Time For A Career Change

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Wylde1

Wylde1

"No Value Added" Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2008
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Location
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
I've been sitting on my butt since November 15, 2009 when I lost my newspaper runs. I've been thinking long and hard about what I want to do with my life. I keep coming back to the same thing - VooDoo Witch Doctor. Ok scratch that. I'm not gonna stick a bone through my nose! :toothy10:

So at the ripe old age of 43, where does that leave me? Here's what I've come up with. But I do not know if age will be a factor in any of them???

  1. Long-haul truck driver coast to coast.
  2. Heavy equipment operator.
  3. Tower crane operator.
  4. Heavy lift crane operator.
I probably should have looked into these when I was 18 instead of now. Anyone have any experience with any of these professions? When I was looking into local trucking schools, one also offers heavy equipment courses.

Past jobs include working in a garage for 6 years - hated it. Maybe that's why I drag my feet whenever I need to work on my cars.
Local courier driver door to door. Easy money but lost my license more than once.
Worked in high tech (Fiber optics) for 10 years. Managed a crew of 30. Worked with engineers debugging new products. Wrote technical procedure manuals for products. Worked with R&D doing optical work for experimental projects - I was their #1 go-to guy. It was a great job until the bubble burst and I watched the company go from over 10,000 workers to less than 100. Also watched my $300,000 in stock options drop to $1,500. I couldn't cash out when the stock were sky high.
Got into delivering newspapers while waiting for the axe to fall in high tech. Worked both jobs for 6 months. Sadly, I made the most I have ever earned with the 3 newspapers runs, although there were no benefits at all.

Wylde1.

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The demand for crane operators is very small, that's all I can offer on that.

My brother lost his job, got his CDL and is now a garbage truck driver and loves it.
 
what about male prostitute????:toothy10::toothy10::toothy10:
 
Gryzynx said:
http://www.cn.ca/en/careers-jobs.htm

Joined the railroad when I was 42. Been there 10 years now, never regretted it.
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My dad would love that. He did a brief stint for the railroad when Nestle had a violent wildcat strike back in the early 70's.

I dig cars. He digs trains. Every time a train rolls down the track past his house, he rattles of specs like there's no tomorrow.


What do you do for the railroad?


Wylde1.
 
I can run most of those except the cranes but the mexicans locked it up down here. They will work cheaper than me.
 
no licence needed here for the crane op jobs just a nod from someone known in the feild around here but with the bust in the construction industry and the oilfield I was thinking about public transit bus driver when I was off last winter , they pay pretty good and are always hiring plus you work a fairly regular shift ,the trucking industry is also a bust money wise you need a free co driver ie wife and always moving 247 just to make it worth while
 
have a buddy that was a truck driver, had enough of it. he is now a taste tester for Dunkin Donuts....i mean a sheriff
 
Wylde1 said:
My dad would love that. He did a brief stint for the railroad when Nestle had a violent wildcat strike back in the early 70's.

I dig cars. He digs trains. Every time a train rolls down the track past his house, he rattles of specs like there's no tomorrow.


What do you do for the railroad?


Wylde1.
Click to expand...


Signals supervisor.

Railroad is grouped into engineering, (signals, track), and operations, (running trades,engineers, conductors). Management and union opportunities in all trades and they are hiring.

Railroading can be a pretty intense experience, always looks easy, but the pressure can go high. Definately not for everyone, but the pay is good and if you like it, you'll love it.
 
had a downstairs neighbour who ran one of the 2 big flat rail car mounted cranes in the 80's in the east end yard in TO great money but always on emergency call if a car went off east of winterpeg he was on the way immediately ,still not a lot of jobs in that department but " " bush crew "now theres an adventure lol if your 20 yrs old maybe
 
Wylde, if you do decide to go into the trucking industry, check your local unemployment office. They frequently offer free training programs rather than shelling out your own money for trucking school. At least you can find out if you'll like it for nothing. :-D

I wish you the best of luck finding your true calling my friend.
 
As a General Foreman for an electrical contracting company I have luckily managed to stay steadily employed throughout the last few years. I have my crane operators cert. (required in WA state), I have a thousand hours or so on excavators, and I continue to look for new opportunities to make myself more valuable to my employer. In my experience with running projects, when I ask for someone from the "hall" (we are a union company IBEW local 191) with excavator experience I usually get someone who has run one on weekends. Operating on weekends in your backyard is completely different than production digging around buried utilities 12' off the fog line of an interstate. With the numbers that are put into today's bids there is no room for even the smallest mistake, every one has to run at max efficiency. I don't have the time or patience to deal with someone who is "learning", not on my dime anyway. Right now, there are plenty of operators who are highly skilled with years of experience that are available to work immediately.

Please don't misinterpret this as discouragement, just more of a reality check. Right now the construction industry is a tough one to stay in for people who were steadily employed a few years ago, it is twice as difficult for "newbies".

As a recommendation, I would steer away from most construction jobs unless you know someone somewhere that can hook you up and get you in the door.
 
All depends on the demand in the future, I have no crystal ball.

