Alberta Oil Rigging
 

Have any of you guys gone and done it before? What is it like?
I'm tempted to go and make some money for a few months to make some extra money.

It's not as simple as that. It's not easy either. What kind of job/life experience do you have? Can you deal with people treating you like shit? Can you deal with 12+ hour days? Can you deal with busting your ass for 10-20 days or more straight? I work in fort Mac, I can tell you that I am glad as fuck I don't work in rig work.
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Its always nice to hear what u can make but the question is whether or not your willing to grind it out. Get an education so you don't need to do these kinda jobs.
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I want to go for a few months to get money to pay off my car and to pay for school. I wanna start school in sept and it will be hard with a car to pay off.

I do not mind busting my ass. At the moment I work two jobs 5 days a week. First from is 8 hour shift of warehouse shipping and receiving. Second job is around 4-5 hours of shipping for a courier company. I have been doing this for around 9 months now. I average at 2500 a month after taxes and everything now.

i have for 2 seasons. just imagine a place that is -50, working 18hrs a day everyday, frostbite can occur, heading back to the camp just to sleep only to wake up to work another 18hrs. drug free? please! cocaine, crystal meth just to name a few floating around the camp. i was tempted to try, they say it makes the time past, boredom actually some days i cant go to sleep and its hard to stay awake. but i keep the money in my mind.

i have seen guys go up with so much drive on making the money, in a week pussied out and when back home, others came up expecting -10 or so, not properly equipt and freeze to death or shall i say sickness, frostbites

Racism existed when i was up there another bullshit i have to deal with on top of all the bullshit. its hard to put in words what i have experience up there. i was away from all the convenience, fights happens daily for fucking smokes or even dry socks. staying positive helps but when you are over worked and sleep deprived you will be as piss as i was. money was good, but after 2 seasons i will never go back.

you have to ask yourself, what is your motive on going to such a place? money? a new bmw? down payment on a new house/apt? bills? I when up there to earn for a higher education, i have saved enough money to reach my education goals. its funny to listen to other people plan on the money they earn "i ma buy me a new f350 when i get home" lol.

Just make sure your sacrifice is justified, and do not blow it on material things. this is my 2 cents. and i wish you well.

It sounds pretty harsh up there, but if i chose to go, I will be heading up there with my brothers friend's who have been going for a couple seasons. I'm not worried about the drugs or smoking, I don't do either, my main goal is to make around 30 grand, to pay off my car and to pay for my post secondary.

I am hoping to start school in Sept at the JIBC for the Law Enforcement Studies Diploma, I just want to be comfortable while at school and not be stressing over money and be more focus on my studies.

Also at the moment, I am by no means a weak or small person, I am very self motivated, If I want something , I work my ass off and get it. I also manage to go to the gym atm 3 days a week after working my 13 hour days.

Working 2 indoor cushy jobs does not come close to comparing to rig hand work. I've never worked rigs myself and never would. Sure they make more then I do, but it's only temporary work as you either burn yourself out or you make it through winter and hit break up and get laid off. I work year round, make a solid 6 figure income, and have never put in more then 8 hours of actually work in a day. Dealing with the cold is the fun part. Bring your hellys.
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Another one of these threads..

I'll give my two cents.

I had the same goals in mind at nineteen, I wanted to have a decent car and live relatively comfortably while in university without student loans. I would never work up north, it just doesn't appeal to me, so I found a hellish job down here that paid well and offered massive amounts of overtime. I consider going that route one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I fell behind my friends who went straight into university; I was miserable and surrounded by idiots constantly; I lost relationships with people, because I was always at work.

In hindsight, school cost the same amount whether I pay for it upfront or with a student loan with the exception of a bit of interest. I make about the same post-graduating as working that terrible job before beginning school. I should have paid for school with student loans and not sacrificed two years of my life, entered my career two years earlier and lived a conservative life style post graduating to pay off the loans quickly. I would have had a bit of additional interest to pay off, but the interest is nothing if you try placing a value on two years of wasted time.

^Truth.

My two cents..

A few of my engineering classmates moved up north, and they fucking hated it. They worked there for a couple years. Other than work, they did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Like someone said above, you work a long ass day, go home, sleep. Wake up, and repeat. On your days off, you're so drained that you don't feel like doing anything.

After graduating (I was only 20 when I graduated), I was debating whether or not to move up north for year or two and come back. I decided to take a lower salary, but stay in Vancouver. Looking back, I'm glad as shit I didn't move up there.
In the past couple years I've met so many people, made so many connections, accomplished and experienced so much, that money can't buy. It's not so much "keeping your mind on the money" and doing whatever you have a drive for, as it is, what opportunities are you missing out on in the time you're gone? Anyone can move up north and be miserable for a few months and move back with a pretty paycheque. But is it worth it? The answer to that is different for everyone. A lot of people these days look at working up north as an "easy way out" or a "fast track." There's plenty of other options, if you look around and ask.

Yeah, my classmates who moved up there are debt-free now, but in the time they were up there, I was still paying off my loans as well.
But I'd easily choose a couple years of my youth, not to mention my sanity, and work off the extra few grand while enjoying my life.

I would strongly suggest you to just take the loan and just get a proper education now. After coming back from the rigs and going back to school, you won't be that much "ahead" post-grad. Relative to someone who just took the loan and went to school, they're paying off their loan in the time you're up north rigging. Your 2500 a month is pretty solid for having no education. If I was in your shoes, I'd sell your car and downgrade to one where you don't have to make payments. Start saving up for school, and just take a loan to cover the difference of tuition.

