any power/stationary engineers out there?

[jeffro83]

just started training to get my 4th class (should have my cert by june). curious if there's any other folks out there who've been at this gig for a while? wondering what job prospects are like everywhere else in the continent - all i really hear from my instructor/classmates is "go make the big bucks and work in or around ft. mac (alberta)!! not really ideal for me...beggars can't be choosers, and i'll just be starting out with next to no experience, but i like to live a semi normal life and am entirely willing to earn half the money i'd make in the oil patch if it means i can ski on my days off, rather than spending my cash on lifted trucks, blow, and dirt bikes. just not my thing.

anyway, enough rambling. any ticketed operators out there?

[Shaggy]

4th Class means you have a job pretty much anywhere. The oilfields obviously pay well but as you said that extra cash comes with a cost. If I were to do it, I'd set an expiry date and keep my nose to the ground (not the blow-straw) - save up some cash for a few years and then get the hell out.

Most resort towns have a few large condo buildings/hotels with stuff (large boilers, chillers) that require at least a couple of 5th class techs on staff. Most Condo/Hotel Chief Engineers around here have their 4th.

There's also the mines in and around Smithers/Terrace .... From the sounds of it real estate is still reasonable, and the skiing is well regarded.

[jeffro83]

thanks, shaggy. are you an operator yourself, then?

i'm pretty much settled in the kootenays right now, entirely content to stay there a while if i can find work. being up in quesnel/prince george for school is alright, but i definitely miss the rossland range already. not sure i could convince my ladyfriend to head up to smithers/terrace to live either. i've never been up there yet, but i do hear the skiing is epic.

i'm going to have to rely on some serious luck if i'm to get a power engineering job in or around rossland, i think.