Your disability doesn't seem that bad. Just work hard and show others you're putting in effort. You'll most likely have no problems.

(12-25-2014 07:06 PM)lukewarmchillin Wrote:  Hey everyone,

Before I dig into this thread, just wanted to ask: Is oil industry work disabled-friendly?

I have a mild case of cerebral palsy. I struggle with fine motor tasks, balance, and, quite frankly, I can't move as quickly as 'normal' people. I realize this isn't painting a very good picture of my abilities, but most people are very surprised when I tell them that I'm disabled.

I have plenty of hauling experience, though, and did some basic construction work this past summer . . .

Thanks,

I can think of certain trades where struggling "with fine motor skills" might be an issue, especially if there's a time constraint. But there are just as many trades or jobs where your minor issue wouldn't be a problem.

I had a job that was ridiculously repetitive and I needed my hands and body to work like a machine for my whole shift. Even I struggled most days. I can't see you surviving that environment. But take hauling or even a trade where attention to detail and fine motor skills are still relatively important, but you have time to get things right. I don't see why your minor issue should get in the way of things. Just avoid trades like NDT or welding.

First time posting here. I first came across this forum almost two years ago, in a time when I was gathering documents for my PR application. At that time I thought it gave me all the heads up I needed since I had already made up my mind to migrate to Alberta. I then lost my phone soon after and forgot about the forum. Two months ago I remembered and found it again and wow! You guys pretty much laid everything out for people thinking of going to Alberta. I am thankful.
I am an Instrumentation Technician working in the oil and gas industry for about six years in Jamaica. I am looking at maybe late Spring to make the move. I have already applied to AIT for a "qualification by experience" certification. If all goes well I will get to do the test and also be qualified to do the Red Seal.
Gonna keep lurking. Stay safe..and warm maybe. Don't know how I'll manage the cold when I get there.

I've been back in Alberta for around a week now for the holidays.

What the hell did you guys do to the price of gas!?

I'm considering going rig pigging but that may be a doomed (slow) venture right now. Might see if there is any local stuff in Nisku to do instead.

Thanks, Nima & Ricky Rose! Appreciate the responses. Gonna dive into this thread now.

So there's all this talk of low oil prices. places starting to slow on hiring and eventually firing etc

but what could we say is a silver lining to this?

What would be a smart way to invest money or take risks provided you have enough money to do so.

(12-30-2014 12:14 PM)WesternCancer Wrote:  So there's all this talk of low oil prices. places starting to slow on hiring and eventually firing etc

but what could we say is a silver lining to this?

What would be a smart way to invest money or take risks provided you have enough money to do so.

Do you have a job now?

well seems like there is a massive jump in rig counts usually after the new year. Anyone know if that will be the case again? I notice rigs have gone way done, prob 100 less drilling now compared to two weeks ago, one report says its because of holidays but idk, usually the big rigs at least work through.

^work said busy but not as busy as last year

An old timer told me that after a period of slow drilling there is always a huge rush by drilling companies to catch up on lost time. They need to drill to be in business so the year after a slowdown is usually quite hectic. He said after the slow down of 08 companies were going crazy to drill with extra pay rises and winter retention bonuses to keep staff. See what happens this time but hopefully that could be this summer...

(12-30-2014 12:14 PM)WesternCancer Wrote:  So there's all this talk of low oil prices. places starting to slow on hiring and eventually firing etc

but what could we say is a silver lining to this?

What would be a smart way to invest money or take risks provided you have enough money to do so.

As you guys know, I"m not in Alberta now and haven't been talking to many industry insiders but if you go by what the doom and gloom media outlets say, then Alberta is in for some tough times ahead. During the last recession, which was the worst economic shit storm in a couple of generations, I kept busy as did most of the people I know. The people who will be hit hardest by the slowing economy will be the TFWs and the fly in/fly out guys from back east and the excess labour that companies kept around during the good times. Companies will be "trimming the fat" so make sure that you're working hard and not being a dog fucker and you should be okay, again, as I've been saying on here since day one, continue getting tickets and experience to ensure you aren't one of the ones who is let go if your company is looking to axe people. Low oil prices also put unions in a bad position for negotiating contracts, as will be the case with my union who has a collective agreement bargaining coming up in a few months, we probably won't see the gains that we were hoping for when oil prices were much higher. Such if life though and you gotta take the good with the bad, the past four years have actually been quite good and the lower prices may allow companies to take advantage of lower costs for things such as labour and materials, we shall see.

