u/Intelligent-Pool-968

Hi. I am a Grade 10 student in Alberta, and I like to think that I am a pretty high achiever. I have high 90s in math, physics, chem, and so on. Recently, I got really interested in blue collar jobs, instrumentation in particular. However, I just can't the feeling of me wasting my own potential. Sure, I could go into engineering or nursing, but I feel like they will put a huge burden on me. Yet, I have the same feeling for trades. I don't mean to be offensive, and I apologize in advance for those who are in the trades but the sterotype around trades especially for immigrant parents and people are like "damn, this kid must have dropped out of school" or "probably a recovering drug addict going back to school". Like I don't want to have this sterotype around me, as I want to be in instrumentation. Furthermore, the acceptance standards for trade school are extremely low, so I could laze around all day and still get into trade school, and this feeling has been ripping my motivation and my will to study. What is the point of studying when I am going into a lowly trade while lower achievers go into engineering or nursing? The COOP options are measely, only 4 - 8 months compared to the uni grads with 24 months of experience, but I think instrumentation can be a very lucrative career, but I just feel like I am wasting all my potential right now. I already lost my potential by choosing not to take Partial IB, and I don't want to repeat the same mistake again. I plan to pivot into OT security using my instrumentation ticket but idk, its a really long process I have to go back to school to study IS, get my certifications. What should I do?

Hi. I am a Grade 10 student, and I like to think that I am a pretty high achiever. I have high 90s in math, physics, chem, and so on. Recently, I got really interested in blue collar jobs, instrumentation in particular. However, I just can't the feeling of me wasting my own potential. Sure, I could go into engineering or nursing, but I feel like they will put a huge burden on me. Yet, I have the same feeling for trades. I don't mean to be offensive, but the sterotype around trades are like "damn, this kid must have dropped out of school" or "probably a recovering drug addict going back to school". Like I don't want to have this sterotype around me, as I want to be in instrumentation. Furthermore, the acceptance standards for trade school are extremely low, so I could laze around all day and still get into trade school, and this feeling has been ripping my motivation and my will to study. What is the point of studying when I am going into a lowly trade while lower achievers go into engineering or nursing? The COOP options are measely, only 4 - 8 months compared to the uni grads with 24 months of experience, but I think instrumentation can be a very lucrative career, but I just feel like I am wasting all my potential right now. I already lost my potential by choosing not to take Partial IB, and I don't want to repeat the same mistake again. What should I do?

I have a couple of questions for those in the industry, as I am interested in this field and I hope to pursue a lucrative career in instrumentation.

How did you get your instrumentation apprenticeship?

Did you come from electrical, a diploma, or somewhere else?

If you were hiring today, would you prefer an industrial electrician or an instrumentation technologist graduate for a first-year apprentice?

Do your companies ever transition electricians into instrumentation internally?

Please remember to act professionally.

I want to transition to instrumentation as fast as possible, and by taking either of those two I can find a stepping stone which will potentially raise my chances of getting into instrumentation through a sponsorship. From your previous experience, should I take eletrical or take the technologist diploma at SAIT? Which one is better for faster entry into instrumentation?

I'm a Canadian high school student deciding between instrumentation, electrical, and eventually possibly OT cybersecurity. My goal is a stable career with around CAD $110k mid-career. I have a few questions:

1. If you were starting over today, would you still choose instrumentation?
2. What surprised you most about the job after becoming a journeyman?
3. How difficult was it to find your first apprenticeship or job?
4. Is the job market actually shrinking, or is that something students worry about more than people in the industry?
5. What percentage of your work is troubleshooting versus calibration, maintenance, and installation?
6. How physically demanding is the job after age 40?
7. If you wanted to move into automation, controls, or OT cybersecurity later, how useful has your instrumentation background been?
8. If you could give one piece of advice to an 18-year-old entering the trade, what would it be?
9. (IMPORTANT) f I complete an electrical apprenticeship first, does that significantly improve my chances of being sponsored as an instrumentation apprentice compared to applying directly?

