Telecom Jobs in Canada - RF Engr.-

[josephdadreamer]

Folks,

How's the Telecom Job opportunity in canada? Kindly share your experience here...

[AllisonVSC]

I am Allison VSC's partner and I work for a Canadian Telecom operator. I am also an EE and Accountant.

Job opportunities for RF Engineers in Canada are pretty good. Although generally the growth of the industry is constrained by regulations which need to be revisited (e.g., foreign ownership restrictions), the rapid increase in wireless data traffic, and emergence of wireless substitutes to traditional services (e.g., mobile TV, WBB) is putting stress on the national wireless infrastructure, and network RF engineering teams are quite busy.

Beyond operators, many consultancy businesses and several equipment suppliers (RIM, Nokia...) also hire talent in the RF engineering arena.

A couple of caveats:

- Preferable to establish contacts in the prospective hiring companies before making any major commitment to moving to Canada - if your professional project is the main reason for the move. An exploratory trip may be a good thing.

- Be willing to show some flexibility about the job location: Ontario is well endowed in wireless companies (Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto), even if the recent recession has put some of the smaller ones temporarily in the ropes; but other provinces such as Quebec and Alberta also offer opportunities (including in avionics for Quebec).

- If you are not proficient in French this will be a problem in Quebec (may not be unsurmountable if you do not have to work with the public). If you are, this will be an opportunity in many places, elsewhere in Canada.

- Finally, once you have circumscribed your target province get familiar with the provincial Professional Engineers body and make contact to understand what they require to recognize your particular engineering credentials. The sooner you do this the more time you will save and problems you will avoid. Many jobs with Telecom operators either require Canadian P.Eng. credentials, or consider it an asset (yes, this is a protectionist gig, but better work with them than against them).

Good luck.

[josephdadreamer]

 @ AllisonVSC Thanks for the info.

I am Allison VSC's partner and I work for a Canadian Telecom operator. I am also an EE and Accountant.

Job opportunities for RF Engineers in Canada are pretty good. Although generally the growth of the industry is constrained by regulations which need to be revisited (e.g., foreign ownership restrictions), the rapid increase in wireless data traffic, and emergence of wireless substitutes to traditional services (e.g., mobile TV, WBB) is putting stress on the national wireless infrastructure, and network RF engineering teams are quite busy.

Beyond operators, many consultancy businesses and several equipment suppliers (RIM, Nokia...) also hire talent in the RF engineering arena.

A couple of caveats:

- Preferable to establish contacts in the prospective hiring companies before making any major commitment to moving to Canada - if your professional project is the main reason for the move. An exploratory trip may be a good thing.

- Be willing to show some flexibility about the job location: Ontario is well endowed in wireless companies (Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto), even if the recent recession has put some of the smaller ones temporarily in the ropes; but other provinces such as Quebec and Alberta also offer opportunities (including in avionics for Quebec).

- If you are not proficient in French this will be a problem in Quebec (may not be unsurmountable if you do not have to work with the public). If you are, this will be an opportunity in many places, elsewhere in Canada.

- Finally, once you have circumscribed your target province get familiar with the provincial Professional Engineers body and make contact to understand what they require to recognize your particular engineering credentials. The sooner you do this the more time you will save and problems you will avoid. Many jobs with Telecom operators either require Canadian P.Eng. credentials, or consider it an asset (yes, this is a protectionist gig, but better work with them than against them).

Good luck.

[JCSR]

Hello Friends

How is the market in the PABX / switching arena.
I will be landing in a weeks time and I needed some info on this because not much is spoken about the Telecom field in the blog.

Thanks in Advance

[AllisonVSC]

Hello Friends

How is the market in the PABX / switching arena.
I will be landing in a weeks time and I needed some info on this because not much is spoken about the Telecom field in the blog.

Thanks in Advance

Again from my partner...
What kind of job / activity are you thinking of working: PABX vendors (Central Office circuit switching equipment is flatlined for practical purpose)? Enterprise telecom manager? Telecom operator sales & engineering staff for a telecom operator in the business segment? IP infrastructure (enterprise, operator?).
 
