Thinking About A Career Change.

[qik1]

sorry I should of said my wife will be working as well, not straight away but the plan is to try & do it together. the site & company supplies all acc, food & transfers to the work so I dont even need my car. I wouldnt buy property over there as im not sure if its for me. my old man has said he can set me up for the basic coarses so it all looks good on paper so im not quite goin in completely blind.

thanks for the heads up though all I can go on is what ive been told through my brothers who have been at it for a while I you never know if the talkin out of there ar3e or not. I realise its abit hard to get constant all year around work that's my problem, do I take the risk & have a go at the big bucks or do I settle for what I have & die wondering. its as much about the change as it is the money & wanting to learn something new somewhere else. I know the old grass is greener story, but sometimes I wonder if theres more to life than what ive got & is this it at 24 as good as its gonna get (work wise).

its a diffucult topic & I know ulimatley that I have to sit down with the wife & work out what im gonna do but I like to hear from those who are thinking about or have been through the same situation.

thanks

[scar]

  TornadoJudd said:

I think he said he and his misses could earn $250k together

Even combined that is an unrealistic figure with no prior experience.

Some true figures of what people are on at the moment.

Dump truck ops 115kpa 2yrs exp min

tradies 135kpa exp essential

cleaners 75-85kpa must have worked in a similar environment

TA 100-115kpa

Site clerks 120kpa

engineers 140kpa+ based on experience

Managers 160-240kpa

There has also just been a series of layoffs of less skilled people due to the economic situation.

[RapidF6]

  scar said:

Even combined that is an unrealistic figure with no prior experience.

Some true figures of what people are on at the moment.

Dump truck ops 115kpa 2yrs exp min

tradies 135kpa exp essential

cleaners 75-85kpa must have worked in a similar environment

TA 100-115kpa

Site clerks 120kpa

engineers 140kpa+ based on experience

Managers 160-240kpa

There has also just been a series of layoffs of less skilled people due to the economic situation.

Is that specifically in W.A., or elsewhere?

[qik1]

Thanks all I have been able to go on is what my brothers have told me what there getting. One of the other boys (brother) are starting in the next week or so. He just turned 18 didnt finish school but has just finished some basic coarses that the old man recons he needed. sometimes it might be a case of who you know & not what you know. unfortunate but lucky for some. will beable to tell then whats on offer because chances are that's what I'll be doin.

I'm not so interested in the money, dont get me wrong its nice but the point of the thread was to see what other people young or old have done in the past/present when they have been faced with a similar oppertunities.

[hanra]

  wiresquire said:

OK, I guess I'm the 'hanrahan' here.

We will all be ruined said Hanrahan!!! hahahahaha, that's my surname!!!

It frustrates me to John, I good mate of mine who is a builder has just taken on a T/A assistants job in WA as a Electrician's T/A. Now he knows NOTHING about electronics.

Im an electronics engineer by trade and he is earning like 3 times as much as me per week......Im starting to wonder myself, should I head over there to.....

[crazed1]

I have tossed around the idea of working in the mines, but quality of life is the one thing that turns me around.

Big dollars in labour based jobs doesnt come easy if your the one doing the labour..

[qik1]

  crazed1 said:

I have tossed around the idea of working in the mines, but quality of life is the one thing that turns me around.

Big dollars in labour based jobs doesnt come easy if your the one doing the labour..

I can understand the quality of life thing but I figure its worth the sacrifice for abit to make it easier in the future. it will allow me to get more involved in my passion & build my ultimate xr sooner rather than later.

brad that's what ive been thinking for a while. I took the high road sayin I dont need it but after seeing what my parents & my brothers have made of them selves its abit hard to ignore it anymore, on top of it I need a change.

[TornadoJudd]

  scar said:

Even combined that is an unrealistic figure with no prior experience.

Some true figures of what people are on at the moment.

Dump truck ops 115kpa 2yrs exp min

tradies 135kpa exp essential

cleaners 75-85kpa must have worked in a similar environment

TA 100-115kpa

Site clerks 120kpa

engineers 140kpa+ based on experience

Managers 160-240kpa

There has also just been a series of layoffs of less skilled people due to the economic situation.

mate TAs here in QLD get 120k plus, truck drivers at our mine get 130k the same as us tradies. I work with a few couples who all make over 250k combined.

[Raging]

I work in the mines in central queensland. I changed around a few jobs for the first few years after I left school, including salesperson/delivery driver, sawmilling, meatworking, signwriting and doing vehicle graphics, different types of machine operations in different areas. I moved back into central queensland for the mines, and it was a tough choice. Working around wasn't that great sometimes, but it opened my eyes to lots of different things.

The main problem for me was the lifestyle change. There isn't much to do in most mining communities, as with the rosters worked by most mines now the offer longer breaks, people take off and absorb a little bit of civilisation, and/or home to their families. I work on an equal time roster, basically 5 on/5 off, and love it. Gives me the flexibility to do what I want and not have to hurry things when I do it.

Ofcourse the money is a big factor too, but as said before, the more you earn, the more you spend. I've been full-time in the coal mines for 7 years now, I'm a plant operator with just about every ticket the mine has to offer, and my total package comes to around $140k a year I think, without adding a few things available to me through our enterprise agreement. So the money is always good to look at.

However I am looking at moving onto other things available through the mines, I've been asked several times to be a supervisor, I could branch off and become an Open Cut Examiner, which are in great demand at the moment, I could go into engineering, planning, blasting etc if I really wanted too aswell. So that's what you really have to think about, where do you want to be. My main concern is that I don't want to spend the rest of my working life in the mines, and I have to be set up to branch off and try something else out.

Lots of people are coming and going in the mine, people from cities coming through and earning a few bucks and leaving again. From my point of view, its having a bad effect on the mining sector, so many inexperienced people coming through with no idea how dangerous things can get, and really compromising other peoples safety. So my advice to anyone looking at going into the mines is to plan it as an actual career change, come and learn your job properly, don't just come out for the money, as its also taking its toll on mining communities...

that's my little rant...for now

[sixfan]

listen to scar, he's correct.

Sure you can earn big bickkies in the mining industry, but FIFO is hell on your life, the week off sounds good to start with but the week on is a killer,

add in travel time and the fact that you're generally to rooted to enjoy your time off for the first couple of days and well, it just isn't as good as it sounds.

there has been a massive downturn in mining jobs over the last month too, employers can now pick and choose, they pick those with experience and salary levels on offer are dropping rapidly. Untill last month I had 4 Geos and 3 fieldies working out of my company, they are all looking for work elsewhere and my own current employement is far from secure. one company I was doing work for went bust and left me ~ $80,000 out of pocket..... Mining is boom or bust and trust me, the bust is here.