(10-17-2013 06:28 PM)PanzerTape Wrote:  Non, tu vas payer plus en taxes et en inspections (et surtout en assurances??) et en gaz que si tu achetais ici. Si tu achetés en dehors de la province faut faire faire une inspection. Sinon oui, c'est mieux avec un truck.

Où vas tu pour la career fair?

Cest ce que j'ai pensais, Merci

http://alis.alberta.ca/pdf/canadacareerw...obFair.pdf

Scotian: If you say you got by with an echo that puts me at ease since my reason for getting the truck was too be able to be safe on the roads...

PM me if you need any data on Colombia, I have a crazy data sheet that's up to date.

Donnie,
Bienvenue ici!
Looking forward to meeting you in Edmonton once you get here. And also to read your data sheet on Colombia! Even better hearing your stories over drinks here as Colombia is where I'm heading to next!

Bonne chance mec!

so I've done a bit of research to get my resume/cover letter game up to speed and am planning on sending out some resumes. (i've found some trainee jobs posted).

I understand it is infinitely easier to land a job when actually in province, so I'm considering this good practice for once I get out there. If I get a response then I'll most likely take the offer and move out there within the month.


One company I was looking at had the exact same position open for 3 different locations. What is the best way to phrase that you're willing to relocate anywhere/any time without sounding desperate?

I was thinking of mentioning the other jobs, but framing it in order of preference. ie. "I saw you had operations in edmonton, fort mac, red deer. My preference is for edmonton, but I am willing to work where needed most."

(10-17-2013 07:22 PM)donnie514 Wrote:  

(10-17-2013 06:28 PM)PanzerTape Wrote:  Non, tu vas payer plus en taxes et en inspections (et surtout en assurances??) et en gaz que si tu achetais ici. Si tu achetés en dehors de la province faut faire faire une inspection. Sinon oui, c'est mieux avec un truck.

Où vas tu pour la career fair?

Cest ce que j'ai pensais, Merci

http://alis.alberta.ca/pdf/canadacareerw...obFair.pdf

Scotian: If you say you got by with an echo that puts me at ease since my reason for getting the truck was too be able to be safe on the roads...

PM me if you need any data on Colombia, I have a crazy data sheet that's up to date.

I have a mazda.

Trucks are only necessary if you need to drive on site. Welders, drillers, foreman. The typical tradesman is bussed or is given a company truck where a crew drive in.

You might drive to the camp. But your car/truck will probably stay there.

I want a truck because trucks are awesome.

Irishman has a truck because he drives in the bush to drill sites.

I drive to yards.

Hey guys, I just drove up to Fort St John from the Lower main land ands its going off right now. Within a day of getting here I already have a job and 2 job interveiws coming up (for a better position). If you looking for work nows a good time.

Damn, being from BC, FSJ might just be a better option. Do you know the long term outlook up there? ie. is it going to be similar in opportunity as Alberta is/was? what are the wages like up there, can you make dat cream like you can in the oil sands?

Everyone I talk to up here says it is going to be the next Fort McMurray and that I should buy Land. Everywhere you look they are building stuff. Looks like for an entry level position the wage is $25-26 and hour. I have a interview at a lumber mill and they start at $25.33 and hour and I have another interview at a oil and gas place and its 26$ for entry level, both places are 12 hour days.

Yeah the smaller towns is where the big money is for sure! One of the companies I have been in touch with has told me they will offer me a full time position in my field if I were to relocate to some small shit hole town outside Etown. On top of that they said I'd make twice the money there than if I were working in Edmonton. Needless to say I'm going there!

This might have been answered somewhere in the 75 pages, but what are you guys making after-tax? I am thinking about holing myself in place like Fort Mac(or insert hell hole here) for a couple years in order to fund an idea I have. But I have seen some teaching jobs in the middle east offering 60-70k a year tax free. It seems like you would walk away with a similar amount of change?

