Working in the Canadian oil sands: 6 figures in 6 months!

[metalhaze]

Thanks for the info Scotian, much appreciated.
However most of these jobs seem to require some sort of certification and 3-5 years of experience. do they train you on the job however? I guess it aint hard to get the certifications? I'm in my late 20s, live in montréal and have a degree in business...I'm sick of paying high taxes here but the lifestyle is so good and fun. What opportunities are there for me? I work in the banking sector as a project coordinator.

best

 

[scotian]

Thanks for the info Scotian, much appreciated.
However most of these jobs seem to require some sort of certification and 3-5 years of experience. do they train you on the job however? I guess it aint hard to get the certifications? I'm in my late 20s, live in montréal and have a degree in business...I'm sick of paying high taxes here but the lifestyle is so good and fun. What opportunities are there for me? I work in the banking sector as a project coordinator.

best

Check out the website of the major oil sands companies: Suncor, Syncrude, CNRL, Shell, Total, Statoil, MEG Energy, Cenovus, Husky, etc.

They all require financial types, there are some decent gigs up there like 7 days on 7 off, flights back to Edmonton or Calgary.

If you're looking for a career change and getting into the trades, there are MANY different options, not all require experience, the better one do though.

My advice to ANYONE would be to take an entry-level position at one of the various companies I listed above which DO NOT require ANY experience. Spend a couple of months out there, look around, see if you like it and go from there.

Once on site, if you have decent social skills and are a half decent worker, you can network, meet other people and go from there. As I've said many times in this thread, the bar is low, its not hard to impress potential employers and move onto something better, everyone does it!

Good luck!

 

[metalhaze]

thanks scotian. I would guess you mean entry positions in the camps in fort McMurray which would lead to better pay.
btw I also noticed that not all positions provide housing on camps. seems that rent in F. mcmurray is insanely high.

btw what about entry office position such as administrative assitant ? (I'm overqualified)
like this one (I've seen similar admin assistant position for most big oil companies in calgary and in F. mcmurray)
http://www.statoil.com/en/Careers/JobOpportunities/VacantPositions/Pages/1309249114.aspx

Peace!

 

[scotian]

thanks scotian. I would guess you mean entry positions in the camps in fort McMurray which would lead to better pay.
btw I also noticed that not all positions provide housing on camps. seems that rent in F. mcmurray is insanely high.

btw what about entry office position such as administrative assitant ? (I'm overqualified)
like this one (I've seen similar admin assistant position for most big oil companies in calgary and in F. mcmurray)
http://www.statoil.com/en/Careers/JobOpportunities/VacantPositions/Pages/1309249114.aspx

Peace!

Yes that looks like a decent gig and a perfect example of a job for a guy like you who has a business background, start there and move up, QUICK! Trust me, I can't stress it enough, you WILL advance quickly if you have half a brain in your head!

This is a 40 hour/week gig, suitable for someone who lives in Fort Mac (4 10 hour shifts, every weekend is a long one!) and yes, rent is insanely high there (NYC prices) basically its $800-1000 for a bedroom in a house, the last place I was staying at was a 1200 Sq Ft furnished condo and my company was paying $3500/month for it!

Its up to you but I would prefer to work shift in Fort Mac camps (say 2 weeks on, 1 off) and live in a half decent city like Calgary or Edmonton.

Keep looking around, try some of the major oil sands contractors too (especially for shut down work- big money in short time): Jacobs, FT Services, DCM construction, KBR, Transfield Services, Ledcor, Canonbie, Aecon, Lockerbie and Hole, Quinn Contracting, BFL Construction, PCL, Enerflex, etc.

Also, you can try some drilling companies, they also have work in Fort Mac and other areas of AB,BC and Sask: Precision Drilling, Nabors Drillling, Trindad Drilling, etc.

Cold call, e-mail, etc. Get in touch with the HR people and see what they have to say, there's lots of options and now is THE BEST time to make your move (next 3-6 months).

 

[xmlenigma]

Mixx - Would love to talk to you, pick your brains sometime. I've had my share of Mgmt, Strat, Ops & Tech consulting. I'd like to connect with you to get a bearing on how I could move into a similar space: 4 on/ 4 off...

I took some easy low paying (good experience though) jobs for lifestyle reasons, I know many guys in Fort Mac who are MACHINES and work 24 on 4 off ALL YEAR (maybe 1 or 2 weeks off, max!), and gross 250-350K, power to those guys but I don't think its really worth it to work that much, I'd rather work 6 months and take my 100K then peace out!

