@buzzyfurbox why don't you want to do work related to your computer degree? Lots of IT opportunities in Calgary. Send your resume into a technical recruiter like teksystems or something, or look at oil industry computer modelling companies like IHS, fekete, geoLOGIC etc... or the legions of other oil companies that use computers that need support. It seems like a waste to do scaffolding labour if you do indeed have a degree in computer science, no offense.

(01-08-2014 04:51 PM)komatiite Wrote:  @buzzyfurbox why don't you want to do work related to your computer degree? Lots of IT opportunities in Calgary. Send your resume into a technical recruiter like teksystems or something, or look at oil industry computer modelling companies like IHS, fekete, geoLOGIC etc... or the legions of other oil companies that use computers that need support. It seems like a waste to do scaffolding labour if you do indeed have a degree in computer science, no offense.

Good call, there's lots of opportunity to use your degree, even if you start with a random contracting company shoveling snow or scaffolding, the big one all have IT departments so when it hits -40 like it has been lately, you'll have a nice warm office job. The only down side is that you won't have lots of vacation time like us tradesmen if you're doing M-F 40/hours week type of work.

Just thought I would add the current Oil and Gas salaries!

Quote:The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors recommends the following minimum wage schedule for hourly paid drilling crews.

IN EFFECT OCTOBER 1, 2013


All figures represent hourly pay rates.
Position Base Wage Rig Tech Premium

Driller $44.80 +$2.00
Assistant Driller $40.00 +$1.50
Derrickhand $38.00 +$1.50
Motorhand $33.00 +$1.00
Floorhand $30.70 n/a
Leasehand $28.00 n/a

This wage schedule was developed on the basis of survey material and is intended to apply to both 8- and 12-hour shifts.

Camp* $50/Man/Day
Non-Camp** $140/Man/Day
*$17.50 is non-taxable

**Non-taxable for payroll purposes if the individual employee maintains a principle place of residence and works 80 kilometers from his principle residence, for at least 36 hours.

Hi,
I just moved to Calgary from Vancouver (living with my brother) to look for a job in the oil sands or construction related. I am looking for a camp job with FIFO to Calgary or Vancouver.

I am physically fit, completely drug and alcohol free and available to asap. I am willing and capable of doing hard labour.

I have all the tickets: First Aid Level 3, Construction Safety Officer (CSO), NCSO (in progress), COR Internal Auditor, H2S, CSTS, Confined Space Entry, Fall Protection...but I do not have my driver's license (have major fines to pay ).

My last job was for a construction forming company I went from labourer to CSO in about 3 years...so I can work labour.

So far it’s been a month and no luck at all...WHERE SHOULD I BE LOOKING? FORT MCMURRAY? EDMONTON? WHEN IS THE NEXT HIRING SEASON? WHAT UNIONS SHOULD I APPLY TO?

Thanks for your help in advance.

(01-08-2014 08:05 PM)VanCityGuy Wrote:  Hi,
I just moved to Calgary from Vancouver (living with my brother) to look for a job in the oil sands or construction related. I am looking for a camp job with FIFO to Calgary or Vancouver.

I am physically fit, completely drug and alcohol free and available to asap. I am willing and capable of doing hard labour.

I have all the tickets: First Aid Level 3, Construction Safety Officer (CSO), NCSO (in progress), COR Internal Auditor, H2S, CSTS, Confined Space Entry, Fall Protection...but I do not have my driver's license (have major fines to pay ).

My last job was for a construction forming company I went from labourer to CSO in about 3 years...so I can work labour.

So far it’s been a month and no luck at all...WHERE SHOULD I BE LOOKING? FORT MCMURRAY? EDMONTON? WHEN IS THE NEXT HIRING SEASON? WHAT UNIONS SHOULD I APPLY TO?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Its still dead there now, as far as I know, I would try to find something to tie you over until mid-March or early April. With your experience and tickets, you should be able to find a random construction job in Calgary, hit up the job sites: jobbank.gc.ca , monster.ca , calgaryjobshop.ca , etc.

Also hit up all of the big construction companies that I mentioned throughout the thread (first few pages): PCL, Canonbie, Flint Energy Services, etc.

