Couple questions for all the guys living in/around Calgary and Edmonton.

I don't mind the city once and a wile but I prefer the slower, tame country life as that's what I'm used to. Work is work but I need a chill place to retreat to after the grind and outdoor fun when free. I'm looking for location advice, 30-45min from city (I'm 90% blue collar so no doubt Edmonton), awesome scenery or a close drive to, lots of forest, trails, good fishing etc. Any advice is appreciated.

Yah Alberta is where you need to be.. Jasper=blue collar resort town (3 hrs from Edmonton), Canmore, 45 min from Calgary, more upscale than Jasper. Pretty much all areas of Alberta have focuses on the outdoors including Ft. Mac and Grande Prairie. GP even has a snow hill for snowboarding/skiing but a bunny hill at that. Trying to include gaming chicks in this scenario is another deal tho..

(03-12-2014 09:48 PM)Moneypitlover Wrote:  Couple questions for all the guys living in/around Calgary and Edmonton.

I don't mind the city once and a wile but I prefer the slower, tame country life as that's what I'm used to. Work is work but I need a chill place to retreat to after the grind and outdoor fun when free. I'm looking for location advice, 30-45min from city (I'm 90% blue collar so no doubt Edmonton), awesome scenery or a close drive to, lots of forest, trails, good fishing etc. Any advice is appreciated.

What sort of out of town allowance are ye guys getting who work in welding/NDT?

Can you choice where you get to stay or do they rent the house for you?

What I am getting as is buying a cheap camper every year to stay in close to work and then using that living allowance to pay it off.

Sell then and make back some of your cash/possible profit.

Anyone seen anybody do this?

(03-12-2014 11:37 PM)CKSEA Wrote:  Yah Alberta is where you need to be.. Jasper=blue collar resort town (3 hrs from Edmonton), Canmore, 45 min from Calgary, more upscale than Jasper. Pretty much all areas of Alberta have focuses on the outdoors including Ft. Mac and Grande Prairie. GP even has a snow hill for snowboarding/skiing but a bunny hill at that. Trying to include gaming chicks in this scenario is another deal tho..

I've been doing some google map viewing and yeah, lots of nice areas to pick from. West side of Calgary looks beauty and up around GP like you said. Thanks for the info CKSEA, Ill check out the places you mentioned. :beer:

whats happening guys,the visas are open for my country tonight (Ireland) and i have everything ready. once i have it, il be heading over to edmonton at the end of may start of june. ive no experience in any field so im looking for anything really to keep me ticking over. I definately have my eye one some sort of welding job/apprenticeship in the long term.

my friend thats over there is gonna be helping me get on my feet for a few weeks before i get something sorted, he said i should head up to fort mac, im thinking i should as i dont have a drivers licence and itl be a pain in the ass getting around edmonton, where as in fort mac if I get a camp job it wont be as bad. General labouring il do no problem, im a big enough bloke so any heavy lifting wont be a problem.

my question is should I apply for some general labouring jobs before I go over? will they even look at my shitty resume even though im not in the country yet? my friend is gonna give me a list of companies to contact but id rather get a head start if possible. Honestly ill do anything!

Alecks,
Good job on getting a visa and getting to AB!
Just get there and your chances of landing a job are infinitely higher than applying before end specially if you have no applicable skill or experience.

All the best man!

(03-13-2014 12:21 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  Alecks,
Good job on getting a visa and getting to AB!
Just get there and your chances of landing a job are infinitely higher than applying before end specially if you have no applicable skill or experience.

All the best man!

cheers man, i remember when this thread started and ever since then i knew it was the right move, even if ive to start at the bottom shoveling shit. Have to start somewhere.

if anyone has any advice about jobhunting/the women etc for a bloke like me (im 21) im all ears!

Alecks, your sure fire way to a job is going to a job fair in ft mac or grande prairie (really anywhere, pick your city) and prepare to be amazed. I still go to these mostly for fun because it's the craziest thing I've seen, think 50-60 companies all hiring. Google 'grande prairie job fair' and take it from there.

