回复: 我来说说加拿大的"热动工程师” power engineer
热动工程师的短缺问题由来已久,只是近年来更加突出。在接下来的几年到十几年,对热动工程师的争夺将会进入白热化。主要原因来自于两个方面。
第一是大量的热动工程师进入了退休阶段。目前阿省一半的热动工程师的平均年龄已超过55岁(late 50s)。许多出生于婴儿潮的热动工程师本身工作在黄金年代,大多有较好的待遇,因而他们的目标退休年龄较其他行当也要早一些。根据The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada,在未来十年石油天然气行业有30%的要退休。目前的退休人数已大于进入这些行业的新人数。早在[FONT="]2002 [/FONT]
年,加拿大最大的独立发电公司[FONT="] TransAlta [/FONT]
就向卡尔加利的[FONT="]Southern Alberta Institute of Technology [/FONT]
([FONT="]SAIT[/FONT]
)一次性捐款[FONT="]450[/FONT]
万元帮助[FONT="]SAIT[/FONT]
培训更多的热动工程师来应对退休潮。
第二是阿尔伯塔省近十年来的石油天然气开发热潮。除了勘探阶段以外,石油天然气的生产几乎所有的环节与热能有关,使得热动工程师岗位迅速增加,热动工程师的短缺问题更趋严重。举例来说,仅仅一个拥有[FONT="]400名热动工程师的大型油砂提炼厂在未来十年就需要增加[FONT="]1200[/FONT]
名新的热动工程师,平均每年就是[FONT="]120[/FONT]
个。阿省众多的热动工程师岗位和优厚的待遇也吸引了其他省的热动工程师,每年大约有100多涌入阿省。[/FONT]
这种情况只会愈演愈烈。仅以阿省为例,许多大型能源项目的上马将会提供更多新的热动工程师岗位。[FONT="]Bruce Power[/FONT]
在[FONT="]Peace River [/FONT]
正在进行上核电厂的可行性研究,[FONT="]Maxim’s Power [/FONT]
正在[FONT="]Grande Cache [/FONT]
酝酿在[FONT="]2015[/FONT]
年之前建一座大型火力发电厂,[FONT="]TransAlta [/FONT]
很快将在埃德蒙顿西边建两台大型燃气发电机组。以上每台发电机组至少需要[FONT="]30[/FONT]
名热动工程师来运行。阿省为了将工作留在省内,全力支持石油企业在埃德蒙顿不远的[FONT="]Fort Saskatchewan [/FONT]
一带打造炼油走廊,有[FONT="]7[/FONT]
个在建或将要上马的大型炼油企业将在这里安家。[FONT="]Fort McMurray [/FONT]
的项目就更多了。其他省如萨省钾矿(Potash)的进一步扩展,安省北部“Ring of Fire"矿区的大规模开发,尤其是魁省投资达800亿,历时25年的“北方计划” Plan Nord (包括水电站、风电及11个新采矿项目的开发)的启动,都将会加大热动工程师的需求。
反观热动工程师的供给,远远赶不上需求。阿省是培训资源较多的省份,每年也只能毕业[FONT="]360 [/FONT]
人。由于大学不能开这样的技术工人培训课程,各地的[FONT="]College [/FONT]
和一些指定培训机构就成了这场盛宴的主角。他们也是开足马力,施尽浑身解数去满足市场的渴求。比如[FONT="]Lethbridge College[/FONT]
正在招兵买马准备在[FONT="]5[/FONT]
级热动工程师课程外再增加其他级别的课程,[FONT="]SAIT [/FONT]
新落成的[FONT="]4[/FONT]
万平方英尺的热能工程中心([FONT="]Power Engineering Centre[/FONT]
)在[FONT="]2012 [/FONT]
年投运,在未来三年内要将热动工程师的毕业人数翻一番。有的学院增加了夜班和远程教育等。
由于不同容量的热力设备和系统必须有相应级别证书的热动工程师来运行。一旦有热动工程师辞职,如果没有备用方案,严重的可能导致被迫停产或半停产。对于大型企业,后果不堪设想。面对如此严峻的热动工程师短缺形势,有的企业通过高福利待遇来吸引热动工程师,使得热动工程师跳槽频繁。现在许多企业将引进和留住热动工程师提到了公司运营的优先议事日程,有的甚至成立了危机小组。一个多月前,埃德蒙顿附近一家加拿大[FONT="]100[/FONT]
家最佳雇主石化企业一下拿出十几个从[FONT="]4[/FONT]
级到[FONT="]2[/FONT]
级的热动工程师职位进行招聘,令人大跌眼镜。因为他们福利待遇好又离中心城市近不可能一下就跑掉这么多人。后来了解到,该企业将一些岗位一岗变双岗,进行人员培训和储备,为的是凭借雄厚的财力,为激烈的人才争夺战抢夺制高点。
本人在[FONT="]2006 [/FONT]
年考完[FONT="]4[/FONT]
级工程师考试后,证书还没寄到家,我已经找到了工作。有一天有两个面试。前一个面试的公司可能大喜过望,面试完后要让我到各个分厂看一看。我只好说我与银行有个约会才脱身。到第二个公司面试时,他们已经在旅馆耐心地等了半小时了。一旦你拿到了证,别的省份不是很清楚,但在阿省找工作不是难事。我说的不算,请看下面的链接:[FONT="]http://www.calgaryherald.com/Power+engineer+takes+hands+approach/6037784/story.html[/FONT]
最近(2012.06)发现以上链接的文章已经不存在了。当时写这篇帖子时抠了下来,贴在这里供大家参考。
Power engineer takes hands-on approach
-Calgary man finds satisfaction, life balance as operator in oil and gas sector
By Joel Schlesinger, For The Calgary Herald January 24, 2012
The average hourly wage for a power engineer - often referred to as an operator in the oil and gas industry - is about $26 an hour, according to the Alberta government's Learning Information Website's occupational profile on power engineering.