Myself, I'm not totally sure what I"m going to do, I own a condo in Edmonton so any dip in the local economy is a bad thing for the price of my place but I"m considering buying a house in the city next year so it could be a blessing in disguise if there's a glut of houses on the market. Locally, I'm still waiting to see whats happening with that upgrader project in Redwater, once that gets going, it will be steady work for around 3000 guys, they are also building the new down town arena and a bunch of condo buildings so there's work to go around. Hopefully those projects can keep the local Edmonton guys busy for a couple of years until the price of oil picks up again, of course, the price could go back up to $100 in the next few months, who knows what will happen, its the oil biz!

Did you see a big rebound when things picked back up after 08 Scotian or was it a gradual increase back to normal?

if it rebounds ill probably move back out to alberta again, or texas.
in the mean time still havent got shit going on my own

scotian - i would wait a bit to buy that 2nd house. we have been studying the BC and Alberta market for the last 6 months for my company's project and we think that the economic environment is going to worsen much more than what is being put in the media. The Canadian real estate market is ripe for a big correction (not like the US though) so it makes sense to wait for a bit to see how this plays out. Edmonton and Calgary are the big cities to watch for.

oilbreh - the onshore rigs will suffer as newer rigs (commissioned in 2010-11) are coming onto the market just as the market is going down. Already it was depressed with day rates dropping for the past 2 years. Also, I guess that the Canadian LNG projects and some oil sands project have to be re-worked on economics. Hence, work is going to slow down and companies are not going to be hiring a lot unless one has multiple skills to offer. The key issue is the volatility in price rather than the price itself. If we know the rough range it will be in, we can easily forecast the cost and project economics but we dont know that.

atlantic - different areas ramped up differently in 2008. Middle East ramped pretty fast (because they never closed down) while US/Canada ramped up a bit slow. The situation is a lot different now (with the US production), so we cannot simply look historically and answer but I would not be surprised if your comment held good. It is simply too hard to say anything now.

(12-31-2014 01:42 AM)villageindian Wrote:  scotian - i would wait a bit to buy that 2nd house. we have been studying the BC and Alberta market for the last 6 months for my company's project and we think that the economic environment is going to worsen much more than what is being put in the media. The Canadian real estate market is ripe for a big correction (not like the US though) so it makes sense to wait for a bit to see how this plays out. Edmonton and Calgary are the big cities to watch for.

For that to happen, interest rates have to go up and nobody knows if they're going to increase the rates. Japan has had low interest rates for 2 decades now. There's no clear indication that Canada is going to increase its rates.

My lease is up in the summer and I'd like to buy a condo in Edmonton by then. Hopefully we won't see an increase in rates for another 3-4 years.

The market will cool for sure in the next few months. I won't be worried about Edmonton's housing market. It has the best income to mortgage ratio in the country. Thus meaning Edmontonians still have the cheapest house prices in any major Canadian city, relative to their income, it's 3-1. House prices won't drastically fall, but will most likely stagnate which is a good thing for home owners and new buys. People in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary have far more to fear as those markets are actually highly overpriced.

With fly-ins and fly-out workers and TFWs getting the chop, remittances to other provinces and regions such as Atlantic Canada and Rural ontario will slow also. More people will be stranded at home on the dole. That'll put more pressure on those local governments and relieve some of it from Alberta.

If people will lots of toys get caught out deep in debt, they may just have to walk away from those toys, drop the keys in the bank and shed the baggage. Alberta in recession still has better employment prospects that a so called 'booming ontario'.

Saskatchewan won't suffering from a slow down either, so that's a place to look into if you've got skills. Site C dam in BC has been approved by the government as well. That'll be a huge project from 2015 to 2022 and will require plenty of tradespeople.

The cool-down isn't necessarily a bad thing guys. The local economy may have needed a reprieve.

I'll be up at site C damn starting October 2015 as a power line tech apprentice. Around Fort St. John.

BC Hydro received the financing necessary from overseas investors in Asia. Their will be a few major projects in northern BC in the coming years for sure.

