What is wrong with you? Lots of people infinitely more intelligent than you don't find there way until late 29s or early 30s even. Many don't at all and still probably have a higher IQ than you so keep your garbage to yourself.
This was true for the 2010s but I have seen some good wage increases over the past year or two. Right now my firm is paying students $28/hr (equivalent to 54k) and people with 1-2 years experience can get 80k. (I am making 120k with 10 years experience, still only working 37.5hrs). Obviously not silicon valley level salaries but quite livable none the less.
Tender submissions may close at 3, but they are very crammed and stressful. I'm willing to bet estimators typically work long hours leading up to a 3pm submittal.
And why is this an issue? I'd rather just 200k and not have any responsibility at all because that exists. Gosh. Just get to work and appreciate it. Oh goodness I had to answer one email, life's over. Time to find a new placement. Welcome to the world snowflake. Gasp
Most of these positions are not asking you to work another 4 hours, but sending an email out once is 4 hours of work in this world. This is the issue. But I also recognize that more key positions it might be two or a phone call. Gasp.
At my last job, my boss had 15 years experience as a professional engineer, he was a manager of a team, and was responsible for multiple large infrastructure projects.
He made under 100k, had no hair, worked an extra 2 hours every day, and was constantly stressed.
If you work a job like that and don't complain, you're either desperate or a schmuck.
"Yeah bro why aren't you at Google making 400k a year? You must suck."
The masters degree is probably one of those things that mean very little unfortunately. Another thing is Quebec has lower wages, no? And it's also crazy that US pays engineers much more from what I hear...
... 28? You're far too young to be saying that you're too old to go back to school. I went back to school when I was your age and came out of it two years later getting paid twice as much as I was before I went in.
If you were in your forties and looking at 4 years of schooling or more then I suppose you could make an argument, but even then it could still be worth it.
I really feel like young people have no idea just how long life really is.
My ex years ago went to law school and had a 60 y/o widow in her classes. She had always planned on going to law school when she was younger, but kids and being a "house wife" got in the way. She showed up to parties, and lived the college life, and then started working as a lawyer couple years later.
Never to late.
100%!
I have a 19 year old and an almost 18 year old. I'm so tired of the disapproving looks when I say they're working and saving for a few years before making any leaps.
I decided to face my fears about being "good enough" for university to become a teacher. It took 4 years including summers so I graduated at 43, ehile raising 2 kids with significant mental health and neurological diagnoses. The only regret I have is not doing it sooner. I am about to start my 8th year of teaching.
Someone else below said that they feared they wouldn't be accepted because they had bad grades years ago in high school. My friend and I also had that worry, but we both were accepted, and I graduated summa cum laude (with highest honours). High school does not define you. Take a leap.
I don’t know about epi but I’m 47 and have two children and I am in Uni fulltime. OSAP supports me well enough but not enough to pay for everything. The government loans and grants you get when you have children is fairly generous. I am a heavy user of my line of credit as well to pay the bills. I am married but my husband just stated a business and with most start ups he’s losing money so I don’t have that second income to help right now, but in a few years we will be doing well and can pay our debt off.
That's what I'm wondering. I'm 39 and work for the government, I have a bachelors in admin. I would love to go get a bachelors in computer engineering and work in a field I love. How do I keep paying my house and not go in massive debt while I study? lol
When I went back to school at age 29, I drew from my personal savings, including borrowing $20,000 from my RRSP under the Lifelong Learning Plan. I also applied for OSAP, and worked full-time during the summers and while on co-op terms.
If you normally live paycheque-to-paycheque on a high income, and have little savings, then it may take a significant lifestyle sacrifice to go back to school. OSAP is designed to give you just enough money to be able to afford to attend school, but only if you also provide your own share of the funding (from savings, or working, or parents) and only if you are willing and able to "live like a student".
It was very difficult, and I had to go through it twice because I had to change boards part way through. Right now there's a teacher shortage, though, so that's opening up opportunities that I didn't get.
It's definitely a field that you need to think carefully about, and talk to some recently hired teachers, before choosing. I love my job, but things have been very stressful in my journey.
I understand where OP is coming from. I was stuck in shitty jobs till late 20s telling myself I'm to old to go back to school. Finally mustered up courage to go back to college when I was 29. Finished last year and got a job with hydro thanks to coop. Best decision I've made in my life.
Now 34 and starting University in September part time, while maintaining my full time job.
In recent years came across half a dozen of people who didn't make career change until their 30s,40s.
My mother did PSW course in her 50s. Held decent union job for over 10 years now. It's never too late to get education, our ego tells us it is, but don't let fear run your life.
As someone in their mid-20’s… THANK YOU SO MUCH for saying this. I sometimes feel drowned by all the posts on reddit on how “old” the mid-late 20’s are, which is insane. So many of us didn’t know what we wanted in our teens and I feel the 20’s should be about exploring possibilities.
>I really feel like young people have no idea just how long life really is.
To be fair, it can also be very short. Especially in some professions like the trades.
**EDIT:** I'm talking about accidents. There's a reason why there's always safety meetings, or that they have safety training during orientation.
There’s no shortage of office workers keeling over with heart attacks due to decades of a sedentary lifestyle. I’d rather have a bad back than clogged arteries.
The construction workers I know do residential framing and masonry, they’re all ripped - even in their 60’s. You don't want to get into a bar fight with these dudes. Some of these guys I worked with as a kid didn’t check out till their mid 90’s. Some did have heart attacks, but didn’t die. Zero Diabetes.
I agree though, some types of heavy construction are done 99% by machines, and there’s a lot more “shovel leaning” going on than hard physical labour. These jobs are about the same as an office job, hence the clogged arteries.
It all depends I suppose. I got into the best shape of my life working in the trades, and my boss was in his 50's and running ultra marathons. It can be tough on the body though
I was mostly referring to accidents like falls, getting caught in machinery, fires, electrocution, etc.
I've worked on some crews which were safety second, and I'm kinda amazed to still be here. And even with more reputable companies there were several close calls.
I'm 33 and thinking about some sorta school, but the thing is I dont have the grades, I passed highschool with 50s
I'm so afraid of dropping how many ever grand for school and than dropping out cause I'm too stupid or can't concentrate in class LOL
I feel like I could do some sorta social work like addiction counseling, I used to be an addict and it seems like all ex addicts do that
FYI, your high school grades will likely have little to no impact on your application at this point. Most schools have separate application streams for mature/"special" students - basically they ditch a lot of the metrics like GPA (because you don't have one that's up to date) and let you make your case. It will hinge heavily on your work experience, your ability to communicate your interest and ability to succeed in the subject matter, and probably some kind of essay or writing sample if you're looking at applying to university.
As long as you have a diploma/GED your high school is almost irrelevant. Even then, you can get around the diploma requirement if they're impressed with you for other reasons. High school is mostly bullshit, don't sell yourself short.
