College course decisions

[rbgnwa45]

I'm picking my courses today, but I don't know exactly what I want to do. Nothing interests me as much as I want something to. I've chosen three paths: electrician, food sciences to become a food inspector, and drummers college (which almost definetly won't fly lol). The electrician course is 3 years and food sciences is 2. An inspector, after 10 years of working for the CFIA makes $70-80,000/year or $800/week (with OT & travel $1200), my mom does this and she makes $37/hour or has an $832/week salary, and she's been with the CFIA for 10 years. They sent her to go to a university to learn stuff, has a pension, dental, and other benefits like a union. I thought an electrician made $1500/week (not to start) if they could put in 45 hours, but that's not what google indicates. I'm in Ontario Canada, which has the highest good-job-per-person ratio in the world (I read it).

Are any of you electricians? Is it hard to find a job where you like who you're working with, have pension & dental, some time off every couple months, and don't work rediculous hours, etc... ?

I was looking at average annual salaries... and air traffic controllers make $100,000+. I'm going to look into it.

Any opinions? Either or, I'll be good at all of those. I'd be particularly good at inspecting food.

[rbgnwa45]

Check this out: Air Traffic Controller average annual salary in New Hampshire: $133,000.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes532021.htm

I'm going to look into that!

[yellowzo3]

Do you want to be a union electrician? If so, you're not starting out making big money. You have to be an apprentice for 4 years or so and they slowly increase your wages to journeymen's pay over that 4 year period.

As for your question about finding someone you like working with? LOL... maybe you should look into something else. Job sites are far from glamorous and there are some real characters out there. You don't pick who you worth with. They tell you you're going to a job. If you don't like it you can sit at home for 6 months until another job starts.

You don't take time off every couple months either. When there's work, you work... When there's not, that's when you "take time off".

Some people don't seem to understand how the trades work (not directing this towards you)... Guys (and girls) working the trades aren't little phags that complain that it's a little too cold in their 20th story skyline view office. If it's 100 degrees, you're out there all day. If its 10 degrees, you're still out there all day. If you don't think you can deal with that for 25 straight years then I STRONGLY suggest looking into something else.

I'm not trying to shy you away from the job, but if you're a union electrician you do get benefits and pension... But you don't take a vacation when you want and if there's OT you better be there lol... There ARE some great guys out there that will teach you a bunch... But some guys are just miserable and you can't let them get to you.

[Quad18star]

Do you want to get into the residential or industrial electrical side of things?

I have a few friends that took electrical... a couple are working fulltime for Ottawa Hydro and make a decent wage.

Another flew out to Saskatchewan last January and started working as an Industrial Electrician for PotashCorp. When they flew him out there to check out the operation , they asked him what he wanted to make as salary. He thought about it for a day , and came back and told them he wanted $80 000 a year plus full benefits. They came back to him and told him they'd give him $85 000 a year, full benefits, pay his realestate fees to sell and buy a house, they'd pay to move all his stuff out there and they paid for 3 flights for him to fly anywhere in Canada in 1 year.

Looking back on it , he says he should have asked for $100 000 a year because they would have paid him that much . They're having a hard time keeping electricians in Saskatoon because everyone is heading to Alberta.

Most electricians in the Potash mines ( or any mine for that matter) make $100 000 + a year ... not including overtime.

[yellowzo3]

Originally posted by Quad18star
Do you want to get into the residential or industrial electrical side of things?

I have a few friends that took electrical... a couple are working fulltime for Ottawa Hydro and make a decent wage.

Another flew out to Saskatchewan last January and started working as an Industrial Electrician for PotashCorp. When they flew him out there to check out the operation , they asked him what he wanted to make as salary. He thought about it for a day , and came back and told them he wanted $80 000 a year plus full benefits. They came back to him and told him they'd give him $85 000 a year, full benefits, pay his realestate fees to sell and buy a house, they'd pay to move all his stuff out there and they paid for 3 flights for him to fly anywhere in Canada in 1 year.

Looking back on it , he says he should have asked for $100 000 a year because they would have paid him that much . They're having a hard time keeping electricians in Saskatoon because everyone is heading to Alberta.

