In this fairy tale, the frog finish as frog, but with $5000 less

When somebody asure you that investing $5000 you'll have $60.000 o more the first year... you would suspect about, sounds too good to be real, so, or you're very smart and the others stupids or The owner of MDS is very smart and you, well, you know...
 In the other hand, so much money for a 20 days training, you want to think that must be for some reason... kind of job recruiter or so... I'm sorry, a simple classic fraud. They offer multiply your money, the sound of the money blind you and....ale  hopp, you finish loosing it. By the way, all is legal, there are no promises, only hopes, but without any base except your need to believe that this training is the end of your troubles (and normally is the start of biggers ones)


Why can we be sure? because we are a group of students that, during March 2012 were ripped off by This school. Sorry, we were not ripped-off, all is legal. It is more correct to say that were our fault, the ambition and so on.
We were 16 people. Today, 2 months after, no body of us get a job related with the training. One of us had an offer. 18 american dollars before tax/hour if you work 12 hours 2 weeks on, 2 off is $18x12hoursx7daysx 26 weeks= 39312 american $ before taxes. Do you think that is not too much?? Anyway, the others did'nt have any offer.


But this is not the point. The point is that Maritime drilling school is playing with your hopes, your needs and your ambitions. More you need the money, more you need to believe that  it is truth, but more you need the money, harder will be the day after, when you'll realize that you lost 20 days and 5000 buks...

The problem, my dear reader is that in this fairy tale, the frog finish as a frog, and the next frog could be YOU.

Advice Part 4: Don't Work in Oil & Gas

One thing I learned during my time at Maritime Drilling Schools was that perhaps a career in the oil and gas industry wasn't the best choice out there for me (and perhaps for others in my shoes). You see in Canada most of the oil jobs are found in the Alberta Oil Sands...this means that there is not much drilling going on up there, mostly it is mining (that, and other processes, are used to extract the oil). I started digging a bit more to find out about possible opportunities in and around Fort McMurray and found that if you are a heavy equipment operator you'll able to get a job...fast.

So there I was halfway through my MDS course and I was thinking: did I just fuck up? I already started looking for jobs in oil and gas and was coming up short...when you send out countless emails and you either not get a response or if you did it is of the negative kind...you start to worry. I just bet on the wrong horse.

I started to do some research about heavy equipment operator training courses (you need the certs to get the job) and found many schools all across Canada. I narrowed my search to two:

• Transport Training Centres of Canada

• Interior Heavy Equipment Operator School

The above two schools are, I think, the best of the bunch. Sure, the courses are expensive, but if you train on only one piece of equipment it will cost you almost the same as doing the Maritime Drilling Schools course. Also, if you are Canadian and been unemployed for a certain amount of time, the government will pay for the training. Finally, these schools are SO confident that you'll be working as soon as you complete the course, they will give you a loan in case you can't pay it all in one go. This is something Reg MacDonald and Maritime Drilling Schools don't offer...so what does that tell you about Reg and his belief you will be working in oil and gas? I'll let you decide on the answer to that one.

Here is some info from the emails I exchanged with IHE (Interior Heavy Equipment) School:

"The job prospects are very good, we have a 90% success rate within the 3 months that we as a school have held consistently since the beginning of our school in 2005. Last month we had Sureway Construction come to the site and hire 11 graduating students on their day of graduation."

Heck, even Reggie cannot guarantee the above! Hell, he does not even have enough power or contacts or both to invite drilling companies to his school to help out the students with jobs.

Finally, one last thing. These courses are also quite long; therefore, one needs accommodation while taking the course. Let me remind you again in case you forgot:

• It costs $800 to stay at the MacDonald house while training at Maritime Drilling Schools for 20 days!

Now here is a screenshot from information packet from the IHE (Interior Heavy Equipment) School:

 

As you can clearly see they cooperate with hotels / B&B's around their training site and offer such amazing deals...$440 for the MONTH (not 20 days) with WIFI and laundry...I don't need to mention again that the MacDonald house neither has WIFI or laundry. Plus you get breakfast included...and tea or coffee...and snacks!

ALSO:

FREE PPE! Can you believe this? What does Reggie give you? Fucking NOTHING!

So before you jump into the oil and gas industry, think about doing a heavy equipment operator course instead. Training on one piece of equipment is enough...from what I hear the excavator is a great choice...lots of companies need excavator operators...and if you are a good worker I am sure they will train you on the rest so no need to spend more money. And if you don't want to work in Alberta (at the Oil Sands or elsewhere), there are always opportunities at the many mines around Canada, the US...and the world. Good luck!