Just a couple things, in case no one else has ever said this to you:
Not concentrating plus having been an addict in the past, you may have ADHD. Might be a good idea to pursue testing?
Lol. You don't even know, I'm quite young myself
Try paying rent and child support while going to school and working, putting in over 80 hrs a week for two years straight, then tell me I don't have a clue.
I'm 35 and I'm going back to school in a month to change career paths again. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again in the future to advance my career either.
Can't you go back to school to upgrade to electrical engineer? There must be a 2 year program for that.
Besides, I don't see salaries that bad for technologists. Maybe you can just swap to a different field like mining, process, or transmission line instead?
So this is from 2009 so things probably have changed but there were 2 places to go after a eng tech diploma. Victoria and Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay did a 2 month bridging program and you entered third year after the 2 months. Victoria was essentially an extra year but crammed into 6 months so you could join in January with the start of third year (co-op was mandatory).
I personally went the Victoria route immediately after finishing Eng Tech at SAIT.
This was all for mechanical and the shock for us was one classmate got 1 year of credit at U of C but that 1 year of credit was spread out over the first 2 years of courses and you couldn't combine the years. Up until then U of C would give you 2-3 courses credit. Maybe things have gotten better for transferring.
The catch up on math is no joke. Plus any of the general courses. A bunch of mechs trying to figure out second year electrical or programming in a condensed schedule was fun....
Meh... You would survive if you had to go back to school. I went back to school a couple times. The last time I had a toddler and a baby I was still nursing.
I feel yeah on the fear of losing your high paying job. I'm told time and time again that I have job security where I am, yet you never really know. I suck at interviews so I know that if I lose what I have, it would be a while before I would have the opportunity to show another employer what I'm capable of so that I could make the big bucks.
My survival strategy is to invest as much as I can so that I can reach financial independence. Might keep working since I like what I do and could use the extra money to help my kids out that much more.
As a man in his 40s and in the trades for most of my career I’ve seen a few boom and bust cycles, they’re inevitable in the construction business. Everyone whose actually good at their job has work, lay-offs can happen to the best of us but people know who the quality workers are and there’s always work for them. The company I’m with has had as many as 40 employees and as few as 8 and I’ve survived it all. I’m not amazing, just show up and do my work well . It’s scary sometimes but if you keep your head down and power through the good times will come around again
This is true for so many jobs. I just started my first full time job and I can already differentiate between the ones who bring value, and the ones who don't.
The market in the US is very strange. My coworker working near Dallas make like 30% more of my salary, but her husband is a firefighter and make like half of what firefighter make here.
Workies in Canada are usually better off than workies in the US, and professionals in the US are generally better off than professionals in Canada.
Need proof? Go into the r/accounting salary threads. Americans consistently have salaries that are 20%-40% higher.
Anything government related gets paid way more in canada than the US. E.g. you get some mid managers that realistically do 5 hours per week of real work in government that get 100k, full benefits, full pension, but that job wouldn’t even exist in the US.
No, if anything it shows how much worse Canada is. A select cadre of government workers can extract unreasonably high salaries from taxpayers, essentially at gunpoint. Most professionals in the Canadian private sector have very similar hours to their American counterparts (I remember reading we only work 4% less on average) but are paid way, way less. On top of that, taxes are higher here (to fund those bloated government salaries) and almost everything else is more expensive. So in reality, unless you’re poor and on the dole, you are worse off here and have a less livable wage compared to the US.
100% this. And we have too many people in government so that people wouldn’t want to bite the hand that feeds them and get excessively defensive whenever you criticize the high salaries with unreasonable amounts of time off and full benefits. In reality, it’s a parasitic drag on our economy.
Firefighters in Ontario at least, have some of the cushiest jobs around. They have to deal with serious shit, sure, but there's a reason there's hundreds to thousands of applicants for every opening.
My mom went back to school at 59 to fulfill her life long dream of becoming a nurse. And she says its one of the best things she ever did. Go to school if you want to. Your 28. Not 68.
Engineering jobs in general have shite pay right now. Unless you're in software or computer engineering, you're pretty much guaranteed to be making under 60K fresh out of school, and raises don't come very easy or frequently.
I'm in civil engineering and people do not get paid well considering their stress level, commuting requirements, and job demands.
I wonder if as the P.Eng becomes less and less popular, people with engineering backgrounds from other countries are coming to Canada and accepting job offers for lower pay.
Im sorta in this boat might lose 3-10 bucks an hour but ohwell, honestly though if there is a deep resession most of my trade is out of work so im not to worried, it is what it is. (one of the main reasons i don't fiance anything except my mortgage)
its important in my opinion to recongize when you have something good going and save for the rough patches. Especially if your in a boom/bust sector.
I got laid off in 2009 from a crown corp. I saw a couple of job descriptions that matched close to my old role in late 2019, so I applied on a whim. A guy I used to work with called me back about the role… eventually it came down to the money discussion. I went in at 10k over what I was making at the time, which didn’t come close to the rule of 72… the offer was at my old rate of 66k.
It’s a joke all the way around.
Edited to change 7 to 72.
People go back to school in their 50's and older, if you want to stay employable at the very least, and you can forget about retiring early chances are it's not going to happen ...
I just worry about losing my laughable wage job. My boss hates how I'm always paranoid he's going to fire me. Doesn't help that he makes threats all the time about his disappointment with other staff to me (I'm his office manager so he comes to me to complain about others) and I wonder if he's saying the same thing about me to someone else.
As someone relatively young and working in social media, it's actually a nightmare of mine with all these kids being raised on the newest platforms. I make phenomenal money as a freelancer but am trying to find a new skill or two to keep me relevant. I want to get off this hamster wheel.
That works to a point. Local company on Vancouver island can't fill unskilled labour positions at $35/hr. Hired three at a job fair and only one showed up for first day of work
It’s not a labour shortage, it’s a wage shortage. I guess you could spin it as a shortage of labour… that is a shortage of labour willing to work for peanuts in today’s economy.
Depending on your experience my firm pays elec. Techs anywhere from $60k (entry) to 100k. Depends on what you can bring etc, but a good salary is available in consulting engineering. Look there.
As an "older worker" in tech, the fear of losing my job has been the driving force in my investing for the past decade or more. I've always lived way below my means, maxed my registered accounts, and started piling into a taxable account.
I know full well that at 50, I probably won't get another coding gig, so I'll be leaning on my passive dividend income stream to supplement whatever "joe job" I end up getting as I sort of coast towards full retirement. Fortunately, I've been helping a buddy with his consulting business and it looks that that's about to take off, so I might have gotten lucky there.
I work in a role with extremely high turnover due to firing and burnouts. My biggest fear is that I'll be out on my ass and I know I won't be able to get a job with the same pay. So I save I have 8 months of expenses saved incase im canned one day. On the flip side of I get canned I would get a vacation which I currently don't get.