Why consider the shatty oil sands doing labour work when you can go get a degree in ocean or mechanical engineering and work in the oil and gas industry? Sure you need to invest a few more years and will graduate around 24 years old by my god is it ever worth it.

I have a degree in ocean and naval architectural engineering and have seen the world in style as a result and have the pleasure to choose where I want to live. I'm 36 now but at 32 I got my first proper contract working in Africa. As a site rep I was working 4 weeks off and 4 weeks on. The salary was tax free and I was netting after tax around 50k USD a month with 6 months off a year (ie. 300k a year clean). The company would also pay a travel budget good enough for a business class return flight anywhere. So I lived in my off time in the north east of Brazil for about 2 years.

It gets better and better too. Was recently offered a 4 year 2k USD a day net contract to work shift in Indonesia but have turned it down due to 4 year resident expat posting in Rio de Janeiro (can you blame me) coming up soon.

Would seriously recommend a degree in ocean and naval architectural engineering. It's certainly changed my life.

(10-20-2013 04:35 AM)gringo newf Wrote:  Why consider the shatty oil sands doing labour work when you can go get a degree in ocean or mechanical engineering and work in the oil and gas industry? Sure you need to invest a few more years and will graduate around 24 years old by my god is it ever worth it.

I have a degree in ocean and naval architectural engineering and have seen the world in style as a result and have the pleasure to choose where I want to live. I'm 36 now but at 32 I got my first proper contract working in Africa. As a site rep I was working 4 weeks off and 4 weeks on. The salary was tax free and I was netting after tax around 50k USD a month with 6 months off a year (ie. 300k a year clean). The company would also pay a travel budget good enough for a business class return flight anywhere. So I lived in my off time in the north east of Brazil for about 2 years.

It gets better and better too. Was recently offered a 4 year 2k USD a day net contract to work shift in Indonesia but have turned it down due to 4 year resident expat posting in Rio de Janeiro (can you blame me) coming up soon.

Would seriously recommend a degree in ocean and naval architectural engineering. It's certainly changed my life.

300k per year is fucking good money, with that type of money i work 5 years maximum and never work again.

Can anyone do a report on living in Edmonton ? Kind of like the ones in the travel section . I'm currently a crane operator in vancouver , making $60,000 a year , living paycheck to paycheck . Been looking at truck driving jobs in Edmonton for $80,000 but want to know what its like living out there .

you make 60k a year and you live paycheck to paycheck? You must be doing something very wrong. This won't change if you make 20k more. You need to change your expenses first.

@Tresdus Not sure if you're aware how the cost of living in Vancouver, a coffin sized condo in some areas is $500k+ easy. If you don't want a seriously long commute sometimes you have to spend a lot more on a place to live. 60k in Vancouver doesn't go too far. @nevergymless 80k in Edmonton you would be doing pretty good. But if you had experience in that field you can do a lot more than 80K.

(10-20-2013 04:17 AM)Magyarphile Wrote:  This might have been answered somewhere in the 75 pages, but what are you guys making after-tax? I am thinking about holing myself in place like Fort Mac(or insert hell hole here) for a couple years in order to fund an idea I have. But I have seen some teaching jobs in the middle east offering 60-70k a year tax free. It seems like you would walk away with a similar amount of change?

In a low tax jurisdiction like Alberta you'll be looking at around 30% income tax rate. This is including both federal and provincial income tax. Might be slightly higher or lower depending on your income.

There's no provincial sales tax in Alberta, so the federal 5% tax is all you'll pay on goods/services purchased in the province. May be a separate tax on alcohol though I'm not sure.

There's also EI (Employment insurance) and CPP (Canada Pension Plan) to pay. But these max out at a fairly low income rate, so if you're earning big bucks they do not represent a big percentage.

In Alberta basic healthcare, as required by the Canada Health Act, is free to legal permanent Alberta residents.

