I am graduating in a year, and I am trying to decide what to do. At the moment I am thinking between climbing guide & RCMP, and I am wondering what other climbers have chosen for their careers.
Sorry if I am missing jobs, just add them in your reply.
-Ropes Course/Climbing Guide for inner-city kids with family history of AIDS (confidence building, nice time with kids, challenging, different every day...) -Rainforest canopy tour guide in Costa Rica - ziplines, but a lot of fun (gives GREAT tips, good if you're bilingual) -Being a guide is fun too, though...
You're missing a LOT of jobs.... I guess that makes sense, I had no idea what was out in the world when I was in high school.... heres some to add to the list:
- Tradesman (esp. Welder): A welder in Alberta can currently make $2000 PER DAY!!!!!. You can work 6 months of the year, climb the other 6 months and pull a six figure salary.
- Engineer: Great pay, ok work if you like math and science. Not a lot of time off to climb, at least not until you get your professional designation and some experience (~10 years after starting university).
- Doctor: Great pay, you can climb six months and have six months off.... blah blah blah. Lots of school though.
- National Park Warden: The pay sucks, and the jobs are hard to get... but you do get to live and work in the National Parks: Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Waterton... climbing oportunaties for a lifetime await you. It's kind of like a cop but less evil.
Whatever you do, don't become an RCMP officer, the last thing this world needs is more cops!
(This post was edited by climb_eng on May 15, 2007, 6:13 AM)
Trades are good. You can make good money, you get hired pretty quick (and can go a lot of places). Getting laid off isn't a big deal 'cause you take a month or two road trip and then come back and usually get hired on again pretty quick. Extra bonus if you pick something with a lot of manual labour....gets you and keeps you pretty strong for climbing.
Something profesional....kinda sucks. I'm yet another engineer here, you're tied to your job and limited to the vacation your company will give you. You get paid well, but you miss out on a lot of freedoms.
Question to others in the engineering field....after my husband finishes with immigration stuff I was planning on quiting and going travelling for maybe a year or so. How hard after a year hiatius is it to get another engineering job (controls engineer specifically) with only 4 years experiance?
You can't beat teaching. Yea the kids can be annoying at times and the pay isn't the greatest but I work from 8am to 3:30pm M-F 180 days a year. I get 9.5 weeks off in the summer (big climbing trips), 12 days during the Xmas-New Years break, Spring Break (1 week) Thanksgiving Break (turns into a 5 day weekend) and then all government holidays (ie. Columbus Day, MLK Jr. Day, Memorial Day, etc.) When considering this, teaching ain't a bad gig at all. You always have the option to make more money by picking up a job bartending on weekends or weekday nights, or god forbid you could give up that summer break and bank a few extra thousand doing some easy job. When all said and done I figure that my salary is equal, maybe even higher than some other professionals when compared per hour and how many days you work. And on top of it I collect a paycheck every 2 weeks during the summer. Beers are on me boys, my paycheck just got deposited. :) He he!
I don't know how it is in other industries; I can only speak for oil&gas, but i've seen guys with 5 years experience come and go as they please. They come as contractors, work on a project then when the projects done, they leave.
It is possible, it's just easier when you have more experience I think.
...- Doctor: Great pay, you can climb six months and have six months off....
Ha! This makes me chuckle. Sure, there are some docs out there making big bucs, but they are the minority. And if you are making money, you are working. Consider what you would feel like working 28 days a month on average, 12-36 hour shifts with no end in sight. Climbing would be the farthest thing from your mind. Even if you are a primary care doc and working normal 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, you are only getting reimbursed half of what you bill for. THat means for a 15 minute visit you might bill $45 and get $20. Now you have to pay your billing agent, your land lord, your receptionist, your $30,000 malpractice bill, and yourself, with what comes out to be about $50-100 dollars an hour (for all that, not just you). Good luck with that. If you break even you are doing well.
If you sincerely want to help sick people, go into medicine; if you want to make money (real money) forget it.
Edit: no I am not a doc (at least not an MD.) But I know several, particularly the one that administers to me the "painful elbow procedure" when I snore. She claims that elbow proceedure is SOC. I think she is using it "off-label."