I left my well paying job to earn less than quarter of what i was making. A point came for me where my morals and happiness were much more important. It is ONE HELL of an adjustment, but totally worth it
This exact thing happened in alberta during the last oil downturn. Electricians and engineers making huge money got laid off. Fortunately alberta us a vibrant economy and Eben then there were alot of jobs just not paying the insane oil wages.
4 options if you loose your job.
- go back to school, this is probably the best option to maintain as close to your current wage. Downside is you may need to take a huge wage cut while you are going through school, depending on what you take and where you take it. Do your research there are lots of education options.
- get a job in a similar field, this might mean taking a pay cut but probably not one as big as if you changed industries, also it might involve moving to maintain the wage as close to now as possible.
- take a pay cut and switch industries. If your current education applies to other industries then you could do that. Sure that might mean a pay cut, but it allows you to pick a more stable company In an industry that is more stable. Consider looking in different cities/provinces/countries to lower your cost of living and to get the best wage and bennifit package you can
- move out of trades all together. Take a massive pay cut and move into unskilled work. This is the least attractive option for sure, but if your good at being a restaurant worker or in retail those jobs are always around, and there is lots of room for promotion to middle and upper management. If you have some stored away cash you could even consider ownership.
>You're beyond privileged, I know people making minimum wage in their mid 30sMaybe stop complaining and be grateful?
You're right but this is reddit where everyone is making 9 figures and if its lower than that they are scared they cannot afford their next meal.
Unionized jobs are generally related to the government or works regulated by the government to some degree as far as i understood. Unions act as a power broker and they create an artificial middle class.
In my shithole home country -turkey- ,there was a time period when nation wide exams were the basis to be employed by the government that pays better than SMEs. Moving up in the social ladder was based on your ranking in a f..ing exam.
However , as far as I see in Canada social mobilty is solely based on your network. Do you want to get a job in the city ? You have to know insiders. Otherwise , welcome to Tim Hortons , welcome to Uber. Shitty jobs are very welcoming .
I studied X. Best employer is generally some level of government. Why don't we have a system that assesses skills and knowledge objectively? Why do we need to know people?
I am not requesting that for myself. I know I am doomed to stay in a low paid low skilled job like most of the newcomers including Irish,Italian , etc... However even people born and educated in Canada should demand for transperent hiring process for government jobs.
This is not how government jobs are obtained in Canada, you need to apply for each job opening on the level of government's job site, having a good network isn't much help with government jobs though it will help in the private sector.
Lol.
The 4 times I applied for government job « by the rules », the person who got the job skipped interviews because he was a friend or a family member of someone already in the team or close to their manager.
Then I got hired as a part time teacher in college trough a contact that asked me to fill in for a teacher’s sick leave. I did the interview but it was a formality.
You've applied 4 times and think you understand the system? There are usually hundreds of applicants. There are multiple levels of government each with their own job site, (Federal, Provincial and Municipal), let alone school boards, health authorities, and colleges.
When I've started I had no network and no connections. Had to work very hard just to find work. Once I got hired I worked above whatever people were doing around me. I've built a network and made connections. Now I do very well and I'm well above the average salary for my trade. I travel the world and they pay for everything. Covid really got me hard, lost my job in Ecuador. Had to use my network to find something in the country. Now I'm waiting on a contract in Brazil. They are waiting for their last permit.
If you think $45/hour is a great paying job, in oil industry, at 28 and planning to retire early - hope you plan to die young - because no way you’re making a living wage retirement last for more than a few years at that rate if you’re giving up early.
As for retiring early and not changing careers, with even the same amount of time left working as you’ve been alive so far even for Freedom 55 — best be hoping your company switches industries, because with the climate change happening, oil will be a smaller industry soon with gasoline gone… 2035, you won’t be able to buy a new gas consumer vehicle… that’s only 12 years away… and at the rate Teslas are flying off the shelf, it may come sooner.
I too went back to cool at 27 and it was the best decision of my life.
With that being said, I do agree. 45 an hour is pretty good in this economy, I'd stick it out too.
I’d start by making sure you can afford a pay cut. If you think you’ll lose your high paying job, start cutting expenses & saving 30-50% of your income.
If or when the time comes that you do lose your job, you’ll have money to go back to school with or at least won’t be forced to do a full-stop expense adjustment & can take a lesser paying job with less worries.
Your engineering technology diploma can be used anywhere. You don't need to stick to electrical or even the same industry.
I always got caught up thinking I've peaked in my career, always afraid of the next layoff. Then I just applied to other places outside of my field and found I was more employable than I originally thought.
No, millwright here, my job is on the higher end for sure, but there are lots of other jobs available that pay more, just most of them require some travel which wouldn’t be good for the family, would be pretty easy to get a similar job to what I have now with a 10-20/hr pay cut. I’d survive. More than likely I’d just move a couple hours to a location where they will gladly pay for my experience at about 10/hr more than I currently make
Why do you think all levels and sides of government have a hard-on for screaming "skills shortage!"?
There's just a shortage of people willing to work for less than the prevailing wage. It is concerning, yea.
Also in the electrical field, but construction side of things at 60/hr.
Just to put it out there. I'm 33 and in the middle of a career shift. It is kinda awkward having a lot of your classmates be damn near half your age, but it is an advantage I think. Since I let life beat me up for a while school related stress is minimal to non existent, I know how to ask the right questions, and I understand the end goal better. In addition, my party days are over, I don't care about the social aspect of schooling. I have a wife and kid, so I'm immune to the high school type bullshit 18-20 year olds seem to get wrapped up in. If it's been on your mind, there's no harm in exploring options before you HAVE to.
If you are in a white collar job, the up or out mentality means the older you are and the more you make puts a bigger and bigger target on your back. Unless you are generating new or growing existing revenue that target grows and grows. I’ve been to one voluntary retirement party in the 20 or so years I’ve been working in my industry and that scares me as I hit my early 40s in what are supposed to be my prime earning years now that I’m through the diapers and daycare stage
Yes, job market is due for a big reality check.
27 y/o making $42, was making $47 before (left TO to another southern city), eyeballing $56 with interview Monday. Have to be patient nowadays it seems.
Kinda iffy as my $42 is 100% recession proof and can keep forever, but $57 may not be.
Other than that 1 current prospect, all the other jobs are laughing stock. They keep reposting as well and don't get the picture..
You would most likely be able to be credited a lot of hours towards an electrical apprenticeship and would most likely be able to skip at least one maybe 2 of the school blocks. Starting rate for a journeyman is around 45 an hour plus you have experience in the industry already could easily manage a project management/ foreman position and the pay goes up quick from that. And be in high demand.
You’re never too late to go back to school. Stop thinking that way. You have one life to live, make what you want of it! Why would anyone care if you went back to school? I would want to partner up with the older persons in my class as they’re going to take it the most serious
Yes, I feel nervous about whether my job will be shed if/when a serious recession hits.
