I'm an apprentice boilermakers that works in Alberta, Canada. My boilermaker work starts early april and lasts until september. I've been thinking about picking up a winter career, and have my sights on heavy duty mechanic. Is there any industries that would hire me Sepetember (or shortly after) and lay me off pre-april? I don't care so much about making money, my boilermaker work pays decent and I understand it's going to take twice as long to get apprenticeship hours. I've been google about the skiing industry, and mechanics that work on snow cats. I'm willing to work anywhere in Canada, and I know BC has a bunch of ski resorts. What do you guys think? Is it feasible for me to pick up heavy duty mechanics as a winter career? I'd be starting as a zero hour apprentice
Are you a Red Seal Welder? I would think that would go with boilermaker. If so you should be able to find indoor winter work .
Most roadbuilding in Canada goes from may till December. You might find a company that needs extra hands to do their off season repairs. Probably wouldn't pay much without any experience.
It might be an idea to take a pre apprentice course at a college. September through April might be doable.
I want to take a pre-apprenticeship. The only thing that's stopping me is the uncertainty of I'd get hired on to work only half the year
I'm not a Red Seal, I'm an apprentice. I can't officially work as a welder apprentice during winters, the union keeps ahold of my blue book and forbids work outside the union. That probably sounds weird to most people. The reason I agreed to it, is the above average wages I get when I work.
A shop specializing in forestry repairs might be interested in a winter employee. I know farther west in Canada they run more year time than here in mb but even there I believe winter is more their busy time
Winter is the busy season for forestry? I thought the opposite was true. I'll ask around and try to get more information.
Busy for mechanics and welders not so much for the loggers unless they are handy with the tools. Get everything thing fixed ready to work another season.
Ah. Makes sense
Since when are loggers not busy in the winter? The ground stiffens up and the going is good. Around here it is the busiest time of the year and they work hard until spring break up.
Around where? What province are you referring to?
Manufacturing is warmer and cleaner, easier on the body etc. than any thing mechanics related. You could also be an ice road truck driver like that show that used to be on TV.
A buddy of mine went to Alaska to turn wrenches on the big boy toys.. His company flys him into remote places and drops him off, sometimes for weeks at a time.. HE LOVES IT.. He’s been up there for about 6 years now..
Around here logging completely stops in winter. The roads are impassible mud and the high country has so many feet of snow you could not reach the bottom of the tree to make a proper cut. Nothing freezes solid for long so no ice related advantage.
Mike L has his location listed under his name as "Maine". Whether that is a Province or not is questionable.
That type of mechanic would sharpen trade and troubleshooting skills. But,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, before that I would completely exhaust the training/classes of the union hall and some college at the local outfit. If your local has a real hall with a bench of old might even go sit at it a couple times a week in the mornings, that can be really worthwhile and,,, I actually boomed out during my apprenticeship. I worked part of it as a pipe welder at a nuke and went on the road, called the BA once or twice telling him I was hanging off some hi rise somewhere working overtime. Working in another trade (under a recip) really they pay me scale and work was pathetic at that time. I might have had to work as appr in my own trade.
I’m in Maine. Right between Quebec and New Brunswick. My main customer is working nights right now as it is getting above freezing during the day and they can’t haul when it is above freezing due to posted roads. Within 2 weeks we will be in ”mud season” and I’ll be up to my ears in major projects to get everything ready to go back in the woods once the ground dries up.
When I was in my own local was kind of squirrely sprout. When I traveled could land on some big deal and pretend I belonged right there in the middle and on the top. Super super double important to be able to pass hi inspected test plates and handy with a torch shines like a light too.
Kicking Horse Mountain in B.C needs a good lift guy.
Only if the company supplys all the tools. Flying is a good way to lose tools.
