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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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augustine
Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Location: México
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 Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| How does that song go again? Something like, oh, I'm proud to be an American, for at least I know I'll never have to move to some self-imposed booney tundra gulag city after receiving a three month engineering cert. Lah-dee drumroll, then something else, right? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| augustine wrote: |
| How does that song go again? Something like, oh, I'm proud to be an American, for at least I know I'll never have to move to some self-imposed booney tundra gulag city after receiving a three month engineering cert. Lah-dee drumroll, then something else, right? |
Absolutely correct. But you won't get there with a 3-month certificate.
4 years of getting paid while you learn to become a journeyman in the trades (instead of taking out $50k in loans and praying there is a job when you are done).
4+ years for a uni degree in Engineering with the assurance that there ARE jobs in the field in your own country and you won't still be making payments on your student loans 20 years after you graduate.
30 days training will get you on a rig as a roughneck (not a journeyman rig tech) but you will work (and I do mean physically work) to get beyond that (but at least the money is good).
If you don't like it - stay home in the States where high paying jobs abound for anyone who wants to work.
Oh, and we all live in igloos in some booney, tundra, gulag city anyway so changing from Calgary or Edmonton to Fort Mac is no big deal.
Agh, it might be a big deal if you come from "Lotus Land" out on the west coast.
What was that fable about the fox and sour grapes again?
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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Mostly Im just questioning it as a way to raise some quick cash and then get on with living. Years in Korea and I still have debts. This ain't the place it use to be; that's for sure. (I mean friends who came here 3 or 4 years earlier than me were able to get things paid off because of better exchange rates, cheaper living costs, and incremental salary hikes. Wish I had of spent more time in pre 2009 Korea.)
As for the oilpatch or a rig, if I could plow away 50 K in savings for a year and then go on to something else, just a thought. Not sure though. Just giving me something to think about. I'm sure this is much easier said than done. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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Not likely to plow away 50k in year 1.
Rig-pigs work hard and play hard. They can spend it just about as fast as they can make it.
From my own checkered past:
-I used to get up at 4am to head for work. I worked in the patch between Lloyd, Vermillion and Wainwright.
-I'd put in a full day on a service rig (started on the floor twisting rods with a set of hammer wrenches and over time worked up to operator (single and double)). Paid for my first uni degree (cash).
http://www.wesc.ca/upload/body_image/53/01/rig_7_005.jpg
-At the end of the day, covered in crude we would shut down the rig and head for home (or the motel if we were away from home).
(Unlike drilling rigs, service rigs shut down at night. Drilling rigs work 24/7)
-On the way home we'd stop and get a new set of clothes for work tomorrow (snowsuit / jumpsuit, leather gloves and liners). It was easier to buy new clothes than to try to clean the old ones.
-Get home, strip out of the work duds. They usually got tossed and burned. You cannot get heavy crude out of clothes.
-Head out for dinner at a local restaurant and grab a few beers.
-Catch some shut-eye.
-Repeat.
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
Not likely to plow away 50k in year 1.
Rig-pigs work hard and play hard. They can spend it just about as fast as they can make it.
From my own checkered past:
-I used to get up at 4am to head for work. I worked in the patch between Lloyd, Vermillion and Wainwright.
-I'd put in a full day on a service rig (started on the floor twisting rods with a set of hammer wrenches and over time worked up to operator (single and double)). Paid for my first uni degree (cash).
http://www.wesc.ca/upload/body_image/53/01/rig_7_005.jpg
-At the end of the day, covered in crude we would shut down the rig and head for home (or the motel if we were away from home).
(Unlike drilling rigs, service rigs shut down at night. Drilling rigs work 24/7)
-On the way home we'd stop and get a new set of clothes for work tomorrow (snowsuit / jumpsuit, leather gloves and liners). It was easier to buy new clothes than to try to clean the old ones.
-Get home, strip out of the work duds. They usually got tossed and burned. You cannot get heavy crude out of clothes.
-Head out for dinner at a local restaurant and grab a few beers.
-Catch some shut-eye.
-Repeat.
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Ah, so you've been around more than I knew. Lol. You know this in and out. I hear safety and camp conditions are prob better today than they were back then. I'm guessing 1990's.
As for saving, it would depend on the person. But what you say about buying new work clothes makes some sense. Did the company provide you with the hard hat and overalls or you bought those too?
My cousing said he pays 1500 a month for rent near Edmonton and makes 7 or 8 thousand a month. I think he spends a lot. But you could theoretically save if you wanted? Maybe 50 K is too high, though. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| ttompatz wrote: |
Not likely to plow away 50k in year 1.
Rig-pigs work hard and play hard. They can spend it just about as fast as they can make it.
From my own checkered past:
-I used to get up at 4am to head for work. I worked in the patch between Lloyd, Vermillion and Wainwright.
-I'd put in a full day on a service rig (started on the floor twisting rods with a set of hammer wrenches and over time worked up to operator (single and double)). Paid for my first uni degree (cash).
http://www.wesc.ca/upload/body_image/53/01/rig_7_005.jpg
-At the end of the day, covered in crude we would shut down the rig and head for home (or the motel if we were away from home).
(Unlike drilling rigs, service rigs shut down at night. Drilling rigs work 24/7)
-On the way home we'd stop and get a new set of clothes for work tomorrow (snowsuit / jumpsuit, leather gloves and liners). It was easier to buy new clothes than to try to clean the old ones.
-Get home, strip out of the work duds. They usually got tossed and burned. You cannot get heavy crude out of clothes.
-Head out for dinner at a local restaurant and grab a few beers.
-Catch some shut-eye.
-Repeat.
. |
Ah, so you've been around more than I knew. Lol. You know this in and out. I hear safety and camp conditions are prob better today than they were back then. I'm guessing 1990's.
As for saving, it would depend on the person. But what you say about buying new work clothes makes some sense. Did the company provide you with the hard hat and overalls or you bought those too?
My cousing said he pays 1500 a month for rent near Edmonton and makes 7 or 8 thousand a month. I think he spends a lot. But you could theoretically save if you wanted? Maybe 50 K is too high, though. |
I mean after being in Korea, I've had to belt tighten to get a handle on debts. So, I've become pretty good at being frugal and cheap on my days off. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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Safety was always an issue (even back in the day) in a labor market where good hands are hard to find and trained hands are expensive to replace.
When we did have job-site accidents it was usually because WE broke the rules and NOT because we were told to (laziness, carelessness or negligence on our part usually).
Companies were always concerned about safety - 2 injured leasehands (short crew) can shut down a service rig for a week or more while the push tries to find replacements.
Lost income of a few thousands of dollars per hour for the rig.
An idled service rig is losing about a quarter million dollars per week in revenue. The numbers are even bigger on an idled drilling rig.
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