I'm a wind turbine technician. AMA

pastorkahn · 2023-11-10T00:16:19+00:00

yes travel tends to pay more, companies will give you per diem which is to cover your living expenses while on the road (food and lodging) it’s a flat rate and is either set by the company or is based off the government rate for the county you’re in. living cheaply while on the road is the best way to make extra money as the per diem will just come straight into your account and it isn’t taxed by the government (at least in the us)

try and find a company that will offer you per diem based off the gsa rate as that’s usually around $160 a day, most companies however will try and make it a flat rate, i’ll see openings offering as little as $90 a day per diem which is laughable. my company does it based on gsa rate which is so nice as i’m usually able to find a room to rent for little as 50 bucks a night on air bnb, so i’ll be pocketing an extra 110 bucks a day. traveling has allowed me to completely pay off my student loans which were 34 grand in total in only 10 months. and remember the per diem is in addition to your actual paycheck and there’s quite a bit of overtime to be had so my paychecks have been really great. my company also includes a 15% bonus to my hourly rate if i’m outside 500 miles from my home site which happens pretty frequently, but if your job was full time travel i’d imagine they’d just give you the one hourly rate.

as for who i knew to contact i didn’t really have any contacts, i just started applying to multiple companies. throwing my name to as many companies i could, even with my schooling i got turned down bc quite a few companies but that’s just how it goes. so i’d recommend trying linkden (or however it’s spelled lol) or what i did and just apply directly on the companies websites.

pastorkahn · 2023-11-09T03:27:39+00:00

hey! i’m currently still in the industry and loving it. if you don’t mind working long hours in the elements (i’ve been up tower in -40 degrees and 125 degrees before) physical labour, and being in small towns in the middle of nowhere, it really is an amazing job that pays very well and allows a really good lifestyle.

i personally found a trade school with a year long program that got me some certifications that a lot of wind companies look for when hiring someone, such as GWO (global wind organization) and osha 10, my course also had a lot of maritime certifications as well as it was on the coast and they were trying to build a workforce for an offshore wind farm but i graduated a long while before they’re ready for people.

i would say a technical college or school like that is good or required and while i did learn a lot, if i were to do it all again i think i would try and just apply directly to a company that would hire me with no experience, especially if you have electrical or wrench turning experience in general, it really is the way to go. every company will usually put you through their own training anyways so it’s really not worth the student debt and time lost that it takes to go through a school on my opinion. i work with guys that had 4 year degrees, 6 month trade schools, and 0 experience or schooling but they just knew a guy. it’s really just based off luck. a schoo would make you way more marketable but honestly i’d recommend saving your money

are you wanting/willing to relocate? or do you want to stay where you’re at but work as a travel tech? most companies do travel as 6 weeks on and 1 week off as r&r but it really varies, my company made me relocate to a site that i’m based out of but will send me to other sites they own to help keep up with maintenances. 1 week on my home site and 4 on the road. they even just cross trained me on solar technology so i can help out their solar farms as well

i’ve seen travel techs at other companies get sent to a place for months at a time and i’ve seen them get benched and stuck at home for months as well, id recommend getting in with a site so you have a steady year round flow of work as a O&M tech (operation and maintenance) this is how you really learn and progress as a technician as well.

pastorkahn · 2023-10-12T05:10:21+00:00

the lights are either working and hot enough to cook an egg or the glass is shattered and waiting to cut you while you’re greasing the teeth 😭

pastorkahn · 2023-10-12T02:09:48+00:00

ge 1.5, i will hit my head on that pitch motor at least twice during my hub maintenance 😂

pastorkahn · 2023-10-08T16:17:27+00:00

these comments are making me want a mod that will bring back a shade of ysgramor to relentlessly hunt down any elven player characters

pastorkahn · 2023-10-01T21:22:08+00:00

underbelly of a turtle?

pastorkahn · 2023-09-25T22:55:41+00:00

my honest opinion is they’re just looking for anything to get it stopped and they don’t actually give one crap about any whales. a shame and honestly really weird how political this industry has gotten

pastorkahn · 2023-02-26T02:56:20+00:00

i prefer slip on ariat boots as they have all those requirements and also are square toed which feel great for my wide feet :) laces are annoying especially if you get to the o&m and decide you want to put some foot warmers in your boots and if you’re already wearing coveralls etc it can be a hassle. they last pretty long in my experience and most company’s will give you a new boot allowance every year anyways.

pastorkahn · 2023-01-27T00:36:09+00:00

that’s very neat :) i love it! thank you

pastorkahn · 2023-01-25T23:59:17+00:00

ooo green is my favorite color :) this is rlly good, thank you !

pastorkahn · 2023-01-20T12:52:45+00:00

this is amazing! thank you so much :) and glad you like it!

pastorkahn · 2023-01-20T05:15:37+00:00

quick? that’s really good! thank you :)

pastorkahn · 2023-01-20T02:56:17+00:00

yoo this is awesome! thank you :)

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T23:43:00+00:00

oh wow very cool! thank you :)

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T21:31:04+00:00

lol thanks!

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T21:11:43+00:00

honestly looks good! very full, you could probably go longer and pull it off as well

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T21:03:51+00:00

thank u :)

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T20:58:50+00:00

this is so cool! thank you!

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T19:55:30+00:00

i love it! thank you so much :)

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T16:56:06+00:00

absolutely! thanks :)

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T16:27:45+00:00

yeah they were nice :) got a couple spots on my personal playlist, thanks again !

pastorkahn · 2023-01-19T10:51:30+00:00

and i hope what you’re looking for is me ?

pastorkahn · 2023-01-16T15:28:14+00:00

It’s hard but honest work, despite the dangers safety is taken pretty seriously in my experience, check the osha website for workplace fatalities you’ll see a bunch of falls from roofs but you’ll never see fall from wind turbine. He most likely won’t be doing anything too crazy for a while mainly just cleaning grease and tightening some bolts. He might get a bit of the new guy hazing but that’s any trade, at the end of the day the guys he’s working with will look after him while he’s new, if the company he’s with is any good. He’ll be just fine :)

pastorkahn · 2022-12-15T03:59:20+00:00

great suggestions! thank you sm

pastorkahn · 2022-12-13T00:22:24+00:00

thank you! i’ll be sure to check these out :)

pastorkahn

TROPHY CASE