Photograph by: Digital Vision, ThinkstockBrian
Wolfe has always been a hands-on kind of guy, so it's fitting he would end up one day as a power engineer.
The operator at Shell's Jumping Pound Gas Complex near Cochrane often has to walk the rounds on the outside of the plant, inspecting the equipment - and it is literally a "hands-on" job.
"Part of our job is, if you're doing your rounds on the outside, to put your hands on every piece of equipment," says the 38-year-old married father of two children. "If the machine is vibrating, you don't know that unless you put your hand on it, and you want to make sure that if it is vibrating that it's not doing it differently than it did yesterday."
As a trained power engineer, Wolfe is responsible for the dayto-day functioning of the plant. That means monitoring the equipment inside and out. It requires a certain level of mechanical inclination, given his job description involves knowing how the entire complex works.
Yet Wolfe was in a different profession five years ago that required no predilection for mechanics. He worked with people with disabilities in Calgary, a job he found rewarding but also extremely demanding.
"Simply put, I was burned out and looking for a change," he says.
At the time, a friend had completed a diploma in power engineering technology at SAIT Polytechnic and recommended Wolfe should check it out.
He applied, got accepted and graduated in 2008.
Despite graduating amid one of the worst recessions in recent history, he spent no time looking for work.
"Coming out of school, I had five offers," he says.
Fortunately for Wolfe, he had happened to choose one of the most in-demand skilled professions in the province. In fact, power engineers will be among the most sought-after workers as the oilsands continues to grow over the next 20 years and the bulk of power engineers near retirement.
"From what I understand, we'll need more power engineers than we'll be able to produce," he says. "Something like 50 per cent of operating staff Alberta-wide is 50 years and older."
That means there's plenty of room for career development for Wolfe and other recent and future grads from post-secondary programs across Canada.
"You can move up because there's lots of opportunity, especially with everyone retiring," he says.
While Wolfe needed a considerable amount of on-the-job training after being hired, Wolfe says the SAIT program was the launch pad for his career.
"(What) it did was get me certified and give the base knowledge, but when you go to the plant, you have a lot to learn because every plant involves a different process."
The two-year diploma also provided him with career versatility. Power engineers work everywhere. Anywhere there's pressurized machinery, there's a power engineer.
"I could have just as easily been at a meat-packing plant, a dry cleaner or a brewery," he says. "The program is just going to set you up to do the job you want to do."
Wolfe says he is pleased with his career path as a gas plant operator. Despite working 12-hour shifts, he has more work-life balance than he ever did in his previous occupation.
"A lot of people think, 'Shift work -I don't want to do that. I have kids,' says Wolfe. "But on the other hand, I can be off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I get to go on field trips with the kids, and I get to do all the stuff that most dads don't get to do."
He generally works four days and gets five off, or works five days and gets four days off.
Half of Wolfe's job description involves working outside, physically inspecting the machinery at the plant.
"You're responsible for the safe operation of the equipment," he says. "Sometimes that involves starting up a boiler safely, and other times it involves putting in a work order to get something fixed."
The other half of the time, he's inside working as a panel operator.
"The guys inside are monitoring the process, making sure the product - methane, butane and propane - that they're making is being produced properly."
The average hourly wage for a power engineer - often referred to as an operator in the oil and gas industry - is about $26 an hour, according to the Alberta government's Learning Information Website's occupational profile on power engineering.
But Wolfe says an operator in the oil and gas industry can easily make upward of $100,000 a year with bonuses.
"It's an awesome career," he says. "Anyone who is thinking of a change and they're mechanically inclined should seriously consider enrolling in the program."
While Wolfe says he never saw himself working in the oil and gas industry, but he now knows for certain it's his future - and he couldn't be more satisfied.
"I really like going to work, he says. "I've always been a little mechanically inclined - not 'take the car apart and put it back together' mechanically inclined, but I like to learn how things work, and this job have been a good fit for me."
Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
物以稀为贵。下一节说一说热动工程师的待遇。