Also, there are lots of jobs all over ab where the employment pays for lodging and has crew trucks so your not limited to ft mac. The money for most jobs will be comparable to there through the province. It's trades and fast good that are exceptionally well paid in my experience. Lots of guys up here have duis and such no license so employers have had to work with that scenario for a while. Alberta should accept your Irish dl and issue you a temporary one (in lieu of mailed original) without issue though.

(03-12-2014 11:39 PM)Atlantic Wrote:  What sort of out of town allowance are ye guys getting who work in welding/NDT?

50$ if hotel
140-190$ if camp
I'm pretty sure.

You really want to go with welding? All those fumes and shit like that won't really keep you healthy. My supervisor just switched from welding. He's been doing it for 20 years, so if you have any questions I can ask him.

(03-14-2014 06:51 PM)Tresdus Wrote:  50$ if hotel
140-190$ if camp
I'm pretty sure.

You really want to go with welding? All those fumes and shit like that won't really keep you healthy. My supervisor just switched from welding. He's been doing it for 20 years, so if you have any questions I can ask him.

When you are in camp you get nothing i think.
If Hotel is provided you get about 50$ Food Allowance
If nothing is provided you get about 140$ per diem

Howdy lads hope everyone is well

The Irish visa's came out the other day and all 3,850 were gone in under 5 minutes (rats from a sinking ship). By the grace of Zeus I managed to get one so the plan is finally coming together. I'm going to arrive in September on the advice of forum members and with all of the info from here put my game plan into action. In the mean time I'm going to travel and enjoy myself before going west.

Thanks for all of the info lads I'll keep ye posted

(03-12-2014 09:48 PM)Moneypitlover Wrote:  Couple questions for all the guys living in/around Calgary and Edmonton.

I don't mind the city once and a wile but I prefer the slower, tame country life as that's what I'm used to. Work is work but I need a chill place to retreat to after the grind and outdoor fun when free. I'm looking for location advice, 30-45min from city (I'm 90% blue collar so no doubt Edmonton), awesome scenery or a close drive to, lots of forest, trails, good fishing etc. Any advice is appreciated.

Okotoks, Alberta. Awesome small town -- felt like home to me for the few months I lived there. Love going to visit.... great place to call home. 20 mins or so south of Calgary! Mountain views, fishing, hunting, trails, places to go mudding if you have a 4x4. Deer in your front yard and coyotes stalking them from down the street! I'd love to snatch up some property there someday and call it my home base. Good looking women as well.

Anyone want to check out the central alberta job fair with me on march 26th? I'm going to hit it up if I don't get hired next week here in edmonton.

Looks like tons of opportunity at that fair, http://humanservices.alberta.ca/apps/caj...ipants.asp , makes me wanna move out asap but I just got a FT job here in Ontario so I guess I'll be waiting to move until around Oct-Nov now.

Zauber, that is a very good time to come here and a get a good high paying job. Things get busy and everyone hires in Sept-Dec

Got some questions about getting to camps in The Mac. If I was to Greyhound from Edmonton how do I get to my designated camp? Do company's offer buses from town or is a cab the ONLY way to go?

If you get hired by a camp they have crew trucks to shuttle people back and fourth and company paid for busses (you will see diversified everywhere) that go to most camps. There are lots of people in your situation so they will likely have an already designed solution for you. Cabs are incredibly expensive, think 150-250.

Awesome thank you.

Hey guys I have been away for a week so I will get back to people PMs tomorrow.

Thanks to the people who wrote to me with welding/job advice. I appreciate it a lot.

Also I am officially on spring break up and around Edmonton for one more week before I start traveling.

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone could throw me some pointers on where to look or who to talk to for summer student jobs (engineering). I'm a 2nd year mechanical engineering student at the University of Calgary and I've literally applied to every big and small O&G company for summer positions but it seems as there's a lot more qualified folks out there.

