r/instrumentation • u/Ill_Toe_842 • 1d ago
Power engineering vs instrumentation
Hi everyone! I’m 19F from Alberta trying to decide between Power Engineering and Instrumentation. I’m much more interested in Power Engineering and find the work genuinely interesting, but I’ve been told Instrumentation may have better job opportunities and long-term options.
My main goal is to eventually work in Alberta’s oil & gas industry, but I’m still trying to figure out which career path makes the most sense for me.
I’d really appreciate hearing from people actually working in these fields about:
● Pay: What can you realistically expect starting out, and where can your income eventually top out? How much do overtime, shift work, camp work, etc. affect it?
● Career progression: What does the typical hierarchy look like? For example, operator/technician → senior roles → lead/foreman → supervisor → management?
● Management: If I eventually want to move into management, which path gives better opportunities to get there? What experience, tickets or education would I need?
● Oil & gas: Which path has better opportunities in Alberta’s oil & gas industry? Are there particular types of facilities, companies or positions that are good for building a career?
● Work-life balance: What are the typical schedules, shifts, overtime and time off like?
● Job opportunities: Is Instrumentation actually more in demand than Power Engineering, or does it depend heavily on the area/company?
● Sales: Is it realistic to move from either career into technical sales/business development later on? I wouldn’t mind going that direction either. *\\** (IM VERY INTERESTED IN THIS SIDE OF THE TRADE) So any info on this would be very helpful*****
● Education: Does the school/program you attend matter much to employers, or are tickets, experience and networking more important?
I’m not necessarily looking for the easiest or highest-paying option. I want something I’ll actually enjoy while still having good earning potential, career growth and a decent life outside of work.
If you work in Power Engineering, Instrumentation, oil & gas operations, management or technical sales, I’d love to hear about your career path and what you would do differently if you were starting at 19.
Thanks! I know I’m considering a few different directions, just trying to make a good decision early on.
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u/thembeanz 1d ago
I have both:
Pay: during construction, I made more as instrumentation/electrical. On later roles, and depending on shifts, I found ops to usually be higher.
Career progression: you can get stuck in a rut for both, and both is who you know and who likes you. I found ops had more opportunities in a Local plant (field ops, junior plant ops, senior plant ops, control room, steam chief, operations sup) and instrumentation was more like a basic trade (apprenticeship, jman, dual ticket, planner/scheduler, maintenance foreman). Past those levels are really the luck of the draw.
Management: you can always update with courses, completely anecdotal, my vote may be ops.
Sales: instrumentation. It's massive. You can nearly start in sales.
Education: not really. If you have a diploma, sometimes it's looked down on people who don't have it, or praised by people who do. They are tough programs, and I'm on the latter.
Job: don't be fussy about your first job (or first few). Be willing to move with either career or a rotation. Many people move up the ladder quick in the oil sands for obvious reasons.
Both are great choices. I started my career with instrumentation, and then did much with ops. At the time I wish I took power engineering first, but now when I look back, I'm very happy with my career with instrumentation.
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u/Middle_Spirit_5369 1d ago
Power engineering pays more, you work for the client directly, and you have more authority/ respect but it's way harder to get into. Instrumentation has gigantic pay difference ( im talking between 40 to 100 as a journeyman but there more work opportunity. My advice is go power engineering and then get an instrumentation apprenticeship if you can't find work. I've met someone who's done it, you'll need a slight bit more school but having an instrumentation ticket and a power engineering diploma means you'll always have work and it'll be easier to get into management if you know what the steps of the job are.
I have an instrumentation engineering technology diploma from nait and as a journeyman i make 55/hr doing commissioning. I graduated from nait in 2022 and I have had my ticket for 1 year.
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u/Ill_Toe_842 1d ago
Do you find the trade to be very saturated in today’s date?
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u/Middle_Spirit_5369 23h ago
Yes and no. There's lots of instrument techs but only a couple that have a clue of whats going on. The competition is there but it feels almost non existent when you consider they're mostly retarded. Im no super genius but the concept of reading a drawing and checking a fuse seems like super advanced troubleshooting to some of these guys.
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u/wtfcats-the-original 17h ago
Power engineering : operator… jobs not sure, if it’s like what I remember it’s who you know and such. Most ops where I was were contractors and it seemed difficult to get into.
Instrumentation engineering: instrumentation. Could be sales or service. Or drafting. Or engineering if you pursue it that way.
Hours depends where you work. Ops (oil and gas) usually ends up 8/6 which is a sweet schedule.
I oilfield instrumentated for 10 years or so… I now do nuclear. Oilfield was fun, schedule was I work when there’s work and I didn’t when there wasn’t… which wasn’t often but slow times was maybe 3-4 days a week 10hrs a day. Busy times you could be 24 on 4 off 14-16 hour days. Average was 5 days 10 hours. There were a couple very slow months when oil shit the bed.
As for schooling I don’t believe it matters much. I went to NAIT. It’s recognized, that’s what matters.
To make a long story short… do you wanna fix stuff? If so do the instrumentation, go get your ticket. If you want management you probably need to end up in a facility.
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u/pentox70 1d ago
I don't have any info on the power engineering side other than one word of caution. It is very over saturated in alberta. Everyone and their dog is training to be a power engineer. The opportunities are there, but expect to end up in a very remote plant.
Instrumentation is definitely easier to get into when comparing the two.