Career progression for Simulator Engineer

[Space1014]

Hi all,

Asking for a friend in my home town here, would really appreciate any thoughts or advice.

Daniel is currently working as a simulator engineer at the national airlines in Taiwan. What are the possible career paths for him to take which would (1) allow him to live in another country and (2) have a stable career? What I mean by stability is what kind of licenses/skills/positions should he work such that this knowledge will not become moot through new technology or become a dead end job? I remember reading in one of the previous threads with some advising that flight simulator jobs are not as great as before since the new sims will not need the skill sets that engineers from a previous generation have.

How does one get a foot in the door as a foreign individual?

For context he is thirty and has worked in another airlines as a mechanic after graduating from his Master's, and has five years experience with his current job. He will also be trying to become fluent in English.

Thank you so much for any comments.

[Genghis the Engineer]

If he has an MSc or MEng and is 30 with a reasonable number of year experience (5+ post graduation is sufficient), he should be a Chartered Engineer in the UK, or local equivalent (I've no idea about Taiwan but this would be a Professional Engineers' Licence in the USA, Eur.Ing. in a lot of the EU, and so-on). That puts him in the position of taking reasonable management responsibility, sign off design decisions, and so-on.

I would suggest that for international portability he gets full earned membership of one of the two major international bodies: either the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, or the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the associated "charter" either in the USA or UK, or his home country - or both. (If he doesn't mind the paperwork, all three). He can get Eur.Ing. from the UK if he has CEng and a second European language, just on paperwork.

After that, really what matters is not further qualifications beyond that - it's skill and experience. The simulation industry is global, and if he has the skills, getting permission to work in a foreign country is essentially a matter of being offered the job because he's the best man for it, then paperwork.

He absolutely should be engaging with the profession - both RAeS and AIAA have simulation specialist groups he can join, and organise conferences he can attend. This is how you get known and build a network you can trade on to move into better jobs in that sort of community.

G

[Dougie_diesel]

Everyone's favorite Irish airline are continually looking for sim engineers!

[corbett]

nice to read this thread thanks for your kind information about career progression for simulator Engineer.