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Permalink Reply by Jerry Babin on July 17, 2012 at 8:47am

This will be a great shot at guys wanting to expand their resume. Never turn down work if it 1 pays the bills & 2 adds to your training tool bag. There is diving work there as  well from what I understand ( not on the Pipeline) a good chance to get some off duty training if its available.

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Permalink Reply by Will on July 17, 2012 at 4:47pm

Alright so coming from someone who lives in Edmonton let me tell you how it is.

1. this article isnt kidding there is a s*** ton of work up here, but mind you this isnt any of the candy ass s*** that your all probably used too. The days are long and the work is steady and hard, its hot as balls in the summer (we just did a couple weeks of 32 celcius +) and cold as balls in the winter (-40 degrees F or C its all the same) and the winter is long 4-6 months. When the mecury drops dont think that theres gonna be any days where its "too cold to work" if you already think like that stay where you are, even in -40 your gonna get in that man basket go up 150 ft to the top of a stack and weld or turn wrenches for a few hours.

 

2. If its not the cold that gets ppl its gonna be the shifts, the offshore guys are probably gonna be ok but its common to see guys doing shifts of 3 weeks on (12+ hours a day usually) and 1 week off or so.

I was lucky last year to have a 8 days on (12s) 6 off but then again it dosnt pay as much, I just got offered a 15 on 6 off, that means Im looking at 6 days off a month because ill be working 3 out of 4 weeks (also 12s)

and with those shifts your not gonna be able to come home every night your gonna be away in a camp in the bush so again its suited for the offshore guys probably or more of the younger single guys.

 

3. your here to work, if your f***ign around or especially being unsafe your gonna get run and run hard, probably blacklisted so a lot of the cowboy, john wayne s*** that I know you guys do isnt gonna fly its a quick ticket to get kicked off site, so be smart.

 

4. MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR CERTS AND TICKETS SORTED BEFORE YOU COME!

Dont come up here thinking you have a couple welding tickets you got from a school in the US in 4 weeks and think your gonna weld pipe and pressure vessels and make the big bucks. Do your reserch and see what its gonna take you to get whatever trade your qualified in to be recognized up here, and what level of recognization its gonna get, you might think your hot s*** and find yourself a 1st year apprentice. I CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!! in Alberta its all about the paperwork you have, your previous experice is gonna count for s*** if you dont have the paper to back it up or know some ppl high up that can vouch for you.

 

5. Also if you dont have a trade already or are maybe just getting into one but wanna come up here as an apprentice and learn some skills just know that you have to first get indentured. You cant just walk into a place and start an apprenticeship, you need a company thats willing to take you on as an apprentice. So many ways ppl do this is they go to a welding shop or a industrial site and start as a shop hand or labourer and do the b**** work for a few months until someone says hey have you though about being a welder or a steamfitter or whatever, once they take you on you have to sign up with the apprenticship board and then you are joined at the hip with that company, if you leave they have to sign papers letting you go and another company has to be willing to take you on again signing papers stating so.

Its not as big a deal as Im making it sound but its not always just like walk into a place and apply and if you dont like it well f*** them im going down the street cause there is lots of work. And once you graduate from Laborer to apprentice you still have a few more years of s*** b**** work to look forward too cause your Journeyman isnt gonna wanna carry his own tools

 

6. Jerry I gotta call you on this one as leading ppl astray

In Alberta there are about 3 diving contactors that I know of in the Province, maybe 1 or 2 more mom and pop shops that I havnt herd of, so diving work here needless to say is not booming. The companies stay busy from what I gathered but if you apply at 1 and they say we are not hiring that is 1/3 of your potential job opportunities gone, not only that but they are spread over the 2 main cities, 1 company is in both Edmonton and Calgary so if they and then each city has 1 other company in it, so if your in edmonton or calgary and they say no jobs here then you only really have 1 other place you might be able to go....

So yes there is diving work here but are you gonna get it ? hmmmm maybe if you catch them on a lucky day

Keep in mind, the reason they cant find people to do the work up here in the oil sands is because most of the people that come up end up not being able to hack it and get weeded out in a few weeks. It could be the s***ty work, in sun mud rain snow etc... with really s***ty people (there are some f***ing douchebags around here) or you might be spending most of the year living in a s***ty f***ing camp in the middle of nowhere (Iast year I had to drive 4 hours from my house to get to camp nearest town was 150 km away) and most of the camps are dry haha

The thing you can guarentee on is a pretty good pay check, thats for sure but dont come up here thinking its fast easy money. Most ppl wash out.

 

If you do make the trek, shoot me a line and we'll grab some beers!

If you have any questions dont hesitate to shoot me a message and ill be happy to help :)

 

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Permalink Reply by Skylar on July 18, 2012 at 8:57am

atta boy Will set'em straight.

have been trying to get technip to pay for my 6g and bcp100 b/c i think i might have to log some hours in canada this year (you know for tax purposes).

did you call my buddy yet?

gonna stop in on my way home, better be a warm couch and a cold beer.

be safe.

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Permalink Reply by Will on July 18, 2012 at 5:34pm

haha you know it man, just wanna give our slightly softer cousins to the south fair warning about what they could be getting themselfs into before they come up north with misty eyes and wide open pockets. I mean s*** if there are so many canadians who have a hard time handling it then them from the US should be warned well in advance.

But hell we could always use one more to run the Hardwire gun!!! :p haha

 

Speaking of laying beads, that would be sweet if they payed for your tests man, do you need those kinda certs to weld up there too or what ?

Either way you could like you said always bring em back here and log some hours with those and keep ol revenue canada happy :)

 

And if you do come home and manage to stop by Edmonton let me know im trying to get a house going here at the moment still looking for something decent, but cold beer im never short of and a spare room will be made up no worries there!

Show them scandies how its done!

 

btw, which buddy was I supposed to call ? Its not ringing a bell

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Permalink Reply by Skylar on July 19, 2012 at 6:26am

forget hardwire, put them on self shielding.

sorry i was just going through my email, realized i never actually sent it. its through now, give him a call. he might have some work for you.

same certs different pile. they all want 6GR.

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