(12-31-2014 12:34 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  The market will cool for sure in the next few months. I won't be worried about Edmonton's housing market. It has the best income to mortgage ratio in the country. Thus meaning Edmontonians still have the cheapest house prices in any major Canadian city, relative to their income, it's 3-1. House prices won't drastically fall, but will most likely stagnate which is a good thing for home owners and new buys. People in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary have far more to fear as those markets are actually highly overpriced.

With fly-ins and fly-out workers and TFWs getting the chop, remittances to other provinces and regions such as Atlantic Canada and Rural ontario will slow also. More people will be stranded at home on the dole. That'll put more pressure on those local governments and relieve some of it from Alberta.

Anyone know the details of the the fly in fly out guys? The guys I've met that are fly in fly out are usually really high up especially at my company. They're often team leads, foremen, engineers, etc. Those guys are in a position where replacing them is very difficult, I don't know about other companies.

Do they do this for laborers or entry level guys? I'm actually surprised this happens. The only time I've really heard about a cushy fly in fly out gig was about a mining engineer with 10+ years experience up north based out of montreal.

(12-31-2014 02:07 PM)Jack Of All Trades Wrote:  Anyone know the details of the the fly in fly out guys?

Do they do this for laborers or entry level guys?

I can only speak from my industry, yes companies do offer fly in fly out jobs to new hires. I am a leasehand on a drilling (bottom rung on the ladder) with 10 days of experience before I landed a fly in fly out camp job. I am currently working North of Fort St. John flying out of Edmonton (my home base) so it's about as ideal as it gets. The guys I'm working with all have to fly from some other part of the country to get to Edmonton. Which is another reason why Edmonton is probably the best location to live if your working in this industry.

The way I got the job was actually kind of funny it was all because my trucks transmission died on me so it won't shift past third gear. I called the office and told them that I need a camp job, then I called again and again and....well you get the idea. It's not uncommon in my industry for new hires to start off with a fly in fly out camp job.

A friend of mine who works as a safety officer on a construction project in Fort Mac also started off with a camp job. He had zero experience in the industry and like myself was only in the country a month or two. Anyone on the thread work as a safety officer? I know my friends gig is fucking sweet he started off on $35 / hour with zero experience, he works year round, his company treats him like gold and his job is easy as piss. He's been working with his company for 5 months now and is earning $40+/hr.

When I think of the fucking grind of working on the rigs and what he is doing in comparison and earning more money it makes me laugh. Anyway you can get a fly in fly out job with no experience, it probably just depends on your industry. What do you work as?

(12-31-2014 01:42 AM)villageindian Wrote:  oilbreh - the onshore rigs will suffer as newer rigs (commissioned in 2010-11) are coming onto the market just as the market is going down. Already it was depressed with day rates dropping for the past 2 years. Also, I guess that the Canadian LNG projects and some oil sands project have to be re-worked on economics. Hence, work is going to slow down and companies are not going to be hiring a lot unless one has multiple skills to offer. The key issue is the volatility in price rather than the price itself. If we know the rough range it will be in, we can easily forecast the cost and project economics but we dont know that.

What's different about these newer rigs? Down the road even in good economic conditions, automated drilling rigs can be a real threat to jobs. Companies are spending millions in this new technology, Ensign being one of them I believe.

(12-31-2014 03:13 PM)Ricky Rose Wrote:  What's different about these newer rigs? Down the road even in good economic conditions, automated drilling rigs can be a real threat to jobs. Companies are spending millions in this new technology, Ensign being one of them I believe.

crews are the same size, you still need roughnecks to rack and guide in the pipe and have a derrickman up top, and the motorman working around the rig. On top of that rig moves, cleaning, mixing product, samples, drifting casing, moving shit around, snow removal, fixing shit when it breaks, changing drill line, handling kicks . Just makes the job easier, considering crews do the work of twice the guys they are not going anywhere. They might be more compact, suitable for pad work or more region specific etc, but it will prob be another 50 years till we got robots running shit on location. If anything they create more jobs, dual gas/diesel gens now need a gas guy to come hook up the system, top drives now have on call top drive mechanics.

@seanchai

I'm in a metal trade, currently an apprentice. It sucks being on the short end of the stick till your a journeyman. Not gona lie, sometimes I get jealous of the high wages the oilfield guys get when they start out so high and the nice bonuses like fly in fly out etc. Then again, I don't have to deal with all the shit that goes on the rigs, so I'm happy about that.

I always hear of guys getting super nice jobs with no experience, but I've never had it that easy. I think I might be unlucky working up here compared to some of the other guys.

