Full Thread: Career paths to avoid
View Single Post
Old January 16th, 2014 #8
Nate Richards
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,431
Default

Quote:
I went through welding school back in the day. Pipe welding is considered difficult. The test you would need to pass would be rigorous. After you performed the test the weld would be cut down the middle and it would need to be excellent. Not just okay. Just keep this in mind.
I'm not a welder, but I work with them. Maybe they just make it look easy. From what I've seen, pipe welding is easier than structural welding, but up here the pipe welders get paid more.

Quote:
If you don't know how to weld it is not something that can be learned on the fly in your garage with an old Lincoln welder.
Yes, it really is something you can learn in the garage. That's how a lot of these guys start. Old lincoln welders are common here and they can make a man almost a thousand dollars a day, if he's good enough and gets on with the right outfit.

Quote:
Since you sound like you are up there I will take your word for it.

I seem to remember hearing from a number of people posting online about the jobs there that experience was a MUST, that the demand for the jobs was so high that only experienced people were who the companies were looking for. It was said that plenty of experienced people were heading up there for the high dollar work, the companies had their pick. Also it was advised that people line up jobs before coming there as it was not as easy as just showing up.

This may have been for certain jobs though, truck drivers and oil field workers, etc.

That was based on videos I watched from a couple years ago, maybe things have changed. Also I seem to remember hearing that those people willing to go up there in the winter were almost assured immediate work as many would leave in the winter.

From what I gather many go up there and go home, they are back and forth over months at a time, most do not settle or even live there uninterrupted so I am sure the situation as far as employment can change from week to week
Experience is an advantage, of course, but there are more jobs than people here. This is a place where you can move up very quickly, like the military in war time. I came here with no experience, first oil job paid 19 an hour(2 yrs ago) and my last one paid over 30 an hour if you figure in per diem.

If you have some very specific degree, certification, or "experience" then maybe you can just put in an application on a website and get a job here. Ususally that won't work. There's a million lazy, risk-fearing morons sending resumes to companies here, and most of that stuff is just ignored. If you come here and show your face, you've won half the battle. It really is "put up or shut up" and they take you seriously if you're present. If you're already here, they know you're available and you mean it. It's very easy to get a job here. I had no experience with this work, and one of the bosses at my interview asked me "can you read a level?". The rest of them laughed, they'd hired a kid who couldn't. My background was mostly just general construction labor, and they hired me quick.

Fuck, the walmart is paying people over 18 an hour to stock shelves at night. It's not real hard to get by here while you look for that oil work.
__________________
No time for the old in 'n out, love. I've just come to read the meter.