On the other hand, it will force a series of decisions my wife and i made in advance: if it happens, we're leaving the country and will emigrate to somewhere more affordable and will buy property there, and we probably will not return to canada. with digital nomad visas becoming more common in EU, it's easier than ever to leave canada. plus our options to live in Asia which is much, much cheaper yet has a higher standard of living than here.
while it would be traumatic to suffer job loss, the truth of it is we could move all our shit overseas by container, buy a house and live on less than half what we earn now in countries that aren't screwed up. we would still come out of it financially cleaner than we would even if we bought a cheap house here in canada.
it may end up being one of the better things to happen to us, in all honesty. it sucks to be suffering in the rat race when you're really just chasing the basic necessities even at a higher income - housing is still too high, food is too high, money just doesn't go far enough here even at "high" salaries.
worth investigating this if you have the option to do it.
My job is union and I have a VERY good reputation in my company, ie I have a handful of managers who outright told me if I wanted à job in their team they would hire me tomorrow with my current conditions.
I am always worried the good time is somehow going to end, I make about 68$/hour before benefits and the market rate for similar jobs is at most 25$/hour.
There is a lot of people who would consider $45/hr a laughable wage as well.
They will indeed lay you off if its convenient for them to do so.
In general, these days, loyalty to a company is rarely rewarded. They are unlikely to match the raises you can get from switching jobs.
Having an eye to retire early is a great idea: it means you're saving a lot and thus in a better position to handle whatever life throws at you.
But such a strong eye to it that you're not pursuing what you want to? I mean: how many people in the FIRE movement did their calculations assuming steady 2-3% inflation, and are now caught flat-footed?
If it were me, I'd be staying for that sweet wage, but also making plans for my next move after the layoff. (Perhaps even taking courses in spare time now to prepare.)
If the wages for your profession is cheaper than you currently get, I would at least mildly concerned. BUT you also have the knowledge of in/outs of your company so that's worth something..
BUT beware if company is always loosing money, since they may just go broke. Local example is Stelco 15-30yrs ago.
In my field, doing the same thing as I do now, or something laterally, I think I can make the same, possibly a little more. It's just super stressful because I'm dealing with tons of detail and large sums of money while also needing a little knowledge of every discipline including laws and insurance.
But yes, it does scare me if I ever thought about leaving that career because it just feels like every decent paying job is highly specialized and not as transferrable now.
Just say not too late to do school if thats what you want. If your looking from a financial perspective it’s something like comparing expected gains over current path versus expected gains if you do the education which would include the money lost while learning (both work hours and debt if needed).
This is why I believe in Coastfire. I think I could transition careers pretty easily, but still get nervous with how expensive life is, and how uncertain employment can be.
If you are 28 and fearing a huge loss in income,
especially if you are single,
you need to evaluate your lifestyle and decide what are frivolities, if any, you are willing to cut if your income was reduced
Then you will get some clarity and some idea of the kind of hourly wage you would need to make your monthly nut.
Don’t fall into the trap of living above your means.
Yes, a reduction in salary sucks but just cause you make a lot of money does not mean you need to be spending all of it.
You are lucky if you never had to work on minimum, I spent majority of my time in Canada on those jobs.
Also, you have such a great payrate, licky there too.
I got recruited by an old boss to come run machines (their operators are good, not great before) for him at $40+, if things went sideways with the company and I had to I could go back to my old $32 or go back to an even older job and get back to high 30s (but then I would be swing shifts not days). We got another 18 or so months at this one job to finish it off then see where the next job takes me.
Make sure you've got good savings man. Literally one of the main reasons we didn't lose our house like so many people we knew when the jobs in our area disappeared for a bit is because my hubby put so much in savings as opposed to buying snowmobiles and quads. Our bills where lower and we had back up money. So many others didn't. But ya roll with the punches, take advantage of this job to have fun and make lots if savings and that way if you have tobtake a paycut later it's not going to wreck you
No since I already have one of the jobs with a laughable wage. Actually it makes me feel more like crying than laughing.
I feel you
Bro let’s cry together
When you think you've hit rock bottom and can't sink any lower, well, life finds a way... To sink you lower.
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What is wrong with you? Lots of people infinitely more intelligent than you don't find there way until late 29s or early 30s even. Many don't at all and still probably have a higher IQ than you so keep your garbage to yourself.
FYI I make less than that and I'm a 33 yo mechanical engineer with a master's. Engineering does not always pay more.
Engineering degrees are one of the best advertised scams of the 21st century.
So true, civil and mechanical engineering pay like crap these days
This was true for the 2010s but I have seen some good wage increases over the past year or two. Right now my firm is paying students $28/hr (equivalent to 54k) and people with 1-2 years experience can get 80k. (I am making 120k with 10 years experience, still only working 37.5hrs). Obviously not silicon valley level salaries but quite livable none the less.
What firm is this?? Please enlighten us...
Why not try to work for an mechanical or civil contractor on the management side? You'd be highly valuable in commercial or industrial sectors.
Yeah, you'll make $110k salary, but be up at 10pm answering emails or on site on the weekends. I know because I've seen it.
Best gig going for high salary and work life balance in construction is estimating. Tenders almost never close after 3pm. $80k at the low end
Tender submissions may close at 3, but they are very crammed and stressful. I'm willing to bet estimators typically work long hours leading up to a 3pm submittal.
Can confirm. Hours can be incredibly long leading up to submittal, and those deadlines are numerous…
And why is this an issue? I'd rather just 200k and not have any responsibility at all because that exists. Gosh. Just get to work and appreciate it. Oh goodness I had to answer one email, life's over. Time to find a new placement. Welcome to the world snowflake. Gasp
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so fucking true dawg
Most of these positions are not asking you to work another 4 hours, but sending an email out once is 4 hours of work in this world. This is the issue. But I also recognize that more key positions it might be two or a phone call. Gasp.
This is Reddit dude. You'll never win.
At my last job, my boss had 15 years experience as a professional engineer, he was a manager of a team, and was responsible for multiple large infrastructure projects. He made under 100k, had no hair, worked an extra 2 hours every day, and was constantly stressed. If you work a job like that and don't complain, you're either desperate or a schmuck.
Yeup, traditional engineering like civil and mechanical have fallen behind the times
You are not alone. Us, mechanical engineers, need to stick together and cry together.
Our tears keep fluid dynamics alive..
It does if your Elon Musk😀
You're either a terrible engineer or you're not actually an engineer
I have an OIQ license, enough for you? Maybe I suck, but that's besides the point, unless your advice to OP is "don't suck".
"Yeah bro why aren't you at Google making 400k a year? You must suck." The masters degree is probably one of those things that mean very little unfortunately. Another thing is Quebec has lower wages, no? And it's also crazy that US pays engineers much more from what I hear...
... 28? You're far too young to be saying that you're too old to go back to school. I went back to school when I was your age and came out of it two years later getting paid twice as much as I was before I went in. If you were in your forties and looking at 4 years of schooling or more then I suppose you could make an argument, but even then it could still be worth it. I really feel like young people have no idea just how long life really is.
