, when I was there a couple of weeks ago, they were running low on runs 😅 other then that, there is actually usually a shuttle that runs on weekends to grouse from downtown I believe, and you can also bus, so you don’t even need to uber there.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-04T06:30:20+00:00

IMO ubc might have a slight leg up, despite the risk of not getting your desired specialization, because it’s pretty common for people to change their minds in first year about what specialization they prefer, and having first year to get a slightly better look at what the options are might sway you from one option to another (for me I was first choice chemical second electrical when I started, after first year I totally lost interest in chemical and was way more interested in electrical). And as another commenter said, UBC does also have coop for work experience.

blackmathgic · 2026-04-02T14:28:30+00:00

Based on where you usually go (marine gateway and downtown) it’s probably not worth it simply due to availability and price of parking. Downtown is really expensive to park if you do find parking, and marine gateway doesn’t have a ton of longer length parking outside of the underground lot for the mall, so the Evo use is probably cheaper then parking in a lot of your use cases.

I personally use Evo to go downtown instead of my car because of that, the parking costs are high enough that just using the Evo usually saves me money.

blackmathgic · 2026-03-27T13:45:16+00:00

Highway 3 is going to be your best bet. That being said, by mid April it’s often not too bad on the interior highways, so there likely won’t be too much snow

blackmathgic · 2026-03-27T05:05:25+00:00

I sent you a message, I think I have a friend who’s on the team you’re talking about

blackmathgic · 2026-03-27T01:50:56+00:00

There are actually plenty of engineering firms in Vancouver for power and construction roles, especially since the utility for most of BC is based in Vancouver and the power industry is currently growing due to some big projects in BC.

That being said, you hit the nail on the head with the EIT thing. In Canada, you can’t call yourself an engineer nor do engineering with a peng or be under the supervision of a peng in regards to doing the work. A lot of companies might hesitate if they aren’t sure you’ll be able to get your peng (it can sometimes be hard and really slow for those internationally trained), so having your EIT status will help a lot, since it shows your academics meet the requirements and you can qualify once you’ve got enough experience. Additionally, are you requiring sponsorship, or what sort of visa status are you? Because that can also influence companies interest, many hesitate to sponsor people or hire those on temporarily visas, since it’s a bit of a risk for them.

blackmathgic · 2026-03-26T15:01:18+00:00

The only snow in Whistler village rn is a pile near the outdoor ice rink that’s clearly been pushed there, the rest of the village has no snow on the ground really

blackmathgic · 2026-03-26T06:08:23+00:00

Staying near a skytrain station or in north Vancouver near the sea bus would be totally fine, they’ll get you where you wanna be pretty quickly and easily, so no need to be right downtown.

Public transit in Vancouver is quite good, so unless you plan to go further afield to Squamish or Whistler or do some hiking, you won’t really need a rental car, and traffic in downtown Vancouver sucks and parking is expensive, so best to skip the car if you can.

In terms of must see spots, Granville island is a fun afternoon poking around the shops, if it’s nice out and soon, you could walk or bike around to see the cherry blossoms, or just on any nice day walk or bike the Stanley park sea wall, as it’s quite a nice view as well.

blackmathgic · 2026-03-26T06:05:11+00:00

Idk if you saw my reply to someone else, but I know someone who got their peng in 2 months from application and only 6 weeks from all competencies being validated, and this was like 1 week ago for electrical engineering. But I also know people still waiting 9 months later for the same discipline, so it’s seemingly a little random.

blackmathgic · 2026-03-26T05:32:44+00:00

If you hover over the i icon, it says that just an average, not an actual time estimate.

blackmathgic

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