Finding local Electrical, Mechanical and Mining Engineers in Lao

Hi alanwbkk,

Welcome to Expat.com!

You may submit an advert in the Laos classifieds > job section as well. It might help you.

I wish you good luck in your search.
Christine

Alanwbkk

There is only the National of Laos which has an Engineering facilty. May be contact them.

When I worked in Laos all our engineers were trained in Russia.

National University of Laos

Dear Stumpy,

Thanks for your comment, much appreciated.

I have already sent three e-mails to various people within the National University of Lao, including two to people in the Engineering Faculty, but so far nobody has replied.  I'll keep trying.

To be honest, we have not even yet submitted our bid for the contract, I'm just trying to get an early 'feel' for what's available.

Here in Thailand we already have a team of Thai engineers (Mining, Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil), but they are already busy. Looks like we might need to quickly expand our team here to quickly build a bigger but well experienced pool.

Can I guess that you are probably familiar with working with Thais in Lao.  I'm hearing that the working relationships between Lao folks and Thais are often quite strained, and often because of Thais taking a 'superiority' approach to their Lao counterparts.

If you have time, could I please ask you to share a  few overall comments on this subject, perhaps also your opinion of the quality of Thai engineers.

Here, we always aim to employ graduates from three universities only, Chiang Mai, Chulalangkorn, and Songkla. We don't accept engineering graduates from the many other Thai universities who have engineering programs because their knowledge and depth of key subjects like geology, and more, is extremely simplistic.

One other point, from your experience, what level of English language did you see in Lao engineers?

As above, if you have time, I would very much appreciated your comments.

Thanks again.

Kind regards,
Alan
Lampang, Northern Thailand

Hi Alanwbkk.

If I may ask what exactly is it you are bidding on in Laos??
Why I ask is that I am in the civil construction game myself and have worked in Laos before. I work overseas in different countries undertaking roadworks, dams, mine development work,drill pad set up for exploration work etc. Although I have no formal qualifications I do have enough experience in the industry. If you have a private email address I can send you my CV. I would love to get back to Laos to work as I am married and have family there. My email address
noi4me1999@yahoo.com.au

There is a feeling of superiority from Thai people over the Lao but this is not too much of an issue. Lao Engineers have good expertise and the one's whom I worked with in the mid to late 90's are all doing well. I have one whom you may like to contact. He has his own consultancy business in Vientiane and is always looking around for work to bid on.
Vannavong Soysouvanh  email vannavong_s@bomasis.org   

The quality of both Thai and Lao engineers is good.They all are keen to learn and have no preconcieved ideas of how good they are. Because of their culture they listen to their elders and are not dismissive. Lao engineers have reasonable grasp of english.

I do have a good contact in Laos. She has worked with Expat companies, worked with us and has contacts in the Lao govt design and research institute.

Regards
Ken Pentecost

Dear Ken,

Please check your private e.mail.

Alan

i'd be interested to work in laos as a trial of say 6 to 12 months. I worked in the civil engineering areas for about 15 years. my undergraduate and graduate degrees were in America. let me know what you got and I might come there to laos.

charlie x wrote:

i'd be interested to work in laos as a trial of say 6 to 12 months. I worked in the civil engineering areas for about 15 years. my undergraduate and graduate degrees were in America. let me know what you got and I might come there to laos.

Check out www.panaust.com.au  and www.mmg.com   These are the two big miners here in Laos. There are dams being built here too. There are Chinese and Vietnamese companies here too but they pay very little and do not tend to hire western expats.

I would Google  'civil engineering jobs Laos' and see what comes up. 

With those degrees have you thought of approaching the University here in Vientiane which has a good civil engineering school. I think I put the university on my list of schools I mentioned previously to you.

hi stumpy,
thanks for your replies.
laos has only one university, which I have visited the school more than ten years ago and I found it to be inadequate then. I may welcome the opportunity to teach there as well, if there is a chance.

the problem I see with laos is that the country has been divided into phans so starting a business there will be difficult as you need to know the loopholes/corruptions. on the recent visit, I seen that membership in ASEAN has changed Laos to a better environment now. perhaps if ASEAN members adopt the vision of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, their countries may too become first world countries in less than a century.

compensations of workers in laos is well below world standards, so I probably won't be banking six figures as I've been in the first world, but my desire is beyond financials, it is to help develop Laos to be better. it is heartbreaking to see poverty in the rural areas, especially among the ethnic people. being borne in laos, people like myself have learned in first world countries the skills, talents, and heart to elevate this poor nation to be in better world position. I hope that the PR law I've been hearing about will be in place soon. thanks again