After a very serious incident I would like to remind all you oil sands guys to work safe, be mindful of your surroundings and don't work around waterbrained retards.

VP do you have an update? I've only skimmed this thread the last few days, do you have a job yet? and interviews or leads?

Mike,
Yeah just got hired today by a good company in my field. But I'd have to relocate to a smaller city north of Etown. I'll be moving there in the next few days. I'm very excited about this and the future! I know it won't be easy being in the middle of nowhere among rednecks, but the money is well worth it.

Gotta thank the entire crew here in Etown who are all a bunch of ambitious, smart hard working guys. And very helpful to show you the ropes. I'm at the bar now trying not to get too smashed, but I'll write more once I have all the details about my job.

Cant thank the guys in here enough for the info/support and feedback both on this thread and in person. You guys are all stand outs!

Mega props to Scotian you are a legend myman! After Roosh, you're the guy in here who has the most positively impacted lives of increasing number of guys!

To anyone in here who is on the edge, just do it! The longer you wait, the more you will regret it once you make it here for not coming here earlier! This is a truly golden opportunity to make all your plans, goals and dreams come true while learning a lifelong skill that is in high demand around the world! Everyone I talk to here they say the same thing that moving to Alberta is the best decision of their life! There must be a reason for that guys so make the move boys!

(10-21-2013 07:10 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  Mike,
Yeah just got hired today by a good company in my field. But I'd have to relocate to a smaller city north of Etown. I'll be moving there in the next few days. I'm very excited about this and the future! I know it won't be easy being in the middle of nowhere among rednecks, but the money is well worth it.

Gotta thank the entire crew here in Etown who are all a bunch of ambitious, smart hard working guys. And very helpful to show you the ropes. I'm at the bar now trying not to get too smashed, but I'll write more once I have all the details about my job.

Cant thank the guys in here enough for the info/support and feedback both on this thread and in person. You guys are all stand outs!

Mega props to Scotian you are a legend myman! After Roosh, you're the guy in here who has the most positively impacted lives of increasing number of guys!

To anyone in here who is on the edge, just do it! The longer you wait, the more you will regret it once you make it here for not coming here earlier! This is a truly golden opportunity to make all your plans, goals and dreams come true while learning a lifelong skill that is in high demand around the world! Everyone I talk to here they say the same thing that moving to Alberta is the best decision of their life! There must be a reason for that guys so make the move boys!

Awesome man.

Well I've been in Edmonton for a day now--I've never been around Whyte Avenue before though. It's a happening place I tell ya! Went to Local Hall 488 and the receptionist took a resume. Then after that, I went to an oil patch related company in St. Albert and they want to hire me, but they are waiting on it to get busy.

I got a late start this morning, so tomorrow I'm going to get up earlier and hit some of these contractors. I don't know why Edmonton gets such a bum rap. It's a nice town in my opinion.

I'm curious, are there any Americans here who have successful found employment of any sort in the Canadian oil sands?

(10-21-2013 08:08 PM)Temm Wrote:  Well I've been in Edmonton for a day now--I've never been around Whyte Avenue before though. It's a happening place I tell ya! Went to Local Hall 488 and the receptionist took a resume. Then after that, I went to an oil patch related company in St. Albert and they want to hire me, but they are waiting on it to get busy.

I got a late start this morning, so tomorrow I'm going to get up earlier and hit some of these contractors. I don't know why Edmonton gets such a bum rap. It's a nice town in my opinion.

Where did you move from ? I'm serious thinking of getting relocated to Edmonton after winter . Trying to get a job in Squamish or Whistler for the snowboard season atm .

(10-22-2013 06:48 AM)speakeasy Wrote:  I'm curious, are there any Americans here who have successful found employment of any sort in the Canadian oil sands?

There was a kid who was in school and managed to get a visa for kids in college and went to alberta.