Hi, I am a Grade 10 student and I have a question for those who used to be eletricians but pivoted to instrumenatation. Planning to go into instrumentation but the places around me don't exactly offer instrumentation jobs for the RAP (Registered Apprentice Program). If I worked as a eletrician for around 300-400 hours, should I expect that I can easily pivot to instrumentation with my eletrician experience? Would I still be considered a green apprentice and could I easily find a instrumentation company that will be willing to sponsor me? I would appreciate any insights.

Just some background info (if this helps:

- 96 in science

- 90 in math

- Robotics for 5 years

- Co founder of a small phone repair business

I heard that instrumentation can take a heavy toll on a individual's body, and as I am interested in instrumentation I would like to know whether it is a good idea to pursue this trade for 20+ years. Would it take a heavy toll on your body with constant FIFO schedules? Should I pivot to a white collar role by pursuing a university degree (Business Technology Management at TMU so I can go into a OT auditing role) after a few years in instrumentation? I would appreciate any insights.

Hi, I am a high school student looking into a career in instrumentation as a apprentice. I am wondering if any of you instrumentation journeyperson's had to buy a car right out of high school, and I am wondering if it is nessacary to own a car during my apprenticeship. I hope to seek a job near my local region, but who knows maybe there will be sudden emergency calls 2AM in the morning, or the whole entire team is relocating to Fort Mcmurray. Is it nessacary to own a car by then, and if so what car would you recommend that is both cheap, reliable, and low maintence? I would appreciate any insights.

https://preview.redd.it/09k4wx2wp49h1.png?width=1909&format=png&auto=webp&s=009d1eaab81e3da3eaa9a0fcdff5483e9c18f980

I was recently banned for listening to British and French marches/songs during the 19th century (listed as dricriminatory and disruptive, although I didn't know at the time that my mic sensitivity was set up too high) and I was able to appeal for both of my tickets. Normally, when a successful ticket has been appealed, would the one day ban be automatically lifted? Thanks.

Hi, I am planning to take the RAP (Registered Apprenticeship Program) during my high school grade 11 summer, by doing so I can successfully log in 180 hours. I also have my CSTS and WHIMIS safety certifications. Would I be successful in achieving a sponsor as a instrumentation technician or should I take SAIT's pre employment program?

Hi! I am a grade 10 student in Alberta, and I have been looking forward to a career in BTM. I am wondering how lucrative the industry is, and whether it is very difficult to find a job in this career. So far, I have been running a tech repair business as a co founder for a year (data management), and I plan to end this business at the end of high school and a additional 310 volunteer hours. How fast did you guys find a job, and what should I do to get a job straight out of graduation? Thank you for any suggestions/insights!

Hello, I am wondering if pursuing a career in instrumentation is lucrative, specifically as how fast I could get a related job with just a instrumentation diploma, specifically from schools such as SAIT. I am also wondering if any of you pursued workplace certificates such as WHIMIS, CSTS, AWP, CSE, and so on, and whether that assisted you in your application process for instrumentation roles. What should I expect during my first 1-2 years of instrumentation? Will it be mostly physical labour? Or will I be able to manage/assist with senior instrumentation workers in DCS and SCADA networks?

Over the past two summers, I have been volunteering at this summer camp where children with autism, down syndrome, and other disabilities have fun at. The shifts are really long, around 8.5-9 hours, which is probably the only reason I take it, and the organization which sends us volunteers to these summer camps told us that this is the one with the longest hours, and personally I want to maximize my volunteering hours. However, as I start to become older, I have much more responsibilties, and I must focus on summer school, studying for my WHIMIS and CSTS certifications, retaking my learners for the 5th time, and scaling up my phone repair business. Should I still go volunteering at these camps?