(12-31-2014 03:10 PM)Seanchaí Wrote:  

(12-31-2014 02:07 PM)Jack Of All Trades Wrote:  Anyone know the details of the the fly in fly out guys?

Do they do this for laborers or entry level guys?

I can only speak from my industry, yes companies do offer fly in fly out jobs to new hires. I am a leasehand on a drilling (bottom rung on the ladder) with 10 days of experience before I landed a fly in fly out camp job. I am currently working North of Fort St. John flying out of Edmonton (my home base) so it's about as ideal as it gets. The guys I'm working with all have to fly from some other part of the country to get to Edmonton. Which is another reason why Edmonton is probably the best location to live if your working in this industry.

The way I got the job was actually kind of funny it was all because my trucks transmission died on me so it won't shift past third gear. I called the office and told them that I need a camp job, then I called again and again and....well you get the idea. It's not uncommon in my industry for new hires to start off with a fly in fly out camp job.

A friend of mine who works as a safety officer on a construction project in Fort Mac also started off with a camp job. He had zero experience in the industry and like myself was only in the country a month or two. Anyone on the thread work as a safety officer? I know my friends gig is fucking sweet he started off on $35 / hour with zero experience, he works year round, his company treats him like gold and his job is easy as piss. He's been working with his company for 5 months now and is earning $40+/hr.

When I think of the fucking grind of working on the rigs and what he is doing in comparison and earning more money it makes me laugh. Anyway you can get a fly in fly out job with no experience, it probably just depends on your industry. What do you work as?

Being a safety officer seems like a cool gig. Not many people may like you but it seems like a fairly relaxing job otherwise. Probably a good job to get once one gets worn out working more labor intense jobs.

I know I don't post here a lot, but I just became a 2nd year welding apprentice which I'm very happy about and means a fairly substantial pay raise. Cheers to everyone working in Alberta

(12-31-2014 04:49 PM)Jack Of All Trades Wrote:  @seanchai

I'm in a metal trade, currently an apprentice. It sucks being on the short end of the stick till your a journeyman. Not gona lie, sometimes I get jealous of the high wages the oilfield guys get when they start out so high and the nice bonuses like fly in fly out etc. Then again, I don't have to deal with all the shit that goes on the rigs, so I'm happy about that.

I always hear of guys getting super nice jobs with no experience, but I've never had it that easy. I think I might be unlucky working up here compared to some of the other guys.

One thing I've realized after being in the industry a while, and I think it has to do a bit with the masculine nature (competitive, egos, dick measuring) of the work, but there is a ton of BSing that goes on, so you need to take everything you hear in terms of wages, jobs, how tough they had it, etc with more than a grain of salt. Everyone has heard a story about the guy who nailed an interview and got a 200k job with no experience, but I've never met such a guy. More likely, a guy got a decent job, the story gets passed around, and with each telling at the bar the guy gets a raise of 20k. Or a guy has one killer month where they made 20k, and now the story is they make 240k/yr.

The truth is, even with a related degree(engineering, geology) your first year here you're going to be working your ass off, more than likely somewhere cold and remote, and struggling to hit 6 figures. Until you get up to speed be it rig work, trades, hauling, engineering you aren't going to see the big bucks. Experience is the name of the game.

(12-31-2014 02:07 PM)Jack Of All Trades Wrote:  Anyone know the details of the the fly in fly out guys? The guys I've met that are fly in fly out are usually really high up especially at my company. They're often team leads, foremen, engineers, etc. Those guys are in a position where replacing them is very difficult, I don't know about other companies.

Do they do this for laborers or entry level guys? I'm actually surprised this happens. The only time I've really heard about a cushy fly in fly out gig was about a mining engineer with 10+ years experience up north based out of montreal.

We hire a bunch of FIFO guys each winter from the east coast, but they don't get that sweet of a deal. Basically you can do FIFO, or stay in AB and get more pay. So essentially they're paying for their own flights. These guys are all on 3/1 so for 5 days home after travel, hard to justify it.

One engineer I work with commutes back east because he has kids there, but pays for his own flights. He negotiated a 19/9 (compared to normal 14/7) so when you take into account travel time it's almost not worth it.

Like everything boils down to supply and demand. Right now supply of people is increasing, and demand is decreasing. So it's a bad time to be asking for favours which cost money.