Category: Jobs and Apprenticeships

Pipes are everywhere in our cities and towns, carrying water, fuels, or other substances to and from buildings or across the country. When these pipes work well, they are barely noticeable. However, people need to put the pipes in place before they can be useful. If you are precise and like to work with your hands, the trade of pipefitting might suit you.

Pipefitters, also known as steamfitters, work mainly as contractors in the construction industry, but some also work in manufacturing. Basically, people in this trade build and maintain systems of piping to carry water, steam, fuel, and other materials from one place to another. The water in the pipes can be used for people’s daily needs, but many of the other contents of pipes might be used for heating or cooling buildings or for other processes.

Pipefitting is very precise work requiring steady hands, good manual dexterity, and reasonably good vision. An ability to crawl into small spaces is also important. The work can be either indoors or outdoors, depending on the job. Like in many trades, the work can be physically demanding, and being in good health is important. Many people in this trade might want to move into a supervisory role as they age, although others can stay in the work until retirement. Wages start at about $22 per hour or $44,000 per year and can rise to $50 per hour or $121,000 per year.

If a pipe is made and installed well, it can last for many years. However, cracks or rust can develop and cause a pipe to leak, spilling its contents. The ability to repair pipes is a very important skill for people in this trade. Sometimes, this may involve applying sealants to the pipes or closing small gaps in the line, but often it means replacing parts of the pipe.

Knowing how to repair piping can give people extra work in seasons when little other work is available. In a cold winter, for example, dealing with frozen or burst pipes could keep a good pipefitter busy.

Requirements for this job can vary, depending on the employer, but a high school diploma and an apprenticeship are normally the minimum level. A high school education with courses in mathematics and English is a good basis for the job. Mathematics can help with calculating the amounts of pipe necessary for the work, and English courses help the tradesperson read instructions and study new techniques for the work.

Most employers also require pipefitters to complete an apprenticeship of four terms, which includes both classroom learning and practical experience. These apprenticeships are often available through individual employers, but it is also good to check with local trade schools. This trade is also part of the Red Seal program. Pipefitters who have passed the Red Seal test can more easily move from one province or territory to another without having to retrain or gain new qualifications.

Like in many other trades, job opportunities are likely to be easier to find in cities than in towns, but even small villages are likely to need pipefitters. Since much of the work depends on the construction industry, downturns in the economy can greatly affect this job. However, being willing to move for a job can help people find work in this trade. Having another skill to use in the slow times can also help people to find enough work, even when jobs are scarce.

Every building has pipes, making the job of pipefitter a good choice for the future. If you like the idea of this work, you can already begin to prepare for this career.

Bibliography:

ALIS. “Steamfitter-Pipefitter.” https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/occupation-profiles/steamfitter-pipefitter/.

Job Bank. “Steamfitter/pipefitter (Non-Construction) in Ontario.” https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/outlook-occupation/21490/ON.

Payscale Canada. “Pipefitter: Hourly Rate.” https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Pipefitter/Hourly_Rate.

Skills Competences Canada. “Steamfitter Pipefitter.” https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com/en/skill_area/steamfitter-pipefitter/.

Disasters can come suddenly or build slowly over a long time. However, they all require reconstruction once they are over, and the trades can be an important part of the recovery.

Suppose that a fire or flood happened in your area. People would have to clean up everything that had been destroyed and decide what can be repaired. Restoration companies work directly with this stage of reconstruction. People from these companies go into a building after a disaster has occurred and assess the level of damage to walls, furniture, and even clothes and other personal items.

People in the restoration trade often come in after many other tradespeople have already done their work. Restoring basic services is usually the first job after a disaster, so that people have water to drink and electricity to light their homes and cook their food. Plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople are very important at this stage.

Many disasters can weaken buildings from the force of water, earthquakes, or other events. Tradespeople like builders check the structure of homes and office buildings affected by disasters to make sure that the structure is still strong enough to stay upright. If the building is too badly damaged for people to use, tradespeople might need to pull it down and rebuild it entirely. If possible, they can make repairs to strengthen the building.

Once buildings are safe to use, tradespeople are necessary for many small jobs. Insulation installers help to prepare buildings for winter, and painters make rooms look nice while helping to protect walls from water or snow damage. Bricklayers, pipefitters, and all kinds of tradespeople are necessary for reconstructing buildings after a disaster. A certificate or diploma from a trade school is normally necessary for this type of work.

Clean energy can be another area where tradespeople are needed. Often, powerlines and fuel sources are damaged in disasters, but this situation can give a chance for people to switch to clean energy. People who have skills in alternate forms of energy can help to move communities away from fossil fuels towards other options such as solar or geothermal energy.