This is not the first time I've herd this;

" Right now, there are plenty of operators who are highly skilled with years of experience that are available to work immediately."

Truth!

IF (that's a big if) our nation rebuilds our crumbling infrastructure we will need all hands on deck! Drivers will be needed. but it's so short term.
When it's built, then what? Wish I had the answer.

We need another technology revolution, something to drive the economy forward, WE have always been the leaders, the bad-asses with the chit others want and copy,,,,,what happened?

IMHO look for something fresh, new, chancy, different, maybe old tech. like the rail service. High speed rail construction maybe? Still short term, a decade maybe.

Find a restaurant to feed you for work, or music maybe?

Look...I'm near 50, what do I know.... or remember, for that matter

Good luck Ink, if I was the praying type, I would..........that goes for all-yall. Please don't think less of me. Unemployed really sucks!!! Houselessness is demoralizing at best.

From my perspective (warped as it is) things are picking up!
Hope it improves for you as well.

Disclaimer.... (canuk) Whiskey was involved, need I say more?

LCjeff
 
Pop drove for over 25 years. Loved it his first five. He always said when he retired he was going to buy an old B-model Mack, restore it, dig a hole for it, and use it as a flower box.

Seriously, it's a job that's always in the demand. The last I looked the trade papers said something to the effect that 30,000 new drivers were needed a year to keep up with the demand. A good driving record and at least two years over the road and you can look at more regional companies. Pop put 2500-3000 miles a week on the truck driving primarily between NY and PA with the occasional trip to MA, MD, CT, ME. (He refused loads to NJ and NYC, he'd had enough.) That was with a regional company named Kane Freight Lines (motto: "Kane is Able.")
 
ive done quite a few jobs from aircraft crew chief , heavy equipment operater, regional truck driver, auto mechanic, railroad track dept., and now custodian in a school. the railroad was by far my favorite as i was a track equipment operater, and thermite rail welder. the only problem is that we got layed off all winter and never knew about getting a callback in the spring. i did like most runs while driving truck, but hated going to the city and jersey. i went there a couple times a week.i am now in a strong union as a school custodian, it is probrably the best job ive had as far as no stress (except when a kid pukes) i have 2 guys under me that clean at night and i just do some minor cleaning during the day. the thing i like is the job security and killer benefits.
 
truck driving is a good option. always freight to haul. depending on the loss of lisence you may be able to go to driver school and get placed in a job. i was local and otr for years then the local fell out went back to otr started out at 55000 per year.
 
Here in Arkansas Wylde1 the county road graders are alone and do there routs
I did some Back Hoe work on the side and drove grain trucks, But passing a physical with my precondition they said no way, It was a last job I tried to obtain at 49.
Good benefits and great pay for this area.
They like to get operators and wrench turners to fill that job.
The open road sounds like a good move, Are you married ?
 
Long haul trucking has its pros and cons, like any other position. A former neighbour, now living in Prince George, B.C. ran twice a week to Vancouver. He took over a route from Prince George to Vancouver and prefers it because of lighter traffic on the road and the runs are physically shorter.

He makes very good money and he has the tax advantages of an owner/operator. The trucks are much more comfortable now than in past years. Satellite radio, cell phones,and "Crackberries" make the trips less lonely. (I made the drive "over the top" from Thunder Bay to North Bay several times and know how empty the region is...)

Many companies force their drivers to retire when they hit 65. My neighbour bought the route from someone forced into retirement but the old guy still runs the route for Mike when he needs time off. How could you possibly find a more reliable replacement?

Because of the geography of Canada, we will ALWAYS need reliable long-haul truckers. If I cannot land a job in my field before the EI benefits run out, I may just take this up myself. You should take the suggested advice and inquire about getting free or sponsored training.

If you want me to make inquiries about my neighbour's trucking company, shoot me a PM.
 
rigrunner said:
truck driving is a good option. always freight to haul. depending on the loss of lisence you may be able to go to driver school and get placed in a job. i was local and otr for years then the local fell out went back to otr started out at 55000 per year.
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My loss of license was back in '94. So no longer on my driving record in Ontario.

$55K is not a bad starting point. When I worked in high tech, my best year was working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Lots of overtime. Considering all the stuff I did and the responsibilities I had, $45K didn't seem like much. But working with the engineers debugging things or working on prototype stuff always kept my mind active. I like the challenge of troubleshooting.
Now compare that to the mind-numbingly boring newspaper runs. A trained monkey could do it. For the first 2 weeks I worked some long days (18 to 22 hours). That dropped to 16 hour days, 6 days/week. Eventually they changed up the runs to where I was working about 12hrs/day Monday to Thursday, 9 hours on Friday, and 5 hours on Saturday. Made $85K last year. Go figure?


Wylde1.
 
i am a signal maintainer in ontario, if you think alife on the railway in this department is just great join the army it has less head aches and you will be treated better. we have had several guys sign up from the army and went back and went through basic training and everything. my brother runs long haul trucks in three weeks he has been 60 miles because he has been broke down and he does not get paid to sit. pros and cons to everything.
 
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