About the market, same thing has been happening here as everywhere else: the public switched network is going IP/ softswitch / IMS. The private enterprise network are going with IP-Telephony systems (Cisco, Avaya etc...).  Traditional circuit switching telephony is on the way out.

I hope that helps...it makes no sense to me, lol. Guess it's the language of telecom. Allison

[JCSR]

 Hello AllisonVSC

I have around 10 years experience on traditional switches from Nortel, NEC, SIEMENS etc in the area of maintenance and day to day operations of the system. What is the scope of this field?

Thanks in Advance

[AllisonVSC]

Hello, AllisonVSC's partner again.

DMS-100, 5ESS, and, in general, Class 5 switching gear is a capped technology in Canadian public networks, so the opportunities are mostly about maintenance and keeping the stuff running. Served lines are typically going down 2% a year as a percentage of the subscriber base. Hence, although I have not been involved with that technology for over 15 years now, my guess would be most opportunities are to be found with 3rd party players to whom these tasks would be outsourced. In a nutshell, not a growing field and not a prime area of activity as operators face intense capex pressures for other technology investment (IP, LTE, IMS, FTTn, etc.).

[JCSR]

Dear AllisonVSC's partner

You mean this field has no much scope unless you have Nortel DMS or AT&T 5ESS switch experiences which are large switches used to manage an entire city.
My area of expertise is of small to medium size switches like Option 11,61 from Nortel, NEC Aspire Key Systems and Siemens HiPath switches. This could leave me redundant unless I look for alternatives. Please advice me accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

[AllisonVSC]

Dear AllisonVSC's partner

You mean this field has no much scope unless you have Nortel DMS or AT&T 5ESS switch experiences which are large switches used to manage an entire city.
My area of expertise is of small to medium size switches like Option 11,61 from Nortel, NEC Aspire Key Systems and Siemens HiPath switches. This could leave me redundant unless I look for alternatives. Please advice me accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

We are off for the holiday. If you send me a private message I will be sure to ask my partner to respond when we get home. Allison

[JCSR]

Dear AllisonVSC's partner

Make the best of your holidays, we shall blog once you are back.

Bye

[josephdadreamer]

JCSR,

Are you currently working as a switch engineer or RF? Thanks

Dear AllisonVSC's partner

You mean this field has no much scope unless you have Nortel DMS or AT&T 5ESS switch experiences which are large switches used to manage an entire city.
My area of expertise is of small to medium size switches like Option 11,61 from Nortel, NEC Aspire Key Systems and Siemens HiPath switches. This could leave me redundant unless I look for alternatives. Please advice me accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

[Canadian Career Coach]

Unlike the US, the Telecom market in Canada is alot smaller.  There are fewer players, and the big 3 (Bell, Telus, Rogers) have monopolies in many geographic areas.  What certainly has happened over the last few years is internet and cable companies like Shaw are branching out into this marketplace. But the Canadian CRTC which regulates the industry is very tight.

[josephdadreamer]

Do they hire people directly or they prefer to hire by contract basis?

Unlike the US, the Telecom market in Canada is alot smaller.  There are fewer players, and the big 3 (Bell, Telus, Rogers) have monopolies in many geographic areas.  What certainly has happened over the last few years is internet and cable companies like Shaw are branching out into this marketplace. But the Canadian CRTC which regulates the industry is very tight.

[AllisonVSC]

My area of expertise is of small to medium size switches like Option 11,61 from Nortel, NEC Aspire Key Systems and Siemens HiPath switches. This could leave me redundant unless I look for alternatives. Please advice me accordingly.

I asked my partner about your expertise, but he said he doesn't have any insight for you on those types of switches.  Sorry we couldn't help. Allison

[JCSR]

Hello JosephTheDreamer

I'm into switching/Pabx maintenance.
Nortel Pabx's, NEC, Siemens.