We work long hours, unpaid overtime, only entitled to 21 holiday days in which 3-4 are taken off us during “company shut down”. You start of your career as a “graduate engineer” to a “junior engineer” then to just an “engineer” then “senior”. The climb up the ladder takes an incredibly long time. The pay is absolutely terrible. You have to consistently job hop in order to make decent advancements every 1/2 years. I can't believe I wasted 6 years in college for this, doing both an undergraduate and masters. Stay away from this god awful profession. My aspirations of becoming a chartered engineer are completely out the door. I'm currently making the transition to project management.
Btw – I live in Ireland. But have worked abroad in Europe and it's the same!