Most electricians in the Potash mines ( or any mine for that matter) make $100 000 + a year ... not including overtime.

Totally didn't realize he was in Canada :p ....It seems like the economy in your area is a complete 180 from what we have here in the U.S. ... You guys can't get enough guys to work, and we have thousands sitting at home everyday :ermm:

[Quad18star]

Originally posted by yellowzo3
Totally didn't realize he was in Canada :p ....It seems like the economy in your area is a complete 180 from what we have here in the U.S. ... You guys can't get enough guys to work, and we have thousands sitting at home everyday :ermm:

Yup . If you're a tradesperson up here , you pick and choose your job.

[CJM]

It all depends on just how well you would do as an electrician and understanding its intricacies. Dont want to start it, get 2-3 years in and find out its not for you. Talk to an electrician and see what they say. Most important of all, it would be wise to work as an industrial instead of residential. Industrial always has work, but residential is dependent on many factors that are out of your control.

As for being a food inspector, sounds like a good job. My aunt was a health inspector (probably same thing) for 20 years before she died unexpectedly. She started off at 45k per year and worked her way up and was making 110k about 10 years ago before her death. She said it was actually a pretty good job once she worked her self up a few positions. Your moms story sounds similar, so I think its a good job. Plus with your mom you get the in with a job Im sure.

I make no qualms about my stupid path Ive taken. Ill share so you can understand better.

Im 25 and grad HS when I was 18. In HS I took vocational training to be a mechanic for 2 years and have a whole bunch of certs/experience. This I found out was not such a good idea.

Out of HS I had not a real clue what i wanted to do besides being a mechanic. I tried it for a bit and took college classes anways cause having a degree gets you in everywhere these days. Turned out being a mechanic SUCKS in more ways than one, and although i enjoy working on cars its not something I would want to do fulltime due to the pain you suffer (trust me even doing it fulltime for 2 years every joint hurts still to this day) and just PITA jobs you get to do. Dont get me wrong, just like being an electrician there is money to be made-but its nowhere near as good as someone who has that degree.

I left the last mechanic job I had to work for a friend doing doing mostly AAA towing/roadservice and some light repair work. I dont make a heck of alot of money, but its enough and what other job do I get my own truck, work basically half the time in the end and get paid for the whole nut and a job thats flexible to let me go back to school.

Went back and got my AA in 4 years doing it mostly part time and working 30-60 hours a week depending on course load. Wasnt easy and surely wasnt fun this way but bills dont pay themselves.

Im currently getting my BA in criminal justice and hoping to become a cop or something of that sort when I grad by oh 28 or so. Im only taking 3 classes a semester and at the current rate I wont be done till Im 28-29. I wont be a young punk going out to work like so many, I could already have a job as an officer right now with my connections-but having the degree imho is more important and 1-2 classes a semester while being a fulltime cop doesnt jive well-means I would be doing classes till I die probably.

Sorry to ramble on,b ut I hope my story provided some insight into how things go. Im not sure if there is any difference b/c your in canada, but I doubt it.

[rbgnwa45]

Average annual ATC salary pretty much anywhere: $100,000+.

Tuition: $1000.
Course length: 6-8 months.

After the course is finished, you go into paid on-the-job training for 6 months, with an annual salary of $30,000.

Some of the vids on youtube of ATC-to-pilot conversations are hilarious :p:

"Tower, engine one is missing",
"Flight 729H, engine found on starboard side".

"Tower to 777B, you are coming in too hot, make a hard right at the end of the run-way, if you cannot, head along highway 101, and return to the air-port".

"Report problem: something loose in cockpit. Ground engineer: something tightened in cockpit".

"Report problem: mouse in cockpit. Ground engineer: cat installed".

"Flight 543A do you have whiskey over?"
"Yes, I have whiskey, and if you have some coke we can get this party started!".

"Tower to flight 3990, respond. Tower to flight 3990, RESPOND IMMEDIATELY! Tower to flight 3990 f'ing respond immediately! Just like my wife, when I call her she doesn't f'ing answer! Flight 3999 to tower, were here, and maybe if you call your wife by the right name she'll bloody answer you."