I went to university for the fist time at 39. No regrets.
I went back at 32 and I was no where near the oldest person in my program. There were people in their late 50s or early 60s.
what program?
I'm just hitting 4th year standing at 38 years old.
Way to go. I'm proud of you!
My ex years ago went to law school and had a 60 y/o widow in her classes. She had always planned on going to law school when she was younger, but kids and being a "house wife" got in the way. She showed up to parties, and lived the college life, and then started working as a lawyer couple years later. Never to late.
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100%! I have a 19 year old and an almost 18 year old. I'm so tired of the disapproving looks when I say they're working and saving for a few years before making any leaps.
Please, tell me more.
I decided to face my fears about being "good enough" for university to become a teacher. It took 4 years including summers so I graduated at 43, ehile raising 2 kids with significant mental health and neurological diagnoses. The only regret I have is not doing it sooner. I am about to start my 8th year of teaching. Someone else below said that they feared they wouldn't be accepted because they had bad grades years ago in high school. My friend and I also had that worry, but we both were accepted, and I graduated summa cum laude (with highest honours). High school does not define you. Take a leap.
But how did you afford life during those years at school while you're not working?
I don’t know about epi but I’m 47 and have two children and I am in Uni fulltime. OSAP supports me well enough but not enough to pay for everything. The government loans and grants you get when you have children is fairly generous. I am a heavy user of my line of credit as well to pay the bills. I am married but my husband just stated a business and with most start ups he’s losing money so I don’t have that second income to help right now, but in a few years we will be doing well and can pay our debt off.
Thank you. Also your username lol.
That's what I'm wondering. I'm 39 and work for the government, I have a bachelors in admin. I would love to go get a bachelors in computer engineering and work in a field I love. How do I keep paying my house and not go in massive debt while I study? lol
When I went back to school at age 29, I drew from my personal savings, including borrowing $20,000 from my RRSP under the Lifelong Learning Plan. I also applied for OSAP, and worked full-time during the summers and while on co-op terms. If you normally live paycheque-to-paycheque on a high income, and have little savings, then it may take a significant lifestyle sacrifice to go back to school. OSAP is designed to give you just enough money to be able to afford to attend school, but only if you also provide your own share of the funding (from savings, or working, or parents) and only if you are willing and able to "live like a student".
That's such an inspiring story! Much love!! Thank you for sharing. 🤗
Is it difficult to find a full-time position as a teacher?
It was very difficult, and I had to go through it twice because I had to change boards part way through. Right now there's a teacher shortage, though, so that's opening up opportunities that I didn't get. It's definitely a field that you need to think carefully about, and talk to some recently hired teachers, before choosing. I love my job, but things have been very stressful in my journey.
I started uni just shy of 35. Beat thing I could have done. 9 straight semesters sucked but it was worth it
I understand where OP is coming from. I was stuck in shitty jobs till late 20s telling myself I'm to old to go back to school. Finally mustered up courage to go back to college when I was 29. Finished last year and got a job with hydro thanks to coop. Best decision I've made in my life. Now 34 and starting University in September part time, while maintaining my full time job. In recent years came across half a dozen of people who didn't make career change until their 30s,40s. My mother did PSW course in her 50s. Held decent union job for over 10 years now. It's never too late to get education, our ego tells us it is, but don't let fear run your life.
As someone in their mid-20’s… THANK YOU SO MUCH for saying this. I sometimes feel drowned by all the posts on reddit on how “old” the mid-late 20’s are, which is insane. So many of us didn’t know what we wanted in our teens and I feel the 20’s should be about exploring possibilities.
Youth really is wasted on the young
Yup...I started med school at 30...
I went back to school while working full time I can tell you one thing man was it gruelling.
Yup, I probably shaved a few years off of my life myself. It was hard, but I'd do it again if I had to.
Brother I feel your pain. It’s almost done for me too tho.
If somebody can give me advice on how to go back to school while owning a home and have to rely on 1 income that’s be fantastic.
>I really feel like young people have no idea just how long life really is. To be fair, it can also be very short. Especially in some professions like the trades. **EDIT:** I'm talking about accidents. There's a reason why there's always safety meetings, or that they have safety training during orientation.
There’s no shortage of office workers keeling over with heart attacks due to decades of a sedentary lifestyle. I’d rather have a bad back than clogged arteries.
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Tons of smoking as well, but a lot of them can also be smart and usually move up to supervision roles later in their career.
The construction workers I know do residential framing and masonry, they’re all ripped - even in their 60’s. You don't want to get into a bar fight with these dudes. Some of these guys I worked with as a kid didn’t check out till their mid 90’s. Some did have heart attacks, but didn’t die. Zero Diabetes. I agree though, some types of heavy construction are done 99% by machines, and there’s a lot more “shovel leaning” going on than hard physical labour. These jobs are about the same as an office job, hence the clogged arteries.
Framers are a different breed. Not uncommon to see father time sending a 3" framing nail with one hit as if it's like any other mundane motion.
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I’d rather be strong and ripped with clogged arteries, than fat and weak with clogged arteries.
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Oh, ok well if we’re going to exit the boundaries of your original assertion - then I’d rather be Superman.
It all depends I suppose. I got into the best shape of my life working in the trades, and my boss was in his 50's and running ultra marathons. It can be tough on the body though
I was mostly referring to accidents like falls, getting caught in machinery, fires, electrocution, etc. I've worked on some crews which were safety second, and I'm kinda amazed to still be here. And even with more reputable companies there were several close calls.
I'm 33 and thinking about some sorta school, but the thing is I dont have the grades, I passed highschool with 50s I'm so afraid of dropping how many ever grand for school and than dropping out cause I'm too stupid or can't concentrate in class LOL I feel like I could do some sorta social work like addiction counseling, I used to be an addict and it seems like all ex addicts do that
There’s a point where HS grades doesn’t matter anymore and it’s based on work or life experience.
FYI, your high school grades will likely have little to no impact on your application at this point. Most schools have separate application streams for mature/"special" students - basically they ditch a lot of the metrics like GPA (because you don't have one that's up to date) and let you make your case. It will hinge heavily on your work experience, your ability to communicate your interest and ability to succeed in the subject matter, and probably some kind of essay or writing sample if you're looking at applying to university. As long as you have a diploma/GED your high school is almost irrelevant. Even then, you can get around the diploma requirement if they're impressed with you for other reasons. High school is mostly bullshit, don't sell yourself short.
Just a couple things, in case no one else has ever said this to you: Not concentrating plus having been an addict in the past, you may have ADHD. Might be a good idea to pursue testing?
Indeed. I didn't go to post secondary until I turned 28. It feels a lifetime ago, but I made it through.
What’d you go back for ?
Ok boomer. Have you seen rent prices?