(10-22-2013 03:04 PM)NeVerGymLess Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 08:08 PM)Temm Wrote:  Well I've been in Edmonton for a day now--I've never been around Whyte Avenue before though. It's a happening place I tell ya! Went to Local Hall 488 and the receptionist took a resume. Then after that, I went to an oil patch related company in St. Albert and they want to hire me, but they are waiting on it to get busy.

I got a late start this morning, so tomorrow I'm going to get up earlier and hit some of these contractors. I don't know why Edmonton gets such a bum rap. It's a nice town in my opinion.

Where did you move from ? I'm serious thinking of getting relocated to Edmonton after winter . Trying to get a job in Squamish or Whistler for the snowboard season atm .

I'm originally from the states, but came out from Saskatchewan. It's like being re-introduced to civilization for me lol.

I wonder how Swear Box is doing up in the Big dirty?

(10-23-2013 09:21 PM)scotian Wrote:  I wonder how Swear Box is doing up in the Big dirty?

Hello my fellow oil producers, here is an update (thank you Scotian for the nudge in the ribs ). Today is my first day off after 8 days of 10 hr shifts. I'm living in town (as opposed to the camp at Long Lake) and I get picked up in the morning and taken home at night. Travel time to work is around 40 mins though it can take longer on the return home leg as the traffic is horrific around 6 pm ish.

I've spent a tremendous amount of my first week sitting on my arse in the crewroom (which is actually our locker room). We have zero journeymen Instrumentation guys on our shift except for the foreman and I'm the only apprentice Instrument guy. We're taking over the maintenance contract for Nexen's SAGD plant at Long Lake and still in the process of crewing up so there's still more guys to be hired (we had a ton of new guys in yesterday, mainly millwrights and pipefitters I think) so hopefully more Instrument guys will show up soon.

I've been out on a few jobs with the Nexen Instrumentation journeymen which was cool as it gets a bit boring sitting around all day. They are fucking ANAL about safety here and it takes a while before hands actually get to turn a spanner on a job as there are meetings to assess the job hazards, safe work permits to be issued, more job hazard assessments specific to the task at hand and localised area but eventually we get there.

The operation here is SAGD and the plant is a minefield of hazards, steam venting from just about everywhere, shit dripping from pipes, the rotten egg smell you get with the sour gases is ever present and obviously there are places with LOTS of noise. Apparently we have a building that houses two 7 stage compressors that are said to be the largest in the world.

The guys on our shift are pretty cool...no obvious dickheads but I'm sure there will be a couple surface before we're fully manned. As we are Electrical & Instrumentation we tend to ignore the heavy trades though I do have a laugh with a couple of the welders who joined the same time as me. All in all it's going not too bad and is a world away from how I thought it might have been (noobs getting sent to do stupid shit so the rest of the more experienced guys to watch and laugh, being sent to do various shitty tasks by senior guys 'just because they can', etc).

This week I'm going to organise a pair of safety glasses with a prescription in them as apparently contact lenses are a no-no here (been wearing mine and keeping quiet). I can see the reasons for the no contacts rule, there's a lot of tricky shit out here that can fuck you up and if it adheres to your lens can result in blinding you so I am addressing that - it's a no brainer.

Apart from that life is not too bad - I have yet to get paid and when I do (2nd Nov) I will assess whether or not I can afford to fly back to Ontario for a few days on my next week off.

For those looking for something they are still hiring for this contract I believe so my advice would be don't fuck around sending in CV's and hoping for a callback, look on ClearStream's site and find the number for their HR department and ring them up and ask about their 'Nexen Long Lake Project'. They are pretty hard to get hold of in HR and many calls will go to voicemail but be persistent, they do actually answer the phone when they are in front of it.

Good luck to anyone who gives it a crack - it's a long term thing, 5 yr contract if the company doesn't fuck up and get thrown off site (which is why we are there to replace the other two companies who shared the maintenance responsibilities before we were hired) so that means stability, ie no being hired then layed off then looking around for something else etc.

SB