The North has high paying positions, but the simple labour positions are becoming notoriously difficult to secure. I know only a select few successful pursuants, and their opportunities were all granted by well-placed friends, not beating the street like average paying positions.

Thats why you go to BCIT for two years, get a civil or mechanical engineering diploma.

Then apply to AMEC/Fluor/Cenovus/etc. and go make 120K a year

Obviously any entry level position offering 26 bucks an hour base with 6 hours at overtime a day is going to attract every low life and his brother to apply.

But if you put in just two years and have the right attitude of putting work ahead of personal life for a few years you can secure those high paying northern jobs easy.

Why dont you go be a civil engineer?
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AMEC doesn't hire BCIT grads; I think you'll need full university degrees in engineering for them. EITs get paid 50ish to 70ish.

Pretty ignorant of you to say that. Do you know this as a fact?

Your premise is not consequent to the chain of posts. The argument's that $100k+ positions do not "grow on trees," whether in Northern BC, Northern AB, or NWT, not whether with lengthy training one may or may not secure one. A civil or mechanical engineering diploma, of course, may be a very viable career path for certain people.

I think the perception is sort of skewed. Some of the richest lawyers I know run and practice in small firms (both in downtown or out). I think incomes are more dependent on practice area than the size of the firm. But... big shot lawyer at a large firm has more sex appeal, especially in movies, tv, public eye, etc.

My first statement was probably a stretch (I tend to make generalizations), but I'm confident that the second is fact.

yeah especially since this is household income. if you're a broke-ass musician bunking with 3 others does that household income get counted? if u make 15k off music and the other 30k working full-time as a waiter, does that get counted?

I am a BCIT Grad, while not from civil engineering, i went for another program. I am in my final year in a B-Tech program at BCIT. BCIT is the best possible decision I could have made, I know people who graduated from both u-vic and UBC who then came and joined my program at BCIT. Simply because the industry recognizes BCIT so well.

I worked for AMEC after graduating from a BCIT diploma program. Not saying you are wrong, but believe me I was not the only BCIT grad working at AMEC, nor was BCIT the only school represented within the company. Also EITs get paid 50-70K as a base salary, but if you move up north upwards of 40% of your hours become overtime (My overtime/standard time split became about more that 45% OT and about 10% DT pay, the rest was ST). therefore this number balloons to well over 120K.

This is true, but you mentioned that it was hard to secure some of those positions, I simply wanted to point out that, yes it is hard to secure an entry level position such as a labourer, but once you put in some time and do a little bit of school, it becomes easy to secure these types of positions. Again it all comes down to willingness to put the job ahead of yourself for a bit. The reason these jobs pay so well, is because it is tough working 20 or 30 days in a row 12-16 hours a day. Its tough not seeing family and friends (although you make many new friends on site) for 20 or 30 days at a time. The jobs are stressful, these contracts are worth 100's of millions of dollars. I just wrapped up on a 1.5 billion dollar mine site, with that much money at stake there is a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot of stuff that can go wrong. So with these jobs being so tough, many people quit very quickly, or many people have families and can't go, thats why they have to pay so much to get people to go to the middle of nowhere and work their asses off in the freezing cold.

I thought I might as well add my 2 sense since I just moved to calgary to persue a career in oil and gas.

First of all in Calgary most jobs here will pay minimum 14 (thats what mcdonalds pay) and most construction jobs here will pay 20-25 an hour for unskilled labour.

Now if you want to move out of calgary this is where it becomes difficult.

First of all there are recruiters everywhere and they NEED experienced labourers. These positions eventually lead to skilled positions but you gotta do the grunt work first.

I have friends who work as engineers for several companies here and if you make it out of the first rotation on a rig odds are you are not returning as an roughneck but as something more advanced.

Also there are jobs everywhere in every type of positions. The problem is alot of people are not trying their best to get these jobs.

I came out here with my h2s ticket only. Now I have my standard first aid, fall protection, CSTS-09 (no job site will let you on without this) confined spaces and ground disturbance.

Ever since I got all these certificates I've been getting interviews non-stop. Including the fact that I come from a labour background and a great resume it's so much easier to get a job.

The jobs are here. They just don't want to take risks on shitty employees anymore.

it's probably why there are so many fucking chain resteraunts here. They need to bring in those 3rd world labour to work them because it's difficult to run a small ma and pa shop.

If you work in healthcare though... I suggest you come out here. My friend whos a RT just got a 9-5 making 120k a year base without the insane overtime. In Vancouver this same position is 24-28 an hour.

RT as in radiography?

Those guys make a killing consistently in and out of sites, all expenses paid for, lots of OT once your on site, and overall a pretty easy job once you know what you are doing. It is very specialized work though.

I have had Accuren Testing on our sites in the past to X-Ray welds and such. Their rates are astronomical, but they are the biggest radiography company in the world. I dont know any sites they dont go to...

I'm surprised this thread hasn't died yet.

