[Anton Dooley]

This is a question that was asked by “JPL” on another forum, and I’d like to hear the thoughts of pipers here.

Lets discuss the elephant in the room.

• How many of us are losing employment?
• Who is laying off?
• How many designers are losing their jobs?
• I’m in the New Orleans, LA area and the trickle has started. Will it become a deluge?
• I am starting to see many good people around me lose their jobs.
• What are you seeing in your area?

[Caroline Conway]

[quote=”Anton” post=8946]This is a question that was asked by “JPL” on another forum, and I’d like to hear the thoughts of pipers here.

Lets discuss the elephant in the room.

• How many of us are losing employment?
• Who is laying off?
• How many designers are losing their jobs?
• I’m in the New Orleans, LA area and the trickle has started. Will it become a deluge?
• I am starting to see many good people around me lose their jobs.
• What are you seeing in your area?

[/quote]

My last job lasted a whole 4 months. Great company, great environment, LOUSY planning. Got told not to come back while I was home with the flu. Yeah…made me REAL happy.

Laying off…all over the place as far as I know

I relocated for the aforementioned job. I wish I had known it was going to be a short term gig. I’m tired of relocating from place to place for the promise of a job. I think employers should again be paying for relocation, then they may be more invested in keeping their employees for a longer term.

[Bruce Raymond]

My comments:
•How many of us are losing employment? …..Lots – I’ve seen 350 of a 400 workforce laid off in 1 day…
•Who is laying off? Everyone…
•How many designers are losing their jobs? maybe up to 40% – unfortunately a lot leave the industry for the need to keep up their families…
•I’m in the New Orleans, LA area and the trickle has started. Will it become a deluge? always has in the past
•I am starting to see many good people around me lose their jobs.- during turndowns – it’s not always the qualifications of the person – it’s the ability to either have a political contact – or be really really indispensable.
•What are you seeing in your area? fire and brimstone…

OTHER POINT – WHAT DOES THE INDUSTRY GAIN BY SUCH TURNDOWNS???
by removing capital projects from the board – or drastically cutting TIC (Total Inclusive Cost) on projects the industry is able to manipulate the design and engineering costs on projects – drastically cutting new bids, and lowering approved contract prices… – lowering overall project costs
how does this effect Us – The Piping Discipline??? so far hourly rates have dropped by about 25% over the last 6 months… and as long as we are forced to work to support our families – the rates will continue to drop even further – as senior (20+ year) piping designers are now being offered $45.00 per hour + no OT… (down from $65.00 + OT)
DONT EVER FORGET – It truly is a gift to work in the Industry – especially if you are allowed to compile a successful career – if you are laid off – get a real assessment of your professional level at your exit interview.. and don’t forget – the industry always comes back around full circle.

LAST COMMENT… don’t forget – there are pipes in food processing, breweries, waste water treatment plants.. lots of places which are never affected by turndowns…

[Mark Layport]

Well I have to toss my hat in this ring too! Been out of work for about a month and a half. One of the reasons I live where I do is because we are located dead in the middle of a 100+ year old oil field, and for the most part I have been employed the whole time for the last 30 years of being here, with the exception of 09 when President Obama was elected, and I was out for about 10 months.
I own a home here and I have about 4 more years before I “think” about trying to retire, so like everyone else you try to hang on until the oil prices pick back up, which I believe will be in 2017. It’s pretty simple actually, it’s about the 2 biggest oil producers in the world (the U.S. and the Saudis). Each wants to NOT give up their market share …period and then over produce their oil to make up the differences. Until they decide to limit production, oil will remain low, and oil companies will operate on limited budgets …ie no new projects.
Now if you have the capability of being mobile and can move to other locations there are other piping jobs, in different areas other than oil, but being flexible is the key, then you can make it through this ruff period! …Just like last time, and the time before that, and the time before that.

[Anton Dooley]

Agreed, flexibility is key. Not just flexibility in location, but also being flexible enough to step outside your comfort zone, and take on other markets.

My background is in Pharmaceutical Piping (Ireland does not have a strong O&G presence), and that worked well for me over the years. As well as working pharma in Ireland, I had worked in Chemicals, O&G, Mining, semi-conductors, at home and abroad – mostly out of choice, and taking the opportunity to see a bit of the world.
But when certain stuff hit the fan back around 2008 and Irelands economy crashed, choices had to be made.
I picked up a contract role on a chemical plant in the UK, followed by a sting with a large design company in Paris, working on an FLNG (Floating Natural Gass Ship) design … a great experience.
Eventually, in 2011, I was offered a role in Vancouver, Canada, and the opportunity to bring my family along … I stayed there for just over 4 years, working in the Mining and O&G sectors.

In 2015, the timing was right, and the economy in Ireland had picked up sufficiently, that a move home was possible, so now I’m back home, and have had a steady stream of work since, working on a couple of very major BioPharma plants.

The point is, that being flexible, in both what I would do, and where I would do it, allowed me to pick up great experience (professionally), see a bit more of the world and stay in piping … all while keeping my family fed, and keeping a roof over their heads.

Lets hope things turn around, and soon, for all you guys and girls waiting on something to change in the O&G sector, I know there are a lot of you hurting out there!

[Caroline Conway]

The good news is that I was able to reinvent myself and fall into a great situation now! I ended up becoming an AutoCAD instructor at a vocational school that caters to people who are looking to change skills due to work injury, getting out of the military, etc. Currently have my AutoCAD Professional certification and working on certification in Revit and Inventor.

So…reinvent and it may help

[Anton Dooley]

Great to heat that, Caroline.
A good reinvention and use of a skill set you already had!

Nice to see some good news in among all this!

[Anton Dooley]

This is an article I found today ….

After 2 Years of Layoffs, Companies Struggle to Find Qualified Staff

[Author]

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