(This post was edited by carbonrx8 on May 15, 2007, 1:38 PM)
^^^Maybe not doctor, but how about nurse? By my standards, they make pretty good money. There is always a demand, so you can move around every couple of years until you've tapped out the climbing where you're at. I talked to one guy who is a nurse and he said his flexible scheduling allowed him more climbing than the climbing guides in his area. Gigolo to a rich heirress also pays well, but you may have to put up with more drama.
I am a full time graphic designer and part time freelance photographer. I work my tail off because my full time job doesn't pay much. I am so ready for a new job, I really want something working in the outdoors industry. Not sure what I can get though with the kind of experience I have. My advice though is to do something you love, not something that will pay the bills. Well it needs to pay the bills, but don't go for big bucks. My problem is I hate what I do and I don't get paid well. Best of luck to you though.
...- Doctor: Great pay, you can climb six months and have six months off....
Ha! This makes me chuckle. Sure, there are some docs out there making big bucs, but they are the minority. And if you are making money, you are working. Consider what you would feel like working 28 days a month on average, 12-36 hour shifts with no end in sight. Climbing would be the farthest thing from your mind. Even if you are a primary care doc and working normal 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, you are only getting reimbursed half of what you bill for. THat means for a 15 minute visit you might bill $45 and get $20. Now you have to pay your billing agent, your land lord, your receptionist, your $30,000 malpractice bill, and yourself, with what comes out to be about $50-100 dollars an hour (for all that, not just you). Good luck with that. If you break even you are doing well.
If you sincerely want to help sick people, go into medicine; if you want to make money (real money) forget it.
Edit: no I am not a doc (at least not an MD.) But I know several, particularly the one that administers to me the "painful elbow procedure" when I snore. She claims that elbow proceedure is SOC. I think she is using it "off-label."
I depends what you're doing as a doctor. If you want to set-up a practice, then yeah it's a lot of work. IF you want to Locum instead, you can work for 2-3 weeks at a time, make a few grand and then climb for 2 or 3 months... it's all about lifestyle.
National Park Warden: The pay sucks, and the jobs are hard to get... but you do get to live and work in the National Parks: Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Waterton... climbing oportunaties for a lifetime await you. It's kind of like a cop but less evil.
I hardly think that $60 grand a year sucks. Good luck getting a job though. It's extremely competative and wardens are highly educated up here. I don't think you get to choose where you go either. You might be enjoying climbing in Banff one month and then get transfered to a park in Manitoba hahaha....no more climbing.
...- Doctor: Great pay, you can climb six months and have six months off....
Ha! This makes me chuckle. Sure, there are some docs out there making big bucs, but they are the minority.
Carbonrx8, Keep in mind that the o.p. lives in Canada eh.
Hey Coastal, if you can handle blood you can alway be a Paramedic. 4 days on and 4 days off. In Canada they are highly skilled and make good money. In the states they don't make $quat.
One thing you will learn though is that making more money will not make you more happy. Don't get caught up in all that gotta make more and move up the corporate ladder bullshit. Work to live, don't live to work. No one ever dies wishing they had worked more, and no, company managers, Ceo's ect, in the end really have not contributed anything useful although they sure seem to think so.
Well, the warden thing is 60 grand a year EVENTUALLY. However, when you first start you only work 6 months of the year and make less than 30k... at least that's what my cousin who was applying told me.
In terms of where they send you, they do take into concideration your skill set when they put you in a park. If you're a climber or mountaineer you'd be useful in the mountain parks.... if you're say a canoeist you'll probably find yourself in some crappy park in Manitoba or something.
But yeah, the educational requirements are very high, like a masters degree in environmental science is the type of thing they look for. It's a little bit easier to get a job as a BC Parks Ranger though... less crappy parks, but also less funding and less money over all. Slavetogravity on this website is a BC parks ranger, you should PM him to find out more.
...- Doctor: Great pay, you can climb six months and have six months off....
Ha! This makes me chuckle.