It may be a good idea to just catch a bus up to Fort McMurray in mid-March to hand out resumes and network, hotels will be expensive but try looking online, I just found a room for you and it costs $50/day or $300/week: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2072591?che...014&s=5867

Tell all of the employers that you're willing to shovel shit and work 100 hours a week and most importantly stress the fact that you can piss in a cup on the spot and pass the test. The lack of a driver's license sucks but shouldn't hold you back from getting a job, most guys in the patch have DUIs and lengthy criminal records anyway. If you get a job in the big dirty, there's city buses up there that are adequate and if you're lucky enough to score a gig "on site", you'll likely be taking a bus to and from site anyway. Its actually quite funny, nowhere else in Canada have I ever seen so many grown men waiting for the bus at 5:30 am like like school children as you'll see up there.

I would say that being willing to relocate to Fort McMurray will give you a higher chance of scoring a job on site than getting a FIFO gig to Calgary or Van City, but who knows. I always tell guys not to get their hopes up and don't expect to make huge money in their first year, then guys come on here with these stories of scoring high paying gigs within two weeks of getting here, so its possible. Good luck bud.

**status update** So it looks like I'm going to be back in E-town on February 12th for fuck sakes, first time in 3 years I'll be on the Prairies before April, not looking forward to it! I have a solid 9 months of work lined up though so 2014 will be a very busy year, we'll see what happens though, I'll probably work until May or so then fuck off to some 3rd world shit hole again haha!

Hey Scotian,

I'm planning on flying over to Edmonton at the start of March. I will get the H2S tickets sorted straight away. I presume this is a good time to go knocking on all the drilling companies doors looking for a lease-hand job?

Cheers!

(01-08-2014 08:54 PM)206Fan Wrote:  Hey Scotian,

I'm planning on flying over to Edmonton at the start of March. I will get the H2S tickets sorted straight away. I presume this is a good time to go knocking on all the drilling companies doors looking for a lease-hand job?

Cheers!

March is literally the worst time of year possible. Its the beginning of the seasonal slow down period or 'break up'. Most guys cant even keep working not to mind getting hired. Read the full thread man.

(01-08-2014 09:13 PM)Irishman Wrote:  

(01-08-2014 08:54 PM)206Fan Wrote:  Hey Scotian,

I'm planning on flying over to Edmonton at the start of March. I will get the H2S tickets sorted straight away. I presume this is a good time to go knocking on all the drilling companies doors looking for a lease-hand job?

Cheers!

March is literally the worst time of year possible. Its the beginning of the seasonal slow down period or 'break up'. Most guys cant even keep working not to mind getting hired. Read the full thread man.

Hopefully this doesn't confuse any potential RVF oil sands crew members (who don't read the entire thread haha), it is correct as it applies to the drilling side of things, the end of winter is when drilling (and to a lesser extent, pipelines) grinds to a halt. The refinery/petro-chemical side of things (which I work in, the trades side) picks up big time in March/April.

So basically if you want to be a rig pig, move to Alberta in October/November, if you want to be a greasy tradesman, move to Alberta in March/April or even August/September.

^^

Good catch.

Drilling rig seasons:
Spring- Quiet, very little hiring
Summer- Summer, busy but only for people with experience, quiet for people with little exp. Hard to get hired,
Autumn- Starting to pick up, good time to start looking for a job
Winter- Flat out, if you can't get hired between Nov-Jan you are doing something wrong.

Of course there will always be outliners but this is the general trend.

I arrived in Sept, got hired in Nov, started work in Dec.

(01-08-2014 05:25 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(01-08-2014 04:51 PM)komatiite Wrote:  @buzzyfurbox why don't you want to do work related to your computer degree? Lots of IT opportunities in Calgary. Send your resume into a technical recruiter like teksystems or something, or look at oil industry computer modelling companies like IHS, fekete, geoLOGIC etc... or the legions of other oil companies that use computers that need support. It seems like a waste to do scaffolding labour if you do indeed have a degree in computer science, no offense.

Good call, there's lots of opportunity to use your degree, even if you start with a random contracting company shoveling snow or scaffolding, the big one all have IT departments so when it hits -40 like it has been lately, you'll have a nice warm office job. The only down side is that you won't have lots of vacation time like us tradesmen if you're doing M-F 40/hours week type of work.