True. True. I myself have taken lesser paying jobs at times because I really am at a stage in my life where money is no longer a priority for me - I got plenty, so now, at age 37, I just sustain myself with EASY gigs that facilitate 3-4 months off per year without breaking a sweat or worrying about $$$ when I am NOT working.

I was a corporate slave for many years, chasing a carrot on a stick corner office, a fine secretary I could not touch, and over 500k base annual salary - fuck that, no more.

4 month easy gigs/4months off is definitely the life for me!

Mixx

I was a corporate slave for many years, chasing a carrot on a stick corner office, a fine secretary I could not touch, and over 500k base annual salary - fuck that, no more.

500k...chapeau. What field are you in ?

I'm currently making slightly above 50k Euros annually before taxes as an MD in Germany - 1 year out of university. Always looking for other options, lol.

Music, Television, owned 3 technology consulting businesses.

Mixx

 

[xmlenigma]

thanks scotian. I would guess you mean entry positions in the camps in fort McMurray which would lead to better pay.
btw I also noticed that not all positions provide housing on camps. seems that rent in F. mcmurray is insanely high.

btw what about entry office position such as administrative assitant ? (I'm overqualified)
like this one (I've seen similar admin assistant position for most big oil companies in calgary and in F. mcmurray)
http://www.statoil.com/en/Careers/JobOpportunities/VacantPositions/Pages/1309249114.aspx

Peace!

What kind of $$$ are such 'Document / Admin / Co ordinator" jobs paying? I have a close buddy who I'd like to guide in this direction.

 

[speakeasy]

+1 rep for Scotian from for providing such generous info. Damn man, you've actually got me thinking about this shit. I'm at a bit of crossroads period in my life where I'm looking for some sort of change but not sure where to go or what to do next. The idea of making 6 figures in half year is awesome. I could probably put up with shitty conditions and do blue collar work with no girls around if I was getting paid phat like that. Wouldn't do it forever. But I have zero blue collar background and really have no skills that are transferable into something like that. Also I'm 35 and I don't know if they're looking for really young bucks out of high school or what.

Mixx, that's some serious scratch, that's like Wall St money. I think you said you grew up working class on the streets of NYC. I'd love to hear you break down how you went from that to making half a mil a year. Like what it took to get there.

 

[misterstir]

I just want to clarify a few things.
1. Your tax rate will be provincial + federal + local. so the 26-29% + 10% in alberta = 39%. Really alberta is unsually low tax as far as Canada goes. Quebec top tax rate I believe is almost 60%. And Ontario is about 50% and on par with european welfare states. Even comapred to the so called 42% dutch rate, you can see Alberta's 39% rate is not a huge improvement, you're still going to pay lots of taxes. Compare that to US where obama is paying 26% and romney 15%.

2. I'm skeptical of what Scotian says about finding a job being easy for a new guy with no experience. I'm not calling him a liar or nothing like that. I just think it might be easy for him as an experienced plumber to find work. This is because in Canada, it is easy to find jobs for people with 3-5+ years of work experience in any given. However if you have no work experience but just school in general it is very difficult to find a job, for whatever reason Canadians do not like to hire inexperienced people. Even new doctors and new lawyers have lots of trouble finding work here. Even for entry level jobs you will need to have worked 3-4 internships in university to get a good job. Often these same employers who refuse to hire Canadian university grads then turn around and claim they cannot find any qualified talent and demand immigrant workers, who ironically they refuse to hire because they claim they have no Canadian experience or poor language skills (no shit sherlock, wtf do you expect). On the otherhand, it can see logical that if you have all these jobs, and lack of people/workers, it only make sense that you have lots of jobs. Probably the last boom province in canada besides saskatchewan.

Anyways, despite my skepticism, I think this is nonetheless I great datasheet with lots of good information, good job Scotian

 

[pitt]

I just want to clarify a few things.
1. Your tax rate will be provincial + federal + local. so the 26-29% + 10% in alberta = 39%. Really alberta is unsually low tax as far as Canada goes. Quebec top tax rate I believe is almost 60%. And Ontario is about 50% and on par with european welfare states. Even comapred to the so called 42% dutch rate, you can see Alberta's 39% rate is not a huge improvement, you're still going to pay lots of taxes. Compare that to US where obama is paying 26% and romney 15%.