First of all, How much are Canadian doctors paid? - The Globe and Mail

I do believe the numbers in this thread are not accurate for most positions, especially Lawyer, Doctor, and Server... I've dated enough servers that I can honestly say they make at least 45k/year, much of which will never be claimed. (Obvious reason why the number in this thread is so low)

With regards to these comments about working in Northern AB and BC, EIT's get paid like shit, unless you are very lucky to land "the right job". Are there EIT's making 120k/year? Sure there is, but the majority of the ones we have hired would be lucky to break the 100k mark working 14/7shift all year, and that's optimistic. Amec,Fluor, IMV, Worley Parsons, etc will all hire EIT's provided they have the position to fill, but they pay like shit for the most part, you will usually make better money as an EIT working for a construction contractor. CET's also get paid like shit.

Many engineers are also paid like shit, because non English people who obtain their designation will work for half as much money as someone who is able to communicate with perfect English. For the most part many of them are happy to take 1/2 the money, it still works out to a better quality of life than whatever they had "back home". There is definitely an "immigrant" tax on foreign educated engineers, unless you are from the UK. (Or so it seems)

Who in Northern AB and BC makes good money? (IMO)
- RT2 or UT2 NDT techs
- API Inspectors
- CWB Level 2+ Welding Inspectors
- NACE CIP Level 2+ Inspectors
- Rig welders (pressure pipe)
- Superintendents (Which tend to be life long laborers and operators lol)
- Construction Managers (Think of them as SUPER superintendents)
- Project Managers (Only a select few, many are CET/P.eng and get paid like shit for what they do.)
- The odd scheduler, planner, and contracts manager.

Everyone on the list above can crack 300k/year, avg. daily pay being in the area of say 900-1400$/day.

I've been working in upstream/downstream oil and gas construction/maintenance for the last 8 years, I have CWB Level 2, Multiple CGSB Level 2's, Nace CIP Level 3, Red Seal Steamfitter/Pipefitter, and a few other random tickets. I've held positions from basic Welding Inspector up to PM on a 50M project. So I tend to believe my opinion is relatively accurate.

Having said all that, nothing wrong with getting your engineering, but I would approach one of two ways;
- 2 year Mechanical Eng. Tech followed by inspection tickets or
- 4 year Mechanical Eng.

If you can afford to spend the 4 years in school, that's obviously the better choice. Though I haven't missed out on any opportunities due to my lack of post secondary, there has been numerous times I should have. If the industry ever falls apart I will go back to school.

Unrelated note about Acuren and NDT in general: Though the rates seem high, consider they have to pay for the equipment, housing, etc for the techs and on "call out" work they are usually required to pay the techs 5 hours per day even if they don't work. Meanwhile they need to balance the workload with personnel which is very tricky as most people call the day before they need techs. Because of this the NDT company always has too many people, or not enough, and that switches every other day. The amount of money they spend just to house and keep guys sitting for when it gets busy really cuts into the bottom line. Managing an NDT office in Ft. Mac is a complete nightmare, dispatching is even worse.

[QUOTE=meme405;8320646
I worked for AMEC after graduating from a BCIT diploma program. Not saying you are wrong, but believe me I was not the only BCIT grad working at AMEC, nor was BCIT the only school represented within the company. Also EITs get paid 50-70K as a base salary, but if you move up north upwards of 40% of your hours become overtime (My overtime/standard time split became about more that 45% OT and about 10% DT pay, the rest was ST). therefore this number balloons to well over 120K.[/QUOTE]

Quick couple of questions but...

A. I'm assuming you graduated from an engineering diploma.
B. Did you independently go to AMEC and apply or did you get a reference from your teacher and get an interview scheduled?
C. In what department did you get hired?
D. When did all this happen? Pre-2008 or post?

I only ask these questions just because, you say it's easy to get work. Yet it definitely depends on what schooling you took, who you know, and when you got in.

I'm in the engineering field. And I have abunch of classmates who have had to go back to school because these days, everyone and their grandmother is looking for people with experience. Entry level positions locally are slim to none and you can't get experience without one.

Pm'ed as I dont want my entire life on the internet.

My uncle made about 1.5mil last year as a neurosurgeon in Vancouver
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lol @ my high school teacher used to always complain about how little he made. now i know hes just greedy

Why would he bitch to students? That would be like me bitching to my clients if I think I'm underpaid by the company I work for. Unprofessional Dbag.

Buddy on RevScene made that flippin houses....so nbd...

This list is not comprehensive by any means. What about the salaries of the some of the best professional athletes in B.C?

Heck, the salaries of the Canucks players like Sedins, Kesler, and Lu are much higher than any occupation on this list.

We are talking about reality here.
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nvm

Jasonturbo also forgot to mention HD mechanics, who can easily make upwards of 300k a year up north. I have a buddy with 2 trucks, one double shifting for him with 2 mechs running it, hes making 650k+ a year, and hes.....27?

LOL Professional Athletes? Okay, find me one person in Revscene who is talented enough to be in any TOP professional team :facepalm:

even you should apply for manchester football club, I am sure you can go to school and get a degree for that..... O wait, you have to be born with talent, which you do not have!

Those guys also work like slaves and have no other lives than work, just to maintain those salaries. Money is nice but not everything.