I understand what your saying it just seems like there are a lot of opportunities to make more money in less time on the rigs, I've done a lot of construction work before going to college so I know what it's like,is it possible for a person on a visa to do a haul operator course?

(01-09-2014 08:22 AM)Buzzyfurbox Wrote:  

(01-08-2014 05:25 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(01-08-2014 04:51 PM)komatiite Wrote:  @buzzyfurbox why don't you want to do work related to your computer degree? Lots of IT opportunities in Calgary. Send your resume into a technical recruiter like teksystems or something, or look at oil industry computer modelling companies like IHS, fekete, geoLOGIC etc... or the legions of other oil companies that use computers that need support. It seems like a waste to do scaffolding labour if you do indeed have a degree in computer science, no offense.

Good call, there's lots of opportunity to use your degree, even if you start with a random contracting company shoveling snow or scaffolding, the big one all have IT departments so when it hits -40 like it has been lately, you'll have a nice warm office job. The only down side is that you won't have lots of vacation time like us tradesmen if you're doing M-F 40/hours week type of work.

I understand what your saying it just seems like there are a lot of opportunities to make more money in less time on the rigs, I've done a lot of construction work before going to college so I know what it's like,is it possible for a person on a visa to do a haul operator course?

I'm not sure about the trucking courses but you could call a random, Alberta trucking school such as this one and see what they have to say, they may be more lenient as a more traditional college such as Keyano College, who you may also want to contact, they offer all kinds of courses. You're right though, since you won't have PR status, you won't be able to register in a trade so if its quick, big money that you're after then going to work on the rigs may be your best best. Be prepared to work your ass off though.

@buzzyfurbox ah, I should have considered you are just interested in making good cash quick, hence the labour work. My apologies. Always keep your options open though, there is a serious demand for skilled IT guys in Calgary if you are ever interested!

I'm thinking about taking a year off from studying in order to work and save some cash, and I got hooked on the idea of going to the oil sands after reading this thread.

I'm a 22 year old Swede, studying physiotherapy at university and have never had a truly backbreaking job; I've worked at a McDonald's and in a big kitchen (high stress though). I'm more brainy than practical, but I learn fairly quickly and gym 4 times a week to keep in shape. The desire to try my hand at a tough grind has always been there, mostly to prove to myself that I can do it.

I'm wondering what sort of jobs are available for a guy like me? No trade school, no "oil-sands" work type of experience... Just a desire to work hard and earn some cash.

I thought you said you read this thread?

(01-09-2014 05:13 PM)DarianFrey Wrote:  I'm thinking about taking a year off from studying in order to work and save some cash, and I got hooked on the idea of going to the oil sands after reading this thread.

I'm a 22 year old Swede, studying physiotherapy at university and have never had a truly backbreaking job; I've worked at a McDonald's and in a big kitchen (high stress though). I'm more brainy than practical, but I learn fairly quickly and gym 4 times a week to keep in shape. The desire to try my hand at a tough grind has always been there, mostly to prove to myself that I can do it.

I'm wondering what sort of jobs are available for a guy like me? No trade school, no "oil-sands" work type of experience... Just a desire to work hard and earn some cash.

Lol at "trade school." You don't need any formal education to get an apprenticeship man. As for jobs if you read the whole thread you would have a decent idea.

Second cook or kitchen helpers make decent money if you don't mind the work. You could be a camp attendant and make 1500 a week with accommodation!

http://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Blue-Sky-Recrui...cy%29/jobs

These are great options if you're looking to make some money ASAP. If you want a future or a skilled occupation... striving for an apprenticeship or getting a labour job and working your way up are the best ways to go.

If you're looking for work in a trade, you should network and find someone who will allow you to name drop with their company. That is without a doubt the easiest way to get your foot in the door. Once you are indentured, just make sure you don't fuck up or fail a drug test and you're golden my swedish meatball!

(01-09-2014 11:26 AM)komatiite Wrote:  @buzzyfurbox ah, I should have considered you are just interested in making good cash quick, hence the labour work. My apologies. Always keep your options open though, there is a serious demand for skilled IT guys in Calgary if you are ever interested!