I depends what you're doing as a doctor. If you want to set-up a practice, then yeah it's a lot of work. IF you want to Locum instead, you can work for 2-3 weeks at a time, make a few grand and then climb for 2 or 3 months... it's all about lifestyle.
touché
My point was directed at the more general interpretation that MD=$, not really at specifics. Sure, locum tenens works, llife-style wise, as does lots of other ways of being a doc. That really is the sad thing about it. What may not 'work' any longer, for any metric, may be the standard small to medium practice. This is sad IMO because that standard may have been the best way to deliver quality care, which is really what it is all about.
You're missing a LOT of jobs.... I guess that makes sense, I had no idea what was out in the world when I was in high school.... heres some to add to the list:
- Tradesman (esp. Welder): A welder in Alberta can currently make $2000 PER DAY!!!!!. You can work 6 months of the year, climb the other 6 months and pull a six figure salary.
Although it already has been listed, I think it is nursing. THe main reason for this is the opportunity to be a travel nurse. You find a state or city (relatively large) that you want to go to and there is probably a job there for you to do as a nurse. The wages are comparably great for a 4 year degree (if you get your BSN) and if you are hired by a travel nursing company, you can easily find contracts for 9-16 weeks and then take however much time you want off in between.
Most comapnies pay for housing and you get your full wage on top of that (which is at the very least $20/hr) They also don't really question you taking a lot of time off (which in most other proffesional careers could be a problem), since you are just doing those contracts. The only bad part is, you can't take more than a year off, because in most states you would loose your liscensure then.
(note, I am not actually a travel nurse, but am currently enrolled in nursing school... and have done some research into it)
I work in Nursing and it's great for climbing, I'm PRN at my hospital so I work whenever I want and climb whenever I want. I take off every summer for a guiding job and I took off for 2 months last fall for a road trip. You can make good money and the schedule can really work for you but It's hard to work in nursing if you don't really like it.
Being a corporate slave isn't all that bad (I'm in research). I've been here 7 years and I make a nice salary, get 5-1/2 weeks off + holidays and unlimited sick time each year, plus get to travel a fair amount i.e. I'm going to Cali again for work in a couple weeks and I'll be going to Yosemite when I'm done. Do something you love, and don't chase $$$ at the expense of your time, I traded promotions for 40 hour weeks a long time ago, all the fast trackers working 50+ hours are missing the boat IMHO.
(This post was edited by dynosore on May 15, 2007, 4:58 PM)
In Canada they are highly skilled and make good money. In the states they don't make $quat.
Wrong.
Perhaps you would care to correct what is wrong then. The U.S. pay information is from EMS message boards straight from the keyboards of those who are working there in that position. Fully qualified Paramedics making $9 p/hr. Or perhaps you would like to correct me with the highly skilled part.....
By the way Dyno, I have been working in the industry for a while, what about you?
As for pay in Canada fully qualified medics can easily make between 65000 and upwards of 80000 per year. If you know where to work you can make upwards of $800 per day doing industrial. You could easily work 10 days a month and live very comfortably with this pay. Tons of time for climbing.
(This post was edited by time2clmb on May 15, 2007, 5:29 PM)
I'll add another vote for nursing - if you can handle the gross factor and dealing with people who are in crappy moods all the time, it's a great job to have. My girlfriend has a bachelor's in nursing, and she works three 12 -hour days a week, giving her the rest of the week off to do whatever she wants. She's also looked into the travel nursing thing quite a bit, and there are awesome opportunities there. The pay is quite nice too, and the demand is high.
Well, you know the old joke don't you..... what do you call a climbing guide who just broke up with his girlfriend? Homeless! Ha!
PM rockguide, he's was a guide with Yamnuska.
IF you concider the 5-10 year commitment in terms of getting the skills, plus the thousands of dollars in courses you'll likely have to take, the pay of is pretty piss poor. Plus, when your older and can't guide anymore, or you get injured, you're an unemployed, unqualified highschool grad again.... not the greatest primary career path, though it could be fun thing to do if you have a trade or profession to fall back on if things go to shit.
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