Pay scale for Diesel Mechanics (Anchorage: home, dorm, construction)

[MeridithJill]

This may be an odd question...
My husband is a diesel mechanic at CAT and his friend/co-worker (also a diesel mechanic) told him he turned down a job in Alaska for $100,000 a year. When he refused they offered $150,000.
Do mechanics have high salaries out there? That seems like a lot of money.
thanks!

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by MeridithJill

This may be an odd question...
My husband is a diesel mechanic at CAT and his friend/co-worker (also a diesel mechanic) told him he turned down a job in Alaska for $100,000 a year. When he refused they offered $150,000.
Do mechanics have high salaries out there? That seems like a lot of money.
thanks!

I would recommend going to the CAT site for Alaska and checking it out. I would not take the word of mouth of anyone. And was this job he supposedly turned down working for CAT or the North Slope? The North Slope is not doing well right now so I am doubtful of this kind of salary other then for a CEO type position.

[richelles]

I agree with AlaskaPat and would say methinks someone is stretching that rubberband a wee bit toooo far. I know something about pay scales and when I used to interview people what they told me they got paid was always a sizable amount more than I found out they really made. The part about doubling up leads me to believe the story is all hot air. By the way we could use some of that commodity up here; it's getting chilly.

[bamba_boy]

You've got to know the exact job description to compare salaries. A similar (technically) job working on road snow clearance sand/salt-dumping trucks in Anchