Jingsamichty

I would never think of a career as being specific for one country. Offshore wind has gone from zero to colossal in Europe in a decade. In Asia they are beginning to catch up quickly, and the USA is just about to start on the same trajectory, off the Atlantic coast off New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. It would be a massive opportunity to get involved at this early stage - like getting involved in North Sea oil in the 1970s.

dbd33

but a more sustainable career.

Jingsamichty

until the wind runs out.

Siouxie

I'm not disputing that in the slightest - I said obtaining Training in Canada for Offshore Wind might be difficult to do as there doesn't appear to be any! Gozit could get trained in Europe, perhaps.
https://cwind.global/training/
https://windexchange.energy.gov/training
https://www.offshore-windindustry.co...-and-education

Gozit

Well obviously I didn't realise the extent of dealing with people I have to do in IT until I did those co-ops and figured it out.

I don't mind dealing with people, but in IT you tend to deal with angry people who are upset that whatever they are trying to do is not working...which can be frustrating/draining. Then the friction between the users and the IT department leads management to come up with "customer service" strategies that frustrate the IT staff. Helping someone buy or sell a house can be exciting as the people are excited to move forward with that stage of their life.

I will be off to Malta in June to take care of my grandfather, but I can't exactly get a job and travel round Europe if Europe is still in lockdown, which most of it is still.

Google says the average pay for an offshore wind technician is 51k in the US. Are you thinking it will be more in Europe?


Anyway for the moment while I try to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life I have accepted a job with a local company here. They are aware of my imminent need to travel to Malta in the next ~3mos and are willing to be flexible so that was my deciding factor. Who knows maybe I will grow to like it but first full time job is a transition and feels like i'm handcuffed to it. I don't like the feeling of having the majority of my time taken up by something I don't necessarily want to do. It feels like i'm in public school again which I hated as a kid.

Especially right now during the pandemic since i'm unable to travel i'm going to try to use the additional income I get from this job to save and invest in things that will generate passive income for me later in my 20s/30s so maybe I will not have to work as much...or at all.

scilly

The problem I find with IT techies, whether they are ones who work at the same company that I do, or big store techies, or Microsoft/equipment techies, is that we simply do not speak the same language.

All the ones I've had to deal with going right back to the 1970s has been the same.

Quick spiel, then "you do this, this this and this, and it will be alright"

Nope, it won't ........ because I've understand about 3 words of the 50 you've just spoken.

THAT is when I get frustrated!

If only they could explain in plain language what I have to do, instead of using jargon!

scrubbedexpat091

It takes a special personality type to work in any job where people are starting off mad or irritated. Airline equivalent is baggage service, the passenger is walking in pissed off, and only the calmest of personalities can handle it, its very draining as Gozit say's being yelled at every shift day after day. I did a call center job once, red box, $1 DVD rentals at the time, amazing how many people got so ticked off over a dollar, I lasted 3 months, of the 20 in my training class only 2 were left when I left, tells you how high the turn over was.

spouse of scouse

If you find a job that provides you with the flexibility to work as and when suits you along with a high income, no down-sides or boring bits and no need to negotiate difficult relationships or difficult people, let us know and we'll all apply for it.

I'm not trying to be mean, just realistic.

Jingsamichty

Well 51k USD isn't a terrible salary when you consider how underworked you'd be... right now there are only 5 (five) operational offshore wind turbines in the USA. That's not five wind farms, but only five actual wind turbines!

Across the world there are probably 10,000+ turbines and that number is growing almost exponentially. All of them will need regular maintenance and servicing. And even if you don't want to be a technician, the offshore wind industry needs designers, engineers, installation crews, project managers, safety managers, logistics, procurement, operations managers, you name it, they need it. And none of this industry exists in the US at present.

Partially discharged

Your sense of entitlement comes across pretty strong to me. You are in your early 20's fresh out of school and you want a job that you love and you can earn maximum $ for minimum time so that you can travel. I think you are pretty lucky actually in March to get a full time job in the middle of a pandemic, that you are going to leave in June for an indefinite amount of time. Have you committed to coming back because everything I've read from you indicates that you would be looking for a position in Malta or europe somewhere. Show some gratitude and stop being so stroppy. Many people in your situation don't have a job, or are significantly underemployed and you're whining about having to work 9-5 etc and actually have to deal with people and their problems.

If you want a life of luxury and the ability to travel and swan around europe, find a uber rich love interest or elevate yourself to that ultimate cerebral position, that of an "Instagram influencer".

Good luck and I hope you work out your priorities.

Atlantic Xpat

It's a heady mix of entitlement, naivete and lack of self awareness. I think it can be summarised as "yoof". :-)

Gozit, Most jobs require some level of human interaction and people skills. As such "fit" in an organisation, into it's culture is as important as technical skills. If you don't fit then you risk being an expensive recruitment error for the organisation. So working on the people skills is probably a good idea.

I'd suggest IT support is not a business in which you are going to make your fortune. It is a function ripe for outsourcing in most organisations & often to lower wage countries. That means that even Canadian positions are not going to pay well & not have the time off you crave.

Rete

When this thread first started I assumed the OP was an older man of perhaps 50 to 60 years old and was looking for employment to supplement his old age benefits and to keep busy before spending his retirement traveling the world. I soon was proven wrong about that assumption.

For many people knowing what you want to do in life is something that you discover after working in several fields and narrowing down your preferences. If you don't like interacting with people, I can't see that traveling will be something you would enjoy. All of life includes interacting with others, if only on a surface basis. You are looking for employment that is open ended, solitary, excellent benefits, not too challenging and paying in the 6 digits from the start of employment. This comes across as someone who is lazy, selfish and self-centered, egotistical, with a low opinion of his human counterparts.

Forsaking the salary, perhaps become a Buddhist Monk in the Himalayas.

Siouxie

Could we keep in mind that Gozit has been a member here since his mid teens and is a young man trying to find his way in life, asking for general ideas of what he could do to earn a few dollars, given that he prefers not to have too much structure nor contact with random angry people.

Casting aspersions on his character (implied or otherwise) isn't exactly helpful.... (think of Site Rule 1 "treat others as you would wish to be treated.." )

I'm sure many of us had vague grand ideas of an ideal scenario when it came to earning a living at 18/22 - but as we got older we realised that unfortunately life doesn't always work out that way (it's called 'this is the real world') Perhaps we could cut the lad some slack

Cheers!

dbd33

Since I've been in IT the only ways to make serious money have been to write and sell a software product or to do some pimping. I would imagine this is true of offshore turbine maintenance or, indeed, most any trade where there's no pyramid structure, such as there tends to be in law or in sales. No line of work where the worker is dependent on an hourly rate or salary is going to generate a whack of cash. One can, of course, live on the salary from some full time positions if one keeps the count of ex-wives and disabled children to a minimum.

bc2015

If you are interested in expanding your skills then you could try and get a couple of the AWS certs and then go work for one of the AWS MSPs (there's a couple of big ones in Toronto) or even AWS themselves. There's big opportunity in this space right now and I think IT background + certs would be attractive to those employers. In time you could go set up your own MSP or Professional Services consultancy (I know a few people who have done this). You would still have to deal with customers but hopefully not as angry. But realistically you will have to deal with people (both that you do/don't get a long with) no matter what path you take.

I feel like most people have to do the grind for the first couple of years, I did but I progressed over time and am now the manager of a team of 8/9 software engineers.