2. I'm skeptical of what Scotian says about finding a job being easy for a new guy with no experience. I'm not calling him a liar or nothing like that. I just think it might be easy for him as an experienced plumber to find work. This is because in Canada, it is easy to find jobs for people with 3-5+ years of work experience in any given. However if you have no work experience but just school in general it is very difficult to find a job, for whatever reason Canadians do not like to hire inexperienced people. Even new doctors and new lawyers have lots of trouble finding work here. Even for entry level jobs you will need to have worked 3-4 internships in university to get a good job. Often these same employers who refuse to hire Canadian university grads then turn around and claim they cannot find any qualified talent and demand immigrant workers, who ironically they refuse to hire because they claim they have no Canadian experience or poor language skills (no shit sherlock, wtf do you expect). On the otherhand, it can see logical that if you have all these jobs, and lack of people/workers, it only make sense that you have lots of jobs. Probably the last boom province in canada besides saskatchewan.

Anyways, despite my skepticism, I think this is nonetheless I great datasheet with lots of good information, good job Scotian

Always good to hear a different perspective.

I guess the wages that can be made in Canada oil fields can also be misleading. If for example, you are making 125k per year, you will probably end up with only 75k after taxes, right? (the 75k is not a realistic number, i didnt do the taxing calculation but you get the point).

 

[scotian]

I just want to clarify a few things.
1. Your tax rate will be provincial + federal + local. so the 26-29% + 10% in alberta = 39%. Really alberta is unsually low tax as far as Canada goes. Quebec top tax rate I believe is almost 60%. And Ontario is about 50% and on par with european welfare states. Even comapred to the so called 42% dutch rate, you can see Alberta's 39% rate is not a huge improvement, you're still going to pay lots of taxes. Compare that to US where obama is paying 26% and romney 15%.

2. I'm skeptical of what Scotian says about finding a job being easy for a new guy with no experience. I'm not calling him a liar or nothing like that. I just think it might be easy for him as an experienced plumber to find work. This is because in Canada, it is easy to find jobs for people with 3-5+ years of work experience in any given. However if you have no work experience but just school in general it is very difficult to find a job, for whatever reason Canadians do not like to hire inexperienced people. Even new doctors and new lawyers have lots of trouble finding work here. Even for entry level jobs you will need to have worked 3-4 internships in university to get a good job. Often these same employers who refuse to hire Canadian university grads then turn around and claim they cannot find any qualified talent and demand immigrant workers, who ironically they refuse to hire because they claim they have no Canadian experience or poor language skills (no shit sherlock, wtf do you expect). On the otherhand, it can see logical that if you have all these jobs, and lack of people/workers, it only make sense that you have lots of jobs. Probably the last boom province in canada besides saskatchewan.

Anyways, despite my skepticism, I think this is nonetheless I great datasheet with lots of good information, good job Scotian

Mistirstir, what you say about the job market and hiring practices is very true in MOST Canadian cities, but Fort McMurray really is its own little world and guys can find decent paying jobs with absolutely NO work experience. Check out the careers sections of some of the companies that I listed:

CEDA: http://www.cedagroup.com/index.html , click on "2012 CEDA jobs", you'll see that they are hiring labourers (these are positions for inexperiened guys), they will also pay for flights, training, camp accommodation, meals, etc.

Same for United Safety: http://www.unitedsafety.net/ , right on their career section of the website they say that they will hire inexperienced guys for upcoming work this spring.

Those are just two companies, pretty much all contractors hire newbies and train them up and give them plenty of room to advance. Its best to come to Alberta first (Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Fort Mac, etc.) and get hired from here, especially if you're new, companies generally won't fly you out unless you're skilled.

Now, obviously these are entry level position, so they aren't the really high paying ones, you probably won't make 6 figures in 6 months, but a guy will likely clear about $1500/week and since ALL of his expenses will be covered, he should be able to save quite a few bucks, then do whatever he wants, upgrade skills, travel, go back home and collect EI, etc.

I willing to bet that if ANY Canadian person, young or old took down all of the info I've posted in this thread, and applied of all of the companies that I listed, he's be working in the oil sands this spring and making decent money.

 

[Amsterdao!]