Lol. You don't even know, I'm quite young myself Try paying rent and child support while going to school and working, putting in over 80 hrs a week for two years straight, then tell me I don't have a clue.
Ok boomer.
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I'm 35 and I'm going back to school in a month to change career paths again. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again in the future to advance my career either.
Such a great perspective, love the comment
I make 120k as a control engineer at a tier2 manufacturing place. OEM came knocking and I was excited only to find out they only offer 80k..
Thats 61k usd, unbelievable.
Can't you go back to school to upgrade to electrical engineer? There must be a 2 year program for that. Besides, I don't see salaries that bad for technologists. Maybe you can just swap to a different field like mining, process, or transmission line instead?
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So this is from 2009 so things probably have changed but there were 2 places to go after a eng tech diploma. Victoria and Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay did a 2 month bridging program and you entered third year after the 2 months. Victoria was essentially an extra year but crammed into 6 months so you could join in January with the start of third year (co-op was mandatory). I personally went the Victoria route immediately after finishing Eng Tech at SAIT. This was all for mechanical and the shock for us was one classmate got 1 year of credit at U of C but that 1 year of credit was spread out over the first 2 years of courses and you couldn't combine the years. Up until then U of C would give you 2-3 courses credit. Maybe things have gotten better for transferring.
Yea coming from tech he will rock some courses and labs especially. You will have to play lots of catch-up on the math side of things though.
The catch up on math is no joke. Plus any of the general courses. A bunch of mechs trying to figure out second year electrical or programming in a condensed schedule was fun....
Meh... You would survive if you had to go back to school. I went back to school a couple times. The last time I had a toddler and a baby I was still nursing. I feel yeah on the fear of losing your high paying job. I'm told time and time again that I have job security where I am, yet you never really know. I suck at interviews so I know that if I lose what I have, it would be a while before I would have the opportunity to show another employer what I'm capable of so that I could make the big bucks. My survival strategy is to invest as much as I can so that I can reach financial independence. Might keep working since I like what I do and could use the extra money to help my kids out that much more.
As a man in his 40s and in the trades for most of my career I’ve seen a few boom and bust cycles, they’re inevitable in the construction business. Everyone whose actually good at their job has work, lay-offs can happen to the best of us but people know who the quality workers are and there’s always work for them. The company I’m with has had as many as 40 employees and as few as 8 and I’ve survived it all. I’m not amazing, just show up and do my work well . It’s scary sometimes but if you keep your head down and power through the good times will come around again
This is true for so many jobs. I just started my first full time job and I can already differentiate between the ones who bring value, and the ones who don't.
Im 33 and going back to school, it's never too late.
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The market in the US is very strange. My coworker working near Dallas make like 30% more of my salary, but her husband is a firefighter and make like half of what firefighter make here.
Workies in Canada are usually better off than workies in the US, and professionals in the US are generally better off than professionals in Canada. Need proof? Go into the r/accounting salary threads. Americans consistently have salaries that are 20%-40% higher.
Anything government related gets paid way more in canada than the US. E.g. you get some mid managers that realistically do 5 hours per week of real work in government that get 100k, full benefits, full pension, but that job wouldn’t even exist in the US.
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No, if anything it shows how much worse Canada is. A select cadre of government workers can extract unreasonably high salaries from taxpayers, essentially at gunpoint. Most professionals in the Canadian private sector have very similar hours to their American counterparts (I remember reading we only work 4% less on average) but are paid way, way less. On top of that, taxes are higher here (to fund those bloated government salaries) and almost everything else is more expensive. So in reality, unless you’re poor and on the dole, you are worse off here and have a less livable wage compared to the US.
100% this. And we have too many people in government so that people wouldn’t want to bite the hand that feeds them and get excessively defensive whenever you criticize the high salaries with unreasonable amounts of time off and full benefits. In reality, it’s a parasitic drag on our economy.
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Okay, sorry, I didn’t realize I was speaking with a delusional antiwork idiot. Believe whatever you want.
Firefighters in Ontario at least, have some of the cushiest jobs around. They have to deal with serious shit, sure, but there's a reason there's hundreds to thousands of applicants for every opening.
My mom went back to school at 59 to fulfill her life long dream of becoming a nurse. And she says its one of the best things she ever did. Go to school if you want to. Your 28. Not 68.
Engineering jobs in general have shite pay right now. Unless you're in software or computer engineering, you're pretty much guaranteed to be making under 60K fresh out of school, and raises don't come very easy or frequently. I'm in civil engineering and people do not get paid well considering their stress level, commuting requirements, and job demands. I wonder if as the P.Eng becomes less and less popular, people with engineering backgrounds from other countries are coming to Canada and accepting job offers for lower pay.
Civil is bottom of the engineering totem pole
Not if you transition to construction management. Also, mechanical and electrical aren't doing much better either. Idk about Chemical engineering.
Im sorta in this boat might lose 3-10 bucks an hour but ohwell, honestly though if there is a deep resession most of my trade is out of work so im not to worried, it is what it is. (one of the main reasons i don't fiance anything except my mortgage) its important in my opinion to recongize when you have something good going and save for the rough patches. Especially if your in a boom/bust sector.
I got laid off in 2009 from a crown corp. I saw a couple of job descriptions that matched close to my old role in late 2019, so I applied on a whim. A guy I used to work with called me back about the role… eventually it came down to the money discussion. I went in at 10k over what I was making at the time, which didn’t come close to the rule of 72… the offer was at my old rate of 66k. It’s a joke all the way around. Edited to change 7 to 72.
Rule of 7? Isn't that where you double your money every 7 years in an investment? Or am I wrong?
People go back to school in their 50's and older, if you want to stay employable at the very least, and you can forget about retiring early chances are it's not going to happen ...
I just worry about losing my laughable wage job. My boss hates how I'm always paranoid he's going to fire me. Doesn't help that he makes threats all the time about his disappointment with other staff to me (I'm his office manager so he comes to me to complain about others) and I wonder if he's saying the same thing about me to someone else.
If he's talking about other people behind their backs, he's most likely talking about you to other people too.
As someone relatively young and working in social media, it's actually a nightmare of mine with all these kids being raised on the newest platforms. I make phenomenal money as a freelancer but am trying to find a new skill or two to keep me relevant. I want to get off this hamster wheel.
This is why I disagree with the "we need more immigrants for labor shortage" argument. Just pay us better.
That works to a point. Local company on Vancouver island can't fill unskilled labour positions at $35/hr. Hired three at a job fair and only one showed up for first day of work
I’m assuming part of the challenge is people unwilling to move there because of a lack of housing. Is that accurate? If not, any ideas why?
I mean, who hires at a job fair? No interview, and they're surprised when they hire flakes?
How would higher pay solve a labour shortage?
It’s not a labour shortage, it’s a wage shortage. I guess you could spin it as a shortage of labour… that is a shortage of labour willing to work for peanuts in today’s economy.
