Has anyone heard of or even graduated from Engine City Tech in South Plainfield, NJ? I took the plunge and started there in June in order to collect some unemployment. My goal for the past year and a half or so has been to get into the maritime industry, and I’m hoping after I graduate (Nov 5, '10) I’ll be able to get some type of port engineer job. Is this a possibility even though the school mainly focuses on heavy duty trucks? I’m learning everything about diesel engines, just not marine propulsion systems. Is it possible to strictly work as a shore based engineer, if so how would you go about getting any USCG endorsements (or are they necessary on shore)? As always and info is appreciated!
If the school is an accredited tech school like a community college you are on a good track for working shoreside. I can’t speak for New Jersey or that area but there are many diesel shops in the Fort Lauderdale area that specialize in marine propulsion and seem to always be looking for techs. Good mechanics are very hard to find and guys who like to work in the confines of an engine room are even more rare.
If you want to move on to working at sea your school time will be worth something, but in the new world order of training it is an open question as to how much time it will count towards CG certification. If you can leverage your Cat, DD, Cummins, and other diesel experience into a shop job with a workboat company you will be well on the way towards a good career at sea or onshore.
Your school should have a placement office and they must have info about local marine diesel shops looking for techs. Many of the guys I have met who took community college diesel courses were hired before they graduated. Try and concentrate your job search on the major service companies with a manufacturers affiliation and then try to get into the marine diesel side of the operation if you can. Next choice would be to go with the large local marine diesel shops … you want to have further training opportunities available, factory courses and such.
Good luck, there is a lot of opportunity for someone with a plan and the vision to make it happen.
[quote=Alex13;22272]Has anyone heard of or even graduated from Engine City Tech in South Plainfield, NJ? …
I’m learning everything about diesel engines, just not marine propulsion systems. Is it possible to strictly work as a shore based engineer,
Thanks
Alex[/quote]
[B]Sure is, Shipyards , there are a few within 12-20 miles. :)[/B]
Thanks! I am going to try to get in with Cummins, because the director of the school and a couple of instructors worked for them for years, so supposedly they have some connections. There is also a Cat shop with a big marine branch in the area, so that’s a possibility too. Buts their career placement office seems pretty pathetic. It’s one lady who seems very good at getting people jobs loading trucks for UPS/Fedex, but nothing they want to do. I had to send her my resume 5 times, because she kept losing it.
NAUTICART, are you from Jersey? Can you provide any names of shipyards I could look into? I’m under that a large majority of the shipyards in jersey are union shops.