Scotian,

I already gave you +1 for all this golden information....thanks a lot! What do you know about truck driver jobs and salaries? I have already 3-4 years driving experience in heavy traffic.

ciao

 

[scotian]

Scotian,

I already gave you +1 for all this golden information....thanks a lot! What do you know about truck driver jobs and salaries? I have already 3-4 years driving experience in heavy traffic.

ciao

Lots of work for truck drivers, most contracting companies employ some sort of trucks, whether its driving a vac truck for a company like CEDA or Clean Harbors or working directly for a transport company driving a big rig, there's a lot of work for truckers.

In Alberta, they have different types of licenses, the ones that I am familiar with are the class 1 license (to drive a multi axle semi truck) or the class 3 (air brakes endorsement), to drive trucks like dumps trucks, vac trucks, etc.

I'm sure if you're from a different province or state, they will recognize whatever license you may have.

 

[Amsterdao!]

Scotian,

I already gave you +1 for all this golden information....thanks a lot! What do you know about truck driver jobs and salaries? I have already 3-4 years driving experience in heavy traffic.

ciao

Lots of work for truck drivers, most contracting companies employ some sort of trucks, whether its driving a vac truck for a company like CEDA or Clean Harbors or working directly for a transport company driving a big rig, there's a lot of work for truckers.

In Alberta, they have different types of licenses, the ones that I am familiar with are the class 1 license (to drive a multi axle semi truck) or the class 3 (air brakes endorsement), to drive trucks like dumps trucks, vac trucks, etc.

I'm sure if you're from a different province or state, they will recognize whatever license you may have.

and the salaries of those truck drivers?

So..i'm a 29 year old dutch guy and i want to make some serious money. A lot and ASAP. I Don't have technical work experience or what so ever in the Oil business, but if i have to...i'm willing to learn. I am used to long workdays and i think i have an good work mentality if i have to. So what would be your advice if you were in my position? Go to canada...do some pre-community college for a job and get some work experience after that? Or go to canada as an experienced truck driver and find a job in that field?

The plan is to start and build a new life in Canada for the next 3 years...make some serious money and do an around the world trip....and i'm pretty damn serious about it because i have nothing to lose

What do you think Scotian?

 

[misterstir]

I just want to clarify a few things.
1. Your tax rate will be provincial + federal + local. so the 26-29% + 10% in alberta = 39%. Really alberta is unsually low tax as far as Canada goes. Quebec top tax rate I believe is almost 60%. And Ontario is about 50% and on par with european welfare states. Even comapred to the so called 42% dutch rate, you can see Alberta's 39% rate is not a huge improvement, you're still going to pay lots of taxes. Compare that to US where obama is paying 26% and romney 15%.

2. I'm skeptical of what Scotian says about finding a job being easy for a new guy with no experience. I'm not calling him a liar or nothing like that. I just think it might be easy for him as an experienced plumber to find work. This is because in Canada, it is easy to find jobs for people with 3-5+ years of work experience in any given. However if you have no work experience but just school in general it is very difficult to find a job, for whatever reason Canadians do not like to hire inexperienced people. Even new doctors and new lawyers have lots of trouble finding work here. Even for entry level jobs you will need to have worked 3-4 internships in university to get a good job. Often these same employers who refuse to hire Canadian university grads then turn around and claim they cannot find any qualified talent and demand immigrant workers, who ironically they refuse to hire because they claim they have no Canadian experience or poor language skills (no shit sherlock, wtf do you expect). On the otherhand, it can see logical that if you have all these jobs, and lack of people/workers, it only make sense that you have lots of jobs. Probably the last boom province in canada besides saskatchewan.

Anyways, despite my skepticism, I think this is nonetheless I great datasheet with lots of good information, good job Scotian

Mistirstir, what you say about the job market and hiring practices is very true in MOST Canadian cities, but Fort McMurray really is its own little world and guys can find decent paying jobs with absolutely NO work experience. Check out the careers sections of some of the companies that I listed:

CEDA: http://www.cedagroup.com/index.html , click on "2012 CEDA jobs", you'll see that they are hiring labourers (these are positions for inexperiened guys), they will also pay for flights, training, camp accommodation, meals, etc.

Same for United Safety: http://www.unitedsafety.net/ , right on their career section of the website they say that they will hire inexperienced guys for upcoming work this spring.