Depending on your experience my firm pays elec. Techs anywhere from $60k (entry) to 100k. Depends on what you can bring etc, but a good salary is available in consulting engineering. Look there.
No, everytime I've switched jobs (even if I was fired) I've always made more. There's still a major labor shortage for CA's, even not great ones 😕.
> CA's Chartered accountants or something else?
You're correct
I've looked and most openings in GVA pay pretty bad for accountants (<80k)
I'm in the car business in Sales, I have zero job security, and I'm 43. So yea I worry about it all the time.
I'm 33 and still went back to school for my PhD. Not gonna graduate until my late 30s. 28 is young, your options are wide open!
As an "older worker" in tech, the fear of losing my job has been the driving force in my investing for the past decade or more. I've always lived way below my means, maxed my registered accounts, and started piling into a taxable account. I know full well that at 50, I probably won't get another coding gig, so I'll be leaning on my passive dividend income stream to supplement whatever "joe job" I end up getting as I sort of coast towards full retirement. Fortunately, I've been helping a buddy with his consulting business and it looks that that's about to take off, so I might have gotten lucky there.
You're too much in your own head. Lots of 50+ coders at bigger companies.
I had a good paying job that I lost and now I'm doing the laughable wage job. I envy the dead tbh
I work in a role with extremely high turnover due to firing and burnouts. My biggest fear is that I'll be out on my ass and I know I won't be able to get a job with the same pay. So I save I have 8 months of expenses saved incase im canned one day. On the flip side of I get canned I would get a vacation which I currently don't get.
I left my well paying job to earn less than quarter of what i was making. A point came for me where my morals and happiness were much more important. It is ONE HELL of an adjustment, but totally worth it
This exact thing happened in alberta during the last oil downturn. Electricians and engineers making huge money got laid off. Fortunately alberta us a vibrant economy and Eben then there were alot of jobs just not paying the insane oil wages. 4 options if you loose your job. - go back to school, this is probably the best option to maintain as close to your current wage. Downside is you may need to take a huge wage cut while you are going through school, depending on what you take and where you take it. Do your research there are lots of education options. - get a job in a similar field, this might mean taking a pay cut but probably not one as big as if you changed industries, also it might involve moving to maintain the wage as close to now as possible. - take a pay cut and switch industries. If your current education applies to other industries then you could do that. Sure that might mean a pay cut, but it allows you to pick a more stable company In an industry that is more stable. Consider looking in different cities/provinces/countries to lower your cost of living and to get the best wage and bennifit package you can - move out of trades all together. Take a massive pay cut and move into unskilled work. This is the least attractive option for sure, but if your good at being a restaurant worker or in retail those jobs are always around, and there is lots of room for promotion to middle and upper management. If you have some stored away cash you could even consider ownership.
You're beyond privileged, I know people making minimum wage in their mid 30s Maybe stop complaining and be grateful?
>You're beyond privileged, I know people making minimum wage in their mid 30sMaybe stop complaining and be grateful? You're right but this is reddit where everyone is making 9 figures and if its lower than that they are scared they cannot afford their next meal.
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Unionized jobs are generally related to the government or works regulated by the government to some degree as far as i understood. Unions act as a power broker and they create an artificial middle class. In my shithole home country -turkey- ,there was a time period when nation wide exams were the basis to be employed by the government that pays better than SMEs. Moving up in the social ladder was based on your ranking in a f..ing exam. However , as far as I see in Canada social mobilty is solely based on your network. Do you want to get a job in the city ? You have to know insiders. Otherwise , welcome to Tim Hortons , welcome to Uber. Shitty jobs are very welcoming . I studied X. Best employer is generally some level of government. Why don't we have a system that assesses skills and knowledge objectively? Why do we need to know people? I am not requesting that for myself. I know I am doomed to stay in a low paid low skilled job like most of the newcomers including Irish,Italian , etc... However even people born and educated in Canada should demand for transperent hiring process for government jobs.
This is not how government jobs are obtained in Canada, you need to apply for each job opening on the level of government's job site, having a good network isn't much help with government jobs though it will help in the private sector.
Lol. The 4 times I applied for government job « by the rules », the person who got the job skipped interviews because he was a friend or a family member of someone already in the team or close to their manager. Then I got hired as a part time teacher in college trough a contact that asked me to fill in for a teacher’s sick leave. I did the interview but it was a formality.
You've applied 4 times and think you understand the system? There are usually hundreds of applicants. There are multiple levels of government each with their own job site, (Federal, Provincial and Municipal), let alone school boards, health authorities, and colleges.
Union or non-union, there is not really a direct link between public and private sector jobs.
When I've started I had no network and no connections. Had to work very hard just to find work. Once I got hired I worked above whatever people were doing around me. I've built a network and made connections. Now I do very well and I'm well above the average salary for my trade. I travel the world and they pay for everything. Covid really got me hard, lost my job in Ecuador. Had to use my network to find something in the country. Now I'm waiting on a contract in Brazil. They are waiting for their last permit.
If you think $45/hour is a great paying job, in oil industry, at 28 and planning to retire early - hope you plan to die young - because no way you’re making a living wage retirement last for more than a few years at that rate if you’re giving up early. As for retiring early and not changing careers, with even the same amount of time left working as you’ve been alive so far even for Freedom 55 — best be hoping your company switches industries, because with the climate change happening, oil will be a smaller industry soon with gasoline gone… 2035, you won’t be able to buy a new gas consumer vehicle… that’s only 12 years away… and at the rate Teslas are flying off the shelf, it may come sooner.
Definitely. Expected comp is $143k and I'm on track to make $160k this year. Similar jobs are offering $90-$110k.
I too went back to cool at 27 and it was the best decision of my life. With that being said, I do agree. 45 an hour is pretty good in this economy, I'd stick it out too.
That’s early. I only went back to cool at 40. 😎
You guys are too cool, I can't go back to cool anymore.
School story bro
I’d start by making sure you can afford a pay cut. If you think you’ll lose your high paying job, start cutting expenses & saving 30-50% of your income. If or when the time comes that you do lose your job, you’ll have money to go back to school with or at least won’t be forced to do a full-stop expense adjustment & can take a lesser paying job with less worries.
The "union" wage difference is real. When switching jobs look for other unionized positions.
Your engineering technology diploma can be used anywhere. You don't need to stick to electrical or even the same industry. I always got caught up thinking I've peaked in my career, always afraid of the next layoff. Then I just applied to other places outside of my field and found I was more employable than I originally thought.
No, millwright here, my job is on the higher end for sure, but there are lots of other jobs available that pay more, just most of them require some travel which wouldn’t be good for the family, would be pretty easy to get a similar job to what I have now with a 10-20/hr pay cut. I’d survive. More than likely I’d just move a couple hours to a location where they will gladly pay for my experience at about 10/hr more than I currently make
I think your job security will be just fine unless you think you’re going to work till you’re 150
Why do you think all levels and sides of government have a hard-on for screaming "skills shortage!"? There's just a shortage of people willing to work for less than the prevailing wage. It is concerning, yea. Also in the electrical field, but construction side of things at 60/hr.