I'd personally only move up there if I needed a last resort. Like if I fucked up my life so bad that I had no other choice. But that's just me. Everyone's different. If you're willing to sacrifice everything for the dollar, then by all means.

Good luck on whatever you choose.

so how does one get a job "up north" - just go there and see or do they post somewhere?
wonder if there are any youtube videos of these guys..

I didnt work on a RIG, But i was up north working as a welders helper for a Guy who hates welding and is hopped up on steroids. Its a hard, long, dirty cold day, Or its to hot in the summer... He busted my ass every day lol but he never got me to quite, I did crack once and almost drilled him in the face... But he grabbed me later that day in a choke hold so i picked him up and fell on him :).

Be prepared to hold you own and work 12-18 hours a day, under constant stress 20+ days on and like 3-4 days off. Someone i know when up with high hopes recently, after quitting his job being with the same construction company for 5 years he wanted to make some better money..... He came back after a week.

Was Actual quite the experience, I Liked it. Never slept so good in my life other then when i was in camp. I still wish someone had pics of me on top of the scaffolding holding a full size patio umbrella in one hand (Trying to stop sunlight from entering my welders mask so that he could see) With the wind trying to fold it in on itself as i controlled the temperature dial and past him grinders and wire wheels with the other hand hahahaha.
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P.S Trucks getting pulled around the site by a side boom is common. Dragging welding cables through flooded trenches and mud sucks because you get shocked all day and you get soaked, plus you get to put even more mud on yourself at the end of the day when you clean the cables :D

I have two friends who do first aid up north on rigs on a two weeks on/two off rotation (which sometimes stretches to 3/3). They rack up a shit load of money BUT their commute to and from work costs either $200 + wear and tear on their cars and 10 hours travel each way, or $400 on the plane each way. Other then that the first aid guys seem to have a pretty cushy job.

The guys who actually work on the rig work HARD, wicked long days. You will hurt. Not only that you have to live with people you might not like so you need to be a person who can self monitor well too I think, other wise things could get very uncomfortable and miserable very quickly and you have no place to really go to escape it.

^ I traveled from Calgary to Grand prairie then up to Fort Saint John.. The commute sucks and is kinda hard on the trucks, plus my rotation i was on, 24 Days on and 4 days off was tiring. 2 days of driving and 2 days of visiting people and trying to get other stuff done :(.. But the damn money is worth it for someone single like me

When my dad first moved to Canada working on the rigs was one of his first jobs. He was away from my mother for weeks at a time and, although he made some thick cheese, it wore him out.
He knew that kind of work was going to make him old before his time as he came from a country chalk full of coal mines and saw the effects of people around him who had a joyless, labourous existence.

It did pay for a shitload of his toys tho. Because I wasn't born yet he and my mom both rolled in vettes and he rocked a new Harley.

It depends on how important the trade-off is to you.


Oh, and listen to what Gtrr33 says. If you go up and decide to earn a little fast cash, be smart with your money. The Business and Financial forum is here:
The Business and Financial Forum - Vancouver's Top Classifieds and Automotive Forum - REVscene.net

op how is your driving abstract?

Re-think this. The training you get as a cop, has absolutely nothing to do with stuff they teach you in this program. I'm not a cop, but I know lots of them, and know what goes on @ the JI. It's great if you're in an academy (Fire, Police, Sheriff, Medic), but we laughed at those kids that were enrolled in those Diploma programs. Why? They're a business... plain and simple.

Also, what do you think it's good for after you're done? Nothing. It doesn't get you a foot in the door either.

Want to actually prepare for law enforcement? Get yourself a diploma/degree in Crim, Psych, Accounting or Comp Sci. They want people with education and life experience.

I worked in Fort McMurrary for 4 months, engineering related. Although it wasn't a labour job at all, the only thing kept me going was knowing there was light at the end of the road when my term was up.

It's really not worth it, in my opinion. I've seen many, they're dead on the inside, working 18 hours days, for weeks on end. If you really want nothing but to pad your bank account, then by all means, but at the end of the day, for me, I've come to realize the experiences you have in your life far exceed the monetary worth of any material possessions you have.

It's really tought to have good life experiences when you're working in those kinds of environments. It's really for tough minded individuals only.

Just wondering, how much do they actually pay up there?

labourers can start 70k a year to 200k a year, depending on the trade. For example, welders will make a lot.

Really depends on the company how much you make. If your union or non union is huge too. Non union guys are making 10-13/hr less then I am at the same job.

I work in Fort Mac too but in an oil mine, oil rigging is a physical job. You have to consider things like moving up north, the weather and the lifestyle is completely different from Vancouver. I'm lucky I fly in and out every 7 days for free.
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iceman what is your job up there?

what kind of work experience is required to do the lowest of jobs?
can someone with an accounting/business background get anything?

?? the requirements for anyone to do the lowest of jobs is the willingness to be a slave for money. That's it!

Exceptions: 18 or older, willing to slave away, able to get up there and find a company willing to hire a laborer.
Tickets: H2S Alive, CSTS and PST, (Occupational first aid?? Cant remember as some companies are different and have their own courses)..
PPE for the job you are doing