Those are just two companies, pretty much all contractors hire newbies and train them up and give them plenty of room to advance. Its best to come to Alberta first (Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Fort Mac, etc.) and get hired from here, especially if you're new, companies generally won't fly you out unless you're skilled.

Now, obviously these are entry level position, so they aren't the really high paying ones, you probably won't make 6 figures in 6 months, but a guy will likely clear about $1500/week and since ALL of his expenses will be covered, he should be able to save quite a few bucks, then do whatever he wants, upgrade skills, travel, go back home and collect EI, etc.

I willing to bet that if ANY Canadian person, young or old took down all of the info I've posted in this thread, and applied of all of the companies that I listed, he's be working in the oil sands this spring and making decent money.

I don't doubt what your saying is true of Alberta/fort mac. I just had a skepticism and you could see why because of how it is in most of Canada, but the economy of Alberta especially fort mac is very different. But in reviewing your info, it seems all true.

So how would one go from working in a place like ceda to getting a skilled trade at a oil company that would pay well (100k+)

 

[scotian]

Scotian,

I already gave you +1 for all this golden information....thanks a lot! What do you know about truck driver jobs and salaries? I have already 3-4 years driving experience in heavy traffic.

ciao

Lots of work for truck drivers, most contracting companies employ some sort of trucks, whether its driving a vac truck for a company like CEDA or Clean Harbors or working directly for a transport company driving a big rig, there's a lot of work for truckers.

In Alberta, they have different types of licenses, the ones that I am familiar with are the class 1 license (to drive a multi axle semi truck) or the class 3 (air brakes endorsement), to drive trucks like dumps trucks, vac trucks, etc.

I'm sure if you're from a different province or state, they will recognize whatever license you may have.

and the salaries of those truck drivers?

So..i'm a 29 year old dutch guy and i want to make some serious money. A lot and ASAP. I Don't have technical work experience or what so ever in the Oil business, but if i have to...i'm willing to learn. I am used to long workdays and i think i have an good work mentality if i have to. So what would be your advice if you were in my position? Go to canada...do some pre-community college for a job and get some work experience after that? Or go to canada as an experienced truck driver and find a job in that field?

The plan is to start and build a new life in Canada for the next 3 years...make some serious money and do an around the world trip....and i'm pretty damn serious about it because i have nothing to lose

What do you think Scotian?

Since you're Dutch and under 35, qualifying for a visa won't be very hard, check out the work experience Canada link I posted earlier in the thread.

Once you're on the ground in Alberta or Saskatchewan or BC (remember, you don't necessarily have to be in the Fort Mac area to be making big money in the resource sector), I would try to get on with a company as a driver since that's what you know best and drivers make decent money, you'd probably clear around $2500/week.

You may have to take a "class 1" driver training class in Edmonton or Calgary, if so, it won't be hard to find a school, that's something you'll have to look into.

Also, You should probably have about $5000 in the bank to get settled, I moved out with only $1500 to my name, not an ideal scenario! Alberta cities are definitely "car cities", its not impossible to get by without a car, but public transport sucks, so you may want to consider buying a car too.

Overall, with your work experience as a trucker, you shouldn't have too many problems finding work in western Canada!

 

[Amsterdao!]

Scotian,

I already gave you +1 for all this golden information....thanks a lot! What do you know about truck driver jobs and salaries? I have already 3-4 years driving experience in heavy traffic.

ciao

Lots of work for truck drivers, most contracting companies employ some sort of trucks, whether its driving a vac truck for a company like CEDA or Clean Harbors or working directly for a transport company driving a big rig, there's a lot of work for truckers.

In Alberta, they have different types of licenses, the ones that I am familiar with are the class 1 license (to drive a multi axle semi truck) or the class 3 (air brakes endorsement), to drive trucks like dumps trucks, vac trucks, etc.

I'm sure if you're from a different province or state, they will recognize whatever license you may have.

and the salaries of those truck drivers?

So..i'm a 29 year old dutch guy and i want to make some serious money. A lot and ASAP. I Don't have technical work experience or what so ever in the Oil business, but if i have to...i'm willing to learn. I am used to long workdays and i think i have an good work mentality if i have to. So what would be your advice if you were in my position? Go to canada...do some pre-community college for a job and get some work experience after that? Or go to canada as an experienced truck driver and find a job in that field?

The plan is to start and build a new life in Canada for the next 3 years...make some serious money and do an around the world trip....and i'm pretty damn serious about it because i have nothing to lose

What do you think Scotian?