Cleaning up and rebuilding after a disaster can be difficult and dangerous work. People in the trades working with these types of jobs need to know and follow safety procedures and to be able to instruct other people in how to keep themselves from being hurt. A knowledge of First Aid is also useful in case of an accident.

Danger after a disaster is not only from rusty nails or weak buildings. Sometimes, gas leaks or other hazards might put tradespeople and other reconstruction workers at risk. Knowing how to repair leaky pipes or how to contain dangerous fuels and gases can help make the job of reconstruction much safer. Knowing how to use safety equipment is also essential for people working with hazardous materials. Often, training for this kind of work is available as short courses at community colleges or trade schools.

No one wants to be in a disaster, but it is important to be prepared. With the right training, tradespeople can be a major part of post-disaster reconstruction.

Bibliography:

Government of Canada. “Follow Your Passion. Find Your Skilled Trade.” https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/skilled-trades.html.

Morrish, Sussie C. “Post-Disaster Business Recovery: An Entrepreneurial Marketing Perspective.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319302243.

People Ready Skilled Trades. “The Importance of Skilled Trades.” https://skilled.peopleready.com/the-importance-of-skilled-trades/.

Skilled Trades College https://www.skilledtradescollege.ca/blog/skilled-trades-jobs-in-demand-canada.

Agriculture is a significant part of the foundation of Canada’s culture and economy, with large areas of the country devoted to agricultural practices, especially food production.  While for over a century many agricultural methods have remained the same, with modern environmental movements and education, the agricultural industry in Canada is seeing new ideas and new methods taking hold–as well as old ideas made new again.

One of these is the concept of permaculture farming, which is an approach to farming at both the large scale and small scale that emphasizes designing agriculture to work with and alongside natural areas and patterns to enhance sustainability, rather than the industrialized monoculture method of commercial farming that is most common.  Permaculture agriculture examines the farm as an entire system jointly with the natural world around it and the resources available, taking into account geography, climate, ecology, culture, and the economy of the area.

The three central concepts to permaculture farming include:

• Caring for the earth, by ensuring the natural life systems can both maintain and multiply so that people can flourish in a healthy world.
• Caring for the people, by ensuring that people have access to the resources they need to exist and thrive.
• Fair sharing, by managing our needs in order to provide resources for the first two concepts, and to recycle waste and reinvest surplus resources back into the system.

Permaculture is growing in popularity on small working farms in Canada, but it’s not just a new way of growing vegetables — it’s a new way of designing farms.  Where most commercial monoculture farms are designed for the convenience of chemical fertilization and mechanical planting and harvesting, permaculture farms are instead designed in a way that emphasizes diversity of crops and arrangements defined by where crops will perform best or where they are most conveniently maintained.  For example, high-maintenance crops such as annual vegetables are planted close to the irrigation and human resources needed to care for them, while low-maintenance crops such as orchards are located further away.

Permanent crops are also popular for permaculture farms, such as fruit trees and nut trees, and other perennials such as berry bushes.  Often these perennials are used as a base permanent crop, with diverse annual crops such as vegetables rotated in on a yearly basis.  This can make for a much less effort-intensive way of farming, as the backbone of the farm is a permanent thing, with only part of the crops being planted and harvested on a seasonal cycle.

Having a diverse selection of crops sharing space also encourages sustainability and resilience, as yearly and seasonal variations in weather will see certain crops flourish at different times, and making it less likely a farm will suffer a catastrophic outcome from a bad season or disease.

Currently, permaculture is still a growing movement in Canada, somewhat hampered by the seasonal extremes across most of the country.  Between hot summers and long, often very cold winters, permaculture farms can have difficulties maintaining a diverse set of crops that can withstand both ends of the temperature range.  But the number of permaculture farms is growing, and while this is unlikely to replace commercial monoculture farming, it offers a unique alternative for smaller farms aiming for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural model.

Sources:

https://www.smallfarmcanada.ca/features/permaculture-comes-of-age/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

http://www.theurbanfarmer.ca/permaculture-design

Some people love to take motors apart and put them back together. Does that describe you? If so, you might want to consider becoming an electric motor system technician. This career is good for people who enjoy working with their hands and repairing mechanical objects.

Motors are complicated machines, with many different parts that can break or otherwise go wrong. Electric motor system technicians maintain, test, and repair all kinds of electric motors, working mainly in repair shops and manufacturing plants. Knowing about electric parts such as transformers and switchgears is very important. Technicians might work with small motors like the ones in lawn mowers, or they might work on large machines in plants and factories.

Certification requirements for electric motor system technicians depend on the province. However, most employers require a high school graduation and a four-year apprenticeship, which includes 1,500 hours of on-the-job training mixed with eight-week periods of classroom work each year. Besides their technical skills, electric motor system technicians need to learn how to estimate costs and determine the kind of repairs required for each motor.

People in this trade often work around other people but not necessarily with them. They need to be quite independent and to be able to solve problems that come up. Still, they need to be able to work while other people are talking or making noise nearby. The job is not especially dangerous, but car parts might sometimes fall on workers and injure them, or technicians might cut themselves on metal parts sticking out from the motors. The job can also be very messy because of the oil that keeps the parts of the motor running smoothly.

The best way to prepare for a job as an electric motor system technician is to practice taking motors apart and putting them back together. Shop classes are useful, and mathematics and English courses will help give you the skills necessary to calculate costs and to read more about your trade. Business management classes could also be useful for starting a small company.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic stopped many activities in Canada and around the world, the job prospects for electric motor system technicians were only moderately good. With so many businesses and factories shut down these days, it might take time for jobs to appear again. Still, every machine has a motor that occasionally needs repairs. The skills necessary for this job are also useful for other trades, and people can learn to do other work with only minimal training.

Working as an electric motor system technician can be busy, but with quiet periods in between. Having other options is a good idea, especially in smaller towns where fewer people need this kind of help. In some areas, it might be possible to specialize in a certain kind of motor, although it is usually best to have a wide range of knowledge of the workings of many different types of motors.

Electric motors are a part of everyday life in our society. If you become an electric motor system technician, you will help many people work and move around as they do their daily tasks.

Bibliography:

ALIS. “Electric Motor Systems Technician.” https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/occupation-profiles/electric-motor-systems-technician/.

Government of Manitoba. “Electric Motor System Technician.” https://www.gov.mb.ca/wd/apprenticeship/discover/mbtrades/electmotorsystech.html.

Each day, people use kitchen cabinets, drawers, shelves, and many other wooden storage areas in their homes. They may never think of the people who make these shelves and cabinets, but building these spaces takes a special set of skills that people need to learn and develop. Working as a cabinet maker is a good choice for people who like to work with their hands and to manage a variety of tools.

As the name implies, this job is about making cabinets and other wooden structures for kitchens and other rooms. Although the skills can translate well to some outdoor building tasks, cabinet makers generally work indoors. They read blueprints, choose the right tools and the type of wood that the customer wants, and cut the wood to the right shapes and sizes. This step involves using different types of tools, including manual and electric saws, sanders, and much more.

Cabinet makers sometimes work on assembly lines in factories, putting together only a small part of a cabinet or shelf. However, working in a small business is also a possibility for people who prefer to work through the entire process of putting a cabinet together. The job can be physically demanding, since cabinet makers have to be able to lift heavy pieces of wood and manage tools that can be hard to handle. Each day, cabinet makers use nails, glue, screws, or clamps to join pieces together after cutting or sanding them down to the right size.

Although being a cabinet maker is not as dangerous as other construction jobs, it has its own hazards. Sawdust can get into the lungs, and the glue used for putting the wood together can cause breathing problems. The tools can also be dangerous to the fingers and hands. In addition, the job can be quite physically demanding as people have to lift heavy items and be active for much of the day.

Becoming a cabinet maker involves study and practice. Each area of Canada has its own requirements, but most people go through an apprenticeship program to get into this trade. In most cases, the apprenticeship involves four twelve-month periods of preparation for the job. These years include on-the-job training, technical training, and a final exam. In most of Canada, except Saskatchewan and Quebec, certification is available but not required. A high school diploma is also necessary. Salaries start at $39,000 and rise to about $63,000 with experience.

Being flexible is important for people in this trade. Working alone is sometimes necessary, while at other times, cabinet makers work closely with others. The days can be long when a project needs to be finished, but people in this trade can generally work regular hours. As with other jobs in the field of construction, work tends to be busiest in the warmer seasons, but it can be busy at any time of the year. In the colder months, much of the work can often be related to replacing or repairing old or broken cabinets.

Cabinet makers have an important role in making homes and other buildings function better. If you are good with your hands, it might be the right job for you.

Bibliography:

ALIS. “Cabinetmaker.” https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/occupation-profiles/cabinetmaker/.

Careers in Construction. “Cabinetmaker.” https://www.careersinconstruction.ca/en/career/cabinetmaker.

Payscale Canada. “Cabinet Maker Hourly Rate.” https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Cabinet_Maker/Hourly_Rate.