After two years in the office of Sir John Fowler at London, Deane was engaged by Waring Brothers from 1869 to 1871 on the Hungarian railways, and from 1871 to 1873 was chief technical assistant at the shipbuilding works of the Danube Steam Navigation Company, Altofen, Hungary. In 1875, Deane returned to England, where he was engaged in roof and bridge designs as well as survey work. In 1879, he moved to the Philippines where he worked on sugar-works. He returned to England but left for Australia at the end of 1879, arriving in Sydney in January 1880 on the "Kent".