Are you on the list for shutdown type work or shop work or both? If the union can't provide you with work year round or for several month's, I think you can ask for an exemption to allow you to work in a non union shop when the union doesn't have work. How do they expect you to make a living if there's no work for long periods? I know of union welders who worked in non union shops. Not sure if the union knew or not. I have a friend who was in the 146 and was allowed to work outside the union when there was no work without penalties. I think he still had to pay union dues though. He later quit the union because there were too many name hires which was against union rules. It's OK if a company specifies a certain foreman for a shut down or specific job but what really ticked him off was mediocre welders getting work year round instead of going on the bottom of the list after the job they were on was finished. A lot of it was because of who you knew but was still a violation of their own rules. Everybody is supposed to go to the bottom of the list after a job is finished. The same thing was evident in union shops where there were slackers that were kept for years and years because of who they knew or were related to. As far as a second trade for part of the year, I think it would be very difficult. Concentrate on welding and work to be proficient in that area before trying to get into something else. There are some dual-ticked welders/mechanics but they didn't do the second trade until they were proficient in the first one. That said there are very very few that are proficient in more than one trade. I worked with a guy that somehow got his J-Man welding ticket and then went right into going for his steel fabricator ticket. He thought he was all that. I had to grind out and redo his welds on 4" pipes holding the overflo tanks on heaters. They were 3 pass welds, 1 weld with 2 passes over it. Should be easy for a good 1st year apprentice. There was such a gap between his cap passes it was almost as if someone ground a groove between them. It couldn't be fixed with more weld so I had the "fun" job of having to grind his mess off. I wasn't too happy but was snickering to myself at the same time. Dual-tickets my ***. They didn't even trust him to fix his own simple 3 pass welds.
I'm in 146, just like your friend was. I'm on the list for shutdown work. No union shop work for me. From what dispatch told me, the normal amount of work to get with the union is 1 or 2 shutdowns per year. Each shutdown could be 30 to 70 days working 12 hour days. If you run out of money during the offseason, you are allowed to ask the union to work non-union. They said, if you ask too much they'll start denying your requests. If you're working your trade non-union, your name stays at the bottom of the out-of-work list. I've been told there's some journeyman welders who work non-union and fly under the local's radar. It's not feasible to bend the rules like that as an apprentice. The union keeps my blue book in their possession. It seems to me that the number of hours I can work each year in welding is capped. Because of this, I will be slower to get enough hours to progress through my apprenticeship. I'm not sure how long it tends to take for apprentices at the union to progress, I'll ask that question the next time I'm at the Local. I agree that It must be challenging to juggle two trades at once. I'd like to do both trades at once, and have good craftsmanship in all my work. I think that would mean taking things seriously, and doing practice on my own time throughout the week.
Almost impossible to apprentice and be proficient in 2 trades especially at the same time. I'd say less than 1% of the most compentent apprentices could do it. More likely outcome is to be mediocre at best in 2 trades. Not trying to single you out but I've worked with some apprentices that thought they were going set the world on fire only to be brought back to reality that they have a lot to learn. Heck, the example of the J-Man welder I mentioned previously is proof it's better to stick with one trade and try to be the very best at that instead of losing skills from one trade to learn another one. Truck Shop on here calls it dabbling when people attempt to do things that are way out of their wheel house. He's qualified to make that statement. His specialty is trucks and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone more knowledgeable than him on the subject. He is the absolute guru on Cummins 855's and custom built a Mack truck that was featured in magazines around the world. Another specialist on the forum is thepumpguysc who's knowledge of injection pumps is second to one. They are true craftsmen in their respective trades and that's what you want to aim for. Welding is a trade with constant learning and there is new technology all the time these days. Up into the 80's the tried and true processes and equipment from decades previous was still widely used. Then inverters and other advancements started coming rapidly. It wasn't till the late 90's that Dual-Shield flux-core was approved on pressure vessels. Stick welding was still used extensively. Stick welding isn't even touched on much in apprenticeship training now. I heard there's some taught in 3rd year. You're really stabbing yourself in the back by only wanting to work on shutdowns. You should be wanting to get as much welding experience as possible. Nothing wrong with working in a shop and there are quite a few union shops, especially vessel shops in Edmonton. I went to school with the now plant manager of Edmonton Exchanger. He went there for work experience and got offered a job after he finished school and the rest is history. My welding teacher said he made over $25K as a 1st. year apprentice in 1981/82. EE would be a great place to learn but there's also Dacro, Cessco, Thermo-Design and a few others that I can't recall off the top of my head. All very good shops to work and learn in. Exchanger has field crews as well. I'm not sure about the other shops but they might too.