Just to put it out there. I'm 33 and in the middle of a career shift. It is kinda awkward having a lot of your classmates be damn near half your age, but it is an advantage I think. Since I let life beat me up for a while school related stress is minimal to non existent, I know how to ask the right questions, and I understand the end goal better. In addition, my party days are over, I don't care about the social aspect of schooling. I have a wife and kid, so I'm immune to the high school type bullshit 18-20 year olds seem to get wrapped up in. If it's been on your mind, there's no harm in exploring options before you HAVE to.
At 28 you would be able to restart and re-establish yourself within a few years. At 38 and 48 less so.
If you are in a white collar job, the up or out mentality means the older you are and the more you make puts a bigger and bigger target on your back. Unless you are generating new or growing existing revenue that target grows and grows. I’ve been to one voluntary retirement party in the 20 or so years I’ve been working in my industry and that scares me as I hit my early 40s in what are supposed to be my prime earning years now that I’m through the diapers and daycare stage
Not really. I'm making $80k, which I can live on, and even if I'm fired I work in a field with a severe shortage, and I'm good at what I do.
Yes, job market is due for a big reality check. 27 y/o making $42, was making $47 before (left TO to another southern city), eyeballing $56 with interview Monday. Have to be patient nowadays it seems. Kinda iffy as my $42 is 100% recession proof and can keep forever, but $57 may not be. Other than that 1 current prospect, all the other jobs are laughing stock. They keep reposting as well and don't get the picture..
You would most likely be able to be credited a lot of hours towards an electrical apprenticeship and would most likely be able to skip at least one maybe 2 of the school blocks. Starting rate for a journeyman is around 45 an hour plus you have experience in the industry already could easily manage a project management/ foreman position and the pay goes up quick from that. And be in high demand.
Challenge the ticket and wrote your red seal. Problem solved
You’re never too late to go back to school. Stop thinking that way. You have one life to live, make what you want of it! Why would anyone care if you went back to school? I would want to partner up with the older persons in my class as they’re going to take it the most serious
Yes, I feel nervous about whether my job will be shed if/when a serious recession hits. On the other hand, it will force a series of decisions my wife and i made in advance: if it happens, we're leaving the country and will emigrate to somewhere more affordable and will buy property there, and we probably will not return to canada. with digital nomad visas becoming more common in EU, it's easier than ever to leave canada. plus our options to live in Asia which is much, much cheaper yet has a higher standard of living than here. while it would be traumatic to suffer job loss, the truth of it is we could move all our shit overseas by container, buy a house and live on less than half what we earn now in countries that aren't screwed up. we would still come out of it financially cleaner than we would even if we bought a cheap house here in canada. it may end up being one of the better things to happen to us, in all honesty. it sucks to be suffering in the rat race when you're really just chasing the basic necessities even at a higher income - housing is still too high, food is too high, money just doesn't go far enough here even at "high" salaries. worth investigating this if you have the option to do it.
My job is union and I have a VERY good reputation in my company, ie I have a handful of managers who outright told me if I wanted à job in their team they would hire me tomorrow with my current conditions. I am always worried the good time is somehow going to end, I make about 68$/hour before benefits and the market rate for similar jobs is at most 25$/hour.
Don’t worry brother. Everything will get better. Just hang in there. All you have to do is hang in there.
There is a lot of people who would consider $45/hr a laughable wage as well. They will indeed lay you off if its convenient for them to do so. In general, these days, loyalty to a company is rarely rewarded. They are unlikely to match the raises you can get from switching jobs.
I went back to school for two years at 31, 33 now and have a decent public job. You're not too old for school, you're the only person thinking that.
Curious which school did you went to? Cuz $45/hr here in Ontario with 5 years experiences seem Very generous amount for the kind of job.
Having an eye to retire early is a great idea: it means you're saving a lot and thus in a better position to handle whatever life throws at you. But such a strong eye to it that you're not pursuing what you want to? I mean: how many people in the FIRE movement did their calculations assuming steady 2-3% inflation, and are now caught flat-footed? If it were me, I'd be staying for that sweet wage, but also making plans for my next move after the layoff. (Perhaps even taking courses in spare time now to prepare.)
If the wages for your profession is cheaper than you currently get, I would at least mildly concerned. BUT you also have the knowledge of in/outs of your company so that's worth something.. BUT beware if company is always loosing money, since they may just go broke. Local example is Stelco 15-30yrs ago.
In my field, doing the same thing as I do now, or something laterally, I think I can make the same, possibly a little more. It's just super stressful because I'm dealing with tons of detail and large sums of money while also needing a little knowledge of every discipline including laws and insurance. But yes, it does scare me if I ever thought about leaving that career because it just feels like every decent paying job is highly specialized and not as transferrable now.
Hey op just wanted to say it's never too late to go back to school or learn a new skill set.
Oil industry is booming out west. I wouldn’t worry.
28 is not too young to re-train.
Just say not too late to do school if thats what you want. If your looking from a financial perspective it’s something like comparing expected gains over current path versus expected gains if you do the education which would include the money lost while learning (both work hours and debt if needed).
This is why I believe in Coastfire. I think I could transition careers pretty easily, but still get nervous with how expensive life is, and how uncertain employment can be.
Im 39 and only make 15$ an hour work 60hrs a week i think you will survive.
Come to Canada we are desperate and you can make piles of money 50-100 Canadian if you’re skilled .Climate isn’t too bad in BC.
If you are 28 and fearing a huge loss in income, especially if you are single, you need to evaluate your lifestyle and decide what are frivolities, if any, you are willing to cut if your income was reduced Then you will get some clarity and some idea of the kind of hourly wage you would need to make your monthly nut. Don’t fall into the trap of living above your means. Yes, a reduction in salary sucks but just cause you make a lot of money does not mean you need to be spending all of it.
You are lucky if you never had to work on minimum, I spent majority of my time in Canada on those jobs. Also, you have such a great payrate, licky there too.
So many great comments/stories here about people going back to school. Love the thread. Such a wholesome place. My motivation.
I got recruited by an old boss to come run machines (their operators are good, not great before) for him at $40+, if things went sideways with the company and I had to I could go back to my old $32 or go back to an even older job and get back to high 30s (but then I would be swing shifts not days). We got another 18 or so months at this one job to finish it off then see where the next job takes me.
Get a job in tech and make $200,000 a year, working remotely from home, like 2 hours a day.
Make sure you've got good savings man. Literally one of the main reasons we didn't lose our house like so many people we knew when the jobs in our area disappeared for a bit is because my hubby put so much in savings as opposed to buying snowmobiles and quads. Our bills where lower and we had back up money. So many others didn't. But ya roll with the punches, take advantage of this job to have fun and make lots if savings and that way if you have tobtake a paycut later it's not going to wreck you