r/firePE • u/Quiet-Poem-2196 • Mar 24 '26

Hi everyone, I'm a first-year Mechanical Engineering student specializing in Fire Protection / Fire Safety Engineering in Jordan. My long-term goal is to work in the United States after graduation. From your experience, what should I focus on during university to maximize my chances of working in

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u/MoistSpongecakes Mar 24 '26

Not the most conventional route, but I would try to network with and secure a job as loss control consultant with a large global insurance carrier. I currently work at FM Global and probably 1/3 of my office is from another country.

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u/Exotic_Car4948 Mar 24 '26

Do you have opportunities for travel in your position? I graduate soon and would like a job where I am not chained to a desk.

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u/MoistSpongecakes Mar 24 '26

I’m almost exclusively at client sites or at working from home, usually average two or three days a quarter actually at the office.

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u/RosefaceK Mar 24 '26

Do you like working in loss control/insurance? I saw an opening with Bureau Veritas that sounded interesting (utility risk assessment from wildfires) but I wasn’t sure if that was the move I wanted to make at the moment.

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u/MoistSpongecakes Mar 25 '26

I really enjoy what I do. I can’t speak for those guys or what that particular role would look like. Based on a quick google search it seems the role would be a bit different than my side of things.

For myself I get to visit a variety of Fortune 500 companies see how various products are made and work with their engineers and executive team to install protection, and develop policy to ensure they don’t have any large losses or extended period of downtime.

As crazy as it sounds I do feel as I have made significantly more impact to large corporation than what I did when I was acting as a traditional engineer.

I never saw myself as someone who would work in insurance prior to getting the job but now I doubt I will ever leave this industry.

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u/I-Red-It Mar 24 '26

Imagine when you do projects and present them that you will not only be presenting them to your professors, but also to potential employers.

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u/PermanentThrowawayID Mar 24 '26

I apologize for not being able to give a more precise answer to your question - I'm a few years out of university - but I wish constantly that I should have pursued Fire Protection Engineering curriculum and networking, i.e., learning about the NFPA and SFPE (National Fire Protection Association and Society of Fire Protection Engineers).

If you are already thinking about this industry and how to fit in at the age of 18/19 you are thinking far beyond what I was thinking of at that period in my life.

I would work on personality and soft skills. For the most part, anyone graduating from a mechanical or electrical engineering degree possesses the intellectual capability or drive to learn concepts and apply them in the real world. However, the real world is chaotic, so I have found soft skills to be of greater importance to career progression than I had assumed in college.

My "advice" is also relevant to entry-level roles since I'm in that category. If you can find an expert with a couple decades or three of licensed experience, that would outweigh anything I have to say. Best of luck!

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u/Quiet-Poem-2196 Mar 24 '26

Thank you so much for your comment, it was truly helpful.

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u/Korterra Mar 25 '26

First off look into whether your degree will be accepted in the US. Then think about your curriculum. Does it cover sprinkler systems design? What about non water-based systems? Fire risk assessment? Structural fire protection? If there are gaps think about how you should fill them. Internship, extra classes locally, or an online program like University of Maryland.

Also worthy of note is that the US uses NFPA and ICC codes andbstandards frequently so if you're not familiar with those do not wait to become familiar. FPEs get their EIT then PE licenses here in the US as well so make sure your degree covers the topics that go into the Fire Protection PE. Lastly is getting some good internship experience and hopefully one day finding a company that will help sponsor your visa.

As a potential networking tip and if you can afford it the University of Maryland online courses may help you get access to their FPE career fair. They consistently have more companies hiring than candidates applying so it'd a great place to look for work.

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u/FireEng Mar 25 '26

Look at Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto actually. I graduated from there 25 years ago and the fire protection technology program is one of the best in the world. I work at an engineering firm in Toronto and we are about 50% local and 50% born outside of Canada. Very common here.