This thread has been enjoying to read, I'm glad that you guys are making it.

Hey guys,

There's a Canadian job expo on in Ireland this weekend with a lot of big companies. My cousin got a job in Vancouver from meeting an employer at this event last year. I've got a ticket for both days, so I'm gonna suit up bring my C.V's and see what's what. If nothing else it should be a good resource for some info. I'll keep ye posted.

@hyperflux You are likely screwed if you want a summer job with Calgary oil companies, they hire in September! Get on it early next year. For this summer do ANY manual labour job you can find in the oil industry, especially something like rough necking on a rig. You will really stand out if you have field experience when it comes to interviews for next summer.

Hey guys. I've been a B Pressure Welder for a couple weeks now and am really starting to learn a bit about what the Oil Industry (and I'm sure other Industries as well) is like. Must say there is a steep learning curve as right now I'm in the Truck/Trailer Industry looking hard to make the switch.

Please correct anything I have wrong, I'm still learning. The following are simply observations and opinions mixed with what I know about being a Welder in Alberta:

When I became a Journeyman Welder (5 Years now) I started learning. I went through school to prove that I was competent but it doesn't end there. The best way of making top $$$ and staying employed is to be a better worker then the next guy. To be a better worker and more valuable then the next guy means that you must become more qualified. As I find myself trying to get into the Oil Industry being a B Pressure Welder is really the bottom rung of all the B Pressure Welders. To get the better jobs I need to get even more safety and welding tickets. I'm going to need to prove myself to be more competent then the B Pressure beside me. Might be excessive ambition talking but to keep moving up in my career I need to keep learning and I need more training.

Companies want people that can do everything. Whether it be working in confined spaces, on an H2S site, or TIG Welding Stainless Steel Pipe (or maybe all at once... wow). They won't let you do any of it if you aren't qualified for it. You need to be able to prove yourself through testing that you are a capable and competent worker or else the higher paying jobs will go to the people that are.

A lot of the reasons you they want the qualifications is for Safety. Even more reason can be summed up in the big word "Liability". After all in Canada you can't get sued in the event of property damage or personal injury unless there is a display of gross negligence on behalf of a person/company. The best way to not get sued is to pass on the liability to someone else. Liability is the reason you need CSTS - 09 to get on any Oil Company site. They want you to be safe but on the chance that you aren't they don't want to be held liable. A lot of companies will even pay that insurance policy by sending you for the proper training.

CSTS covers the most basic of safety practices anywhere from using a ladder properly down to defensive driving. If you were to fall off a ladder or hit a deer with the company truck they want to say "It's not our fault, you know better". More specialized forms of safety training include Confined Space and H2S Alive. If you get hurt or killed these companies need to be able to say "But he/she had the training, they just didn't use it" or even better "We even paid for the training". If a pipe on the pipeline blows up and kills a bunch of people, they need to be able to say "The inspector said it could handle it, that's what we paid them for". That's why all of these contractors need to have ridiculously high Liability Insurance (heard up to 5 MIL but probably more).

Not downing this thread at all. Believe me it has taught me a lot and help me realize that it's time to take my career to the next level. It's just that some people may get the wrong idea. Fact is there is a lower chance of getting hired by these huge companies unless you have more training and qualifications than Joe Blow. They want to know that they have the right person doing what they want them to do. If you have no skills or previous training go and get them before you can expect the big $$$.

Right now I'm trying to get on with Local 488 and seem to have hit a wall. I don't feel like I'm qualified enough for the jobs that have been on he board lately and it's hard to even get a permit if you don't qualify for the position being called. Maybe I'm just impatient. I'm sure the right job will come up soon enough.

Keep pushing yourself out there. If you want it, you will get it.

Are you in Edmonton? I drive around Nisku a lot and always see B-Welder Hiring signs, don't know if that is something you are interessted in / qualified for.