do you know what jobs they are doing up in ft mcmurray ?

in the mine field on site ?

are they engineers ?

I feel sorry for you if you're making that money and you're an aspiring CA. Heck, you could make more than that in commissioned retail.

It has always been my understanding that fresh grads working for a big-4 firm are making at least in the 40s when they start.

All depends on your profession and the company you work for. I'm a AutoCAD designer @ a small (25 people) electrical engineering firm. Started @ gross 40k/year and got a raise after the 3 month probation. Yet I'm still going to go back to school because my speciality is in Architecture and I want more knowledge into the Civil/Structural side of the industry.

How do you think the bigger CA firms make money?....use fresh new cheap labour, pay them nothing and charge them out for $200/hr

It's tough to find a job now. None of my co-workers are satisfied with their pay but it has been tough to switch. Kinda sad that we all have the defeated mentality that "at least we have a job". Gotta get out into the industry once get my designation and hope that things are better.

CA firms also drive their employees hard, so 70-80 hours a week on a fixed salary is where their money is made. Even if they're charging their clients 200/hour and paying their employees 20/hour (which is close to 40K), they're still making 1000%.

I think 40K/year is a reasonable starting salary if you're in a specialized profession, like what you describe. Friends of mine who were in similar situations as you started around that figure and now make 20-30K more than they did when they started.

There's no question that it's a tough job market, but you have to be proactive if you want that dream job. A friend of mine who doesn't even have a CA designation was out of work for several months until he landed a gig at a medium-sized organization. He obviously hasn't shared what his exact salary is, but I'm fairly certain it's in the 50K range. You just have to put yourself out there and not feel sorry for yourself.

Work at a Box Factory in Richmond; by no means glamorous work but I get paid well and I it requires no post secondary most new hires are 18 years old right out of high-school.
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Very hard to find a job. I would love to get into Architecture but the jobs aren't there. And networking is hard enough when your at the bottom of the barrel. Hopefully once I get back to school, meet more people and get the word out I want to be 40hrs/week at 1 firm, and freelance for afew more in my spare time. A work-a-holic of sorts, lol.

But ya..... the economy is still in the pooper and I'm happy making what I make now.. just wish it was more =P

Power Engineers, Process Operators at oil refineries, power plants..

Crown packaging? :fullofwin:

Yea, not really pitying myself. It's more that it's a catch 22 where I know I should be able to get a better paying job, but in order to get a designation, we CA students HAVE TO work for these accounting firms and get paid peanuts. Not really a way around it because experiences elsewhere will not count. Just a bit frustrating that's all.