Thanks lads, I will keep my options open, I know I can always go back to IT, i'm just interested in making quick cash, my friend does 24/4 so it would be a good way of saving money,although very hard work,I'll just head over and see how it goes,if I show the right initiative I might pick something up that's better paying hopefully

(01-09-2014 12:00 AM)scotian Wrote:  

(01-08-2014 09:13 PM)Irishman Wrote:  

(01-08-2014 08:54 PM)206Fan Wrote:  Hey Scotian,

I'm planning on flying over to Edmonton at the start of March. I will get the H2S tickets sorted straight away. I presume this is a good time to go knocking on all the drilling companies doors looking for a lease-hand job?

Cheers!

March is literally the worst time of year possible. Its the beginning of the seasonal slow down period or 'break up'. Most guys cant even keep working not to mind getting hired. Read the full thread man.

The refinery/petro-chemical side of things (which I work in, the trades side) picks up big time in March/April.

Yeah I'd like to get into that area once spring breakup begins in the oil patch. I just got back to work this week and am currently on my first camp job--it's not that bad, plus I'm only here for a few days and then off to some place else I guess.

I tell you I'd rather be working outside in Alberta as opposed to Saskatchewan--what a crap hole that province is. The entire time I was back there for Christmas the average temp was -20s with -30 wind chills. And here in Alberta it's not even close to that--yay chinooks!

Any of you Albertans ever been to Boyle? Place is a dive... here for a week prepping a Black Diamond camp for relocation

Update

Thanks again everyone for making this thread a goldmine of info and making it enticing enough for somebody to read and then drop everything to come down too join in on the action. (what I did anyways)

Came down in November with 0 experience in anything labour and 0 tickets. Quickly got all my tickets but did not land a job in the oilfield or anything close to it. After 2 weeks of applying and no response I took a measly labour job here in Edmonton for a small construction company. I mostly drove a telehandler outside (super fun) and or swept for 8+ hours (learning Portuguese on ipod). Met some ex oil guys who were basically too old to work who gave me great info and tips and met future employers who have work for me lined up.

Anyways I waited until the beginning of this week to apply. Back in November I remembered walking into a nice renovated office that smelt nice and had super cute girl working so this was my first pick when I went back. Walked in the interviewer remembered me and gave me the job on the spot.

Im now a Floorhand for one of the bigger Well Servicing Companies and when the season is over I have a gig I can roll into right away from a big construction company up in Fort Mac.


Thanks everyone!

^ Nice man. Well done.

Irishman what maths are required for MWD'ing? thanks!!

(01-16-2014 12:28 PM)Buzzyfurbox Wrote:  Irishman what maths are required for MWD'ing? thanks!!

Yearly salary + day rate + food allowance + truck allowance + mileage.

Joking.

Honestly the maths are pretty basic, most of the figures I dealt with our auto generated and/or enter into excel and worked out through auto-formulas.

An aptitude with computers is probably more important. That said it definitely doesn't hurt to be good at maths.

this thread is a fucking gold mine.

(01-17-2014 12:57 PM)FrenchCanadian Wrote:  this thread is a fucking gold mine.

Do yourself a favor and start from page 1 taking notes along the way. The search function isn't the greatest so by taking notes you won't be kicking yourself when you can't find a certain post.

Takes about 2-3 days of light/fast skimming but well worth your time.

(01-17-2014 12:42 PM)Irishman Wrote:  

(01-16-2014 12:28 PM)Buzzyfurbox Wrote:  Irishman what maths are required for MWD'ing? thanks!!

Yearly salary + day rate + food allowance + truck allowance + mileage.

Joking.

Honestly the maths are pretty basic, most of the figures I dealt with our auto generated and/or enter into excel and worked out through auto-formulas.

An aptitude with computers is probably more important. That said it definitely doesn't hurt to be good at maths.

hahahaha quality!!!

Ya that's good, was looking online and it said there was a lot of trigonometry involved,wasn't sure if it was true or not,i'm heading over in April and i'll be applying for MWD jobs straight away,not going to stop till I get one, Scotian and Irishman thanks for all the great posts, very informative, cheers!!