Since you're Dutch and under 35, qualifying for a visa won't be very hard, check out the work experience Canada link I posted earlier in the thread.

Once you're on the ground in Alberta or Saskatchewan or BC (remember, you don't necessarily have to be in the Fort Mac area to be making big money in the resource sector), I would try to get on with a company as a driver since that's what you know best and drivers make decent money, you'd probably clear around $2500/week.

You may have to take a "class 1" driver training class in Edmonton or Calgary, if so, it won't be hard to find a school, that's something you'll have to look into.

Also, You should probably have about $5000 in the bank to get settled, I moved out with only $1500 to my name, not an ideal scenario! Alberta cities are definitely "car cities", its not impossible to get by without a car, but public transport sucks, so you may want to consider buying a car too.

Overall, with your work experience as a trucker, you shouldn't have too many problems finding work in western Canada!

Thanks man...This all made me think about a change of life.

Due to some bad desicions in life i have to pay like 3000 euro extra p/y for a study at the university over here. The complete 4- year study would cost me approx. 15-20k and my start salary will be like 2500 dollar PER MONTH after that....sucks big time!

At my current job i earn like 4200 canadian dollars every 4 weeks but i know this salary will only rise a bit in the future and that's it. sucks big time as well!

Maybe i can follow a welding course here in holland. Get my divers certificates and become a industrial welder or something in Canada.
To become a truck is an option as well, but i get the feeling the max. annual salary will be like 150k or so? and if i have the choice. I rather do something else than standing somewhere with my truck and fix problems at the side of the road.

Could you give me like a top5 well-paid jobs in the Oil Sands? (and i don't mean managing positions or blue collar jobs, advocates or what so ever) so a top 5 of well paid labour jobs.

You call yourself scotian because you are from Nova Scotia? maybe a dumb question, but it made me curious.

good work so far :thumbup:

 

[scotian]

Scotian,

I already gave you +1 for all this golden information....thanks a lot! What do you know about truck driver jobs and salaries? I have already 3-4 years driving experience in heavy traffic.

ciao

Lots of work for truck drivers, most contracting companies employ some sort of trucks, whether its driving a vac truck for a company like CEDA or Clean Harbors or working directly for a transport company driving a big rig, there's a lot of work for truckers.

In Alberta, they have different types of licenses, the ones that I am familiar with are the class 1 license (to drive a multi axle semi truck) or the class 3 (air brakes endorsement), to drive trucks like dumps trucks, vac trucks, etc.

I'm sure if you're from a different province or state, they will recognize whatever license you may have.

and the salaries of those truck drivers?

So..i'm a 29 year old dutch guy and i want to make some serious money. A lot and ASAP. I Don't have technical work experience or what so ever in the Oil business, but if i have to...i'm willing to learn. I am used to long workdays and i think i have an good work mentality if i have to. So what would be your advice if you were in my position? Go to canada...do some pre-community college for a job and get some work experience after that? Or go to canada as an experienced truck driver and find a job in that field?

The plan is to start and build a new life in Canada for the next 3 years...make some serious money and do an around the world trip....and i'm pretty damn serious about it because i have nothing to lose

What do you think Scotian?

Since you're Dutch and under 35, qualifying for a visa won't be very hard, check out the work experience Canada link I posted earlier in the thread.

Once you're on the ground in Alberta or Saskatchewan or BC (remember, you don't necessarily have to be in the Fort Mac area to be making big money in the resource sector), I would try to get on with a company as a driver since that's what you know best and drivers make decent money, you'd probably clear around $2500/week.

You may have to take a "class 1" driver training class in Edmonton or Calgary, if so, it won't be hard to find a school, that's something you'll have to look into.

Also, You should probably have about $5000 in the bank to get settled, I moved out with only $1500 to my name, not an ideal scenario! Alberta cities are definitely "car cities", its not impossible to get by without a car, but public transport sucks, so you may want to consider buying a car too.

Overall, with your work experience as a trucker, you shouldn't have too many problems finding work in western Canada!

Thanks man...This all made me think about a change of life.

Due to some bad desicions in life i have to pay like 3000 euro extra p/y for a study at the university over here. The complete 4- year study would cost me approx. 15-20k and my start salary will be like 2500 dollar PER MONTH after that....sucks big time!