I am interested in pursuing the Instrumentatation diploma (not the apprenticeship) at SAIT, however I found that entry level positions and employment for SAIT grads with the instrumentation diploma are very low. Is this true for rural alberta? I want to work at rural alberta such as Fort MacMurray, Great Prairies, and so on with this diploma, so would it be very difficult to find a job with no experience? Mind you, I was a co founder for a small phone repair business during my high school summers, would that help? And how can I get my foot in the door for instrumentation entry level roles?

Hi, I am a Grade 10 student from Calgary, and I have been recently looking into Instrumentation under the programs SAIT has to offer. I think instrumentation is interesting, and it will pair perfectly with my Business Technology Management degree which I hope to pursue after 2-3 years of instrumentation experience, which will help me pivot from instrumentation to a OT auditing role. Is instrumentation extremely complex? What should I do right now in high school to be successful in this field? Have you found a job right after graduation? Thanks!

Fezezen if I remember correctly said something about revamping the uniforms under France, will it just be France? And which regiments will it be or will it be all regiments under France? Now I am a pretty strange guy, as I have sworn to play every single regiment in Guts and Blackpowder, otherwise it will trigger serious OCD for me, so I am worried because I have completed most of France under my list and if the update comes for the revamp of French uniforms, I will have to spend a large chunk of my time playing Guts and Blackpowder to try out the new revamped regiments, otherwise my OCD will come back and that will disturb my life quite a lot. Thanks!

I am a high school student and I am planning to be employed in some sort of logostics/btm role. I am a former sea cadet for three years, although I barely attended cadets. During my time in cadets I achieved rank of PO2 and I also earned my ROCM card. I was in my school's robotics club for around three years too. Are those irrelevent? I also have opened up during the summers a small phone repair tech business as a co founder, and I have over 300 volunteer hours. Are cadets and robotics irrelevent as I barely attend them compared to my business and volunteer hours? Thanks!

I am a Grade 10 student in Alberta, and I like to believe that I am a hard working student. However, my local SAIT program has very basic requirements to be admitted, so what is the point of trying so hard and doing practice questions and writing my essay everyday if at the end I could probably just relax through my high school years and still get into the program? I achieve pretty high grades, and my parents believe I should pursue a university education in business technology management but I would like to disagree because the tech market is so unpredictable, who knows maybe I will end up working as a service worker. HVAC could secure me a job quickly and pay quite well without student debt, but many people in my family and my friend group view HVAC as like a "high school dropout" job, and that it is reserved for "lazy people" and that I am "wasting my potential". I have put in so many hours in studying, I have a lot of potential for engineering or nursing, but I like to think that HVAC is the best option out there. However, is it even worth it to take HVAC any more? To put it in short, people think I am wasting my potential by taking HVAC. But at the same time, HVAC seems like a lucrative career to me. So am I wasting my potential? Thanks!

I am a high school student, and initally I was interested in majoring in BTM (Business Technology Management) and I have already created a small phone repair business that would be opened during the summer due to high school demands, and I am also planning to build a AI agent for that business. However, after doing some more research, it turns out HVAC (SAIT), which I am also interested in, had much better job prospects than BTM. I am currently at a intersection, one road that leads to BTM, the other to HVAC. BTM requires months to get hired due to the horrible IT and CS job market at the moment, however it seems as if companies are desperate for HVAC techs. I don't want to waste thousands of dollars on a university education and still not get a job, so I think HVAC, something that I too like, would be a better choice. What do you guys think?

I am a high school student, and initally I was interested in majoring in BTM (Business Technology Management) and I have already created a small phone repair business that would be opened during the summer due to high school demands, and I am also planning to build a AI agent for that business. However, after doing some more research, it turns out HVAC, which I am also interested in, had much better job prospects than BTM. I am currently at a intersection, one road that leads to BTM, the other to HVAC. BTM requires months to get hired due to the horrible IT and CS job market at the moment, however it seems as if companies are desperate for HVAC techs. I don't want to waste thousands of dollars on a university education and still not get a job, so I think HVAC, something that I too like, would be a better choice. What do you guys think?