ATC weather skill in Memphis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdrSBzy8NwQ

Funny ATC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KFU1GKQNNU


I don't think I'd be an electrician guru, I don't understand it much, but I do have a stellar memory and math skills. The salary interested me. Some make minimum and some make $120,000/year. I'd rather work where there is lots of it. I don't mind labour at all - 6 months out of highschool, I went from 270lbs to 170lbs working in a slaughter-plant. It was great, but after a year of not working I'm back to 240lbs :ermm:. I was working beside meat inspectors, and I know a lot about how a slaughter-plant is operated. They work half-hour on/half-hour off :eek2:, and get OT at 37 hours :eek:. If my mom travels to a further plant she's paid travel and lunch, and can easily make $1200/week. I was told that I'd be a shoe-in to the CFIA because of my experience, and all I needed was some college in even a non-related field. The CFIA sends you to Guelph university for free to learn the specifics. I was told by over 5 federal & provincial inspectors that they would give me a letter of recommendation, based on my work performance alone. What an inspector does is stand and look at carcasses go by on a line, and they sometimes use knives to trim dirty meat, but that is rare. Everyday, out of 80 cows, we'd toss one carcass. Besides that, they do paper-work and chemical testing, and tell the plant-workers what to do (it's the law). When inspecting chicken, they aren't allowed to touch them, their job is to stand and pay attention - I LOVE IT! I failed grade 7, but I graduated high-school in four years. I'm now 22 and I'm thinking I should have gone to college the very next day after graduation, I'd be making $1000/week by now. I've always told myself I wanted a job where I'd tell others what to do, and if I became and ATC I'd be doing it all day lol. Control towers operate 24/7 and the hours are shifts. I've read about shift work and reports say it depletes serotonin-levels and causes cluster-headaches (pain worse than child-birth) in some people :huh. I figure it's like playing video-games while being extremely responsible. I know all of the A-Z (tango, echo, delta, charlie) words used in ATC, I learned them in 10 minutes on the NAV Canada site. Easy stuff, I reckon. Cheaper tuition, 1 year less of school, and +$40,000/year more than an inspector. Everything I read about being an electrician makes it seem like dog *****, so I don't want to be an electrician anymore.

[250r rider 88]

i looked into ATC when i was in highschool, after shadowing a group of guys for a day i decided it wasnt for me, too much stress, long hours, and you usually have to start at a smaller airport for a few years which meant even crappier hours and pay, in the long run if you are not easily stressed and can keep track of up to 50 planes you should be alright, the money is there in any career, the people who want it the most are the people getting it, most people like the average salaries they see on the internet, but i want the top figures, but thats just me

[CJM]

I think since you have the slaughterhouse experience being an inspector there might be your ticket.

[liex21]

I dont know what the rules are by you but with electric around here if you work under someone (must be documented) for four years you can take the test to become a certified master electrician which is extremely important if you decide to go into your own business. Also getting into the union is better said then done, again idk how it is around you but here you have to know someone to get into one. Once you get in though and you learn your trade youll have a good pension and benefits and you can get some side jobs going youll be very well off. But like yellowzo3 said it seems like this case is totally different where you are cause around here we are hurting.

[rbgnwa45]

Try this realistic ATC simulator - I can't get past the second airport. You get used to the rules, but keeping that much attention on what you're doing isn't always there.

http://www.favplay.com/online-games/air-traffic-controller#instructions

Edit: finally got to the third airport :o, and with zero separation errors.

[ridgeracer]

I'm assuming you have already chosen your path by now, but what's important is not just how much money you make but how much you enjoy your career. I'm a electrical union apprentice here in Las Vegas. There are pros and cons to it just like any other job.

I agree with CJM. It seems like you have experience with the slaughter house and you seem to enjoy it so I would say go for that. If, however, you are interested in more info concerning the electrician route send me a PM and I'll answer any questions you might have.

[250x_kyle]

Originally posted by rbgnwa45
Check this out: Air Traffic Controller average annual salary in New Hampshire: $133,000.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes532021.htm

I'm going to look into that!

my uncles an airtraffic controller. from what he said its very simple to fail out because you are going to be in the control of so many lives.