At my current job i earn like 4200 canadian dollars every 4 weeks but i know this salary will only rise a bit in the future and that's it. sucks big time as well!

Maybe i can follow a welding course here in holland. Get my divers certificates and become a industrial welder or something in Canada.
To become a truck is an option as well, but i get the feeling the max. annual salary will be like 150k or so? and if i have the choice. I rather do something else than standing somewhere with my truck and fix problems at the side of the road.

Could you give me like a top5 well-paid jobs in the Oil Sands? (and i don't mean managing positions or blue collar jobs, advocates or what so ever) so a top 5 of well paid labour jobs.

You call yourself scotian because you are from Nova Scotia? maybe a dumb question, but it made me curious.

good work so far :thumbup:

Yes I"m from Nova Scotia, you'll meet a lot of us out in Alberta!

I would do some research before enrolling in a welding course in Holland, it may not be recognized in Alberta, it would be best to come here and do the training here.

Also, working as a trucker may not be a bad idea since its something you already know how to do and you may be able to start off in a more intermediate/senior job. Then you can look around and see what the place is like and move into another trade, just remember, moving into a new career means starting out at the bottom and getting yelled at by guys 10 years younger than you!

As far as the top trades go, I'd say a journey man B pressure welder with his own welding rig (costs probably $80-120,000) who contracts out is one of the highest I know, those guys can make up to 400K if they work an insane amount of hours: 24 days on 4 days off, 12-16 hrs/day, $100-120/hour. It takes a few years to get to this level (probably at least 4 or 5) and as I've said before, welding ain't for wussies, many guys learn it in jail!

As far as the other trades go: electrician, pipefitter, scaffolder, insulator, crane operator, diesel mechanic, etc. They all pay around $40/hour, lots of over time available, most of these guys can make $150-225 depending on how much they work, of course!

Then there's other lines of work which I'm not overly familiar with where guys make even more: PLC programmer, industrial instrumentation tech, etc.

I'm a tradesman, so that's what I know and its what I"m hyping in this thread, they're easy to get into, pay well and are all in very high demand right now. My best advice is to actually come to Alberta, set yourself up in Edmonton, Fort Mac, Red Deer, wherever and start working and making some money, then figure out from there where you want to go, what you want to do, there's MANY options, trust me!

 

[r_passion]

There is a video from one of the camp providers about what it's like to work there. I have a chef ticket so starting here would be a good option for chefs - make the workers happy with the service and start networking and finding out about getting new tickets to switch over.

It's on the PTI website, I will post it soon when I gain link posting rights.

I imagine that those without tickets could start as kitchen hands and work their way up. The money doesn't look as much as the other trades but you are still saving like crazy and it's a way to start without going all the way up there and possibly failing.

Did anyone post the vice tv doc? That has an example of it going wrong for a few guys. I would make sure you guys have your shit sorted out before you go incase you run into the weeds; like Scotian says, bring about 5g investment for yourself if you are going to train and look for a job when you get there.

 

[scotian]

There is a video from one of the camp providers about what it's like to work there. I have a chef ticket so starting here would be a good option for chefs - make the workers happy with the service and start networking and finding out about getting new tickets to switch over.

It's on the PTI website, I will post it soon when I gain link posting rights.

I imagine that those without tickets could start as kitchen hands and work their way up. The money doesn't look as much as the other trades but you are still saving like crazy and it's a way to start without going all the way up there and possibly failing.

Did anyone post the vice tv doc? That has an example of it going wrong for a few guys. I would make sure you guys have your shit sorted out before you go incase you run into the weeds; like Scotian says, bring about 5g investment for yourself if you are going to train and look for a job when you get there.

R Passion, I'll post those vids for you, here's the PTI one: http://www.ptigroup.com/data/CampLifeLarge.wmv

I didn't watch much of the video, but that fat chick in the first minute is representative of the types of scallywags you'll run into in camp! They stress in the video that "camp life is not for everyone", definitely true!
Here's Vice's Toxic Alberta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EHTyfVZDBM

I watched it a few years ago, they tend to exaggerate the environmental impact of the oil sands, and they give too much time to left wings types from organaizations like the Sierra Club, its a bit of propaganda, although parts of it do accurately depict life in Fort Mac!

 

[Laner]

Come on Scotian! I did not want to be the one to have to post it......

But Deaner and Terry hit Fort Mac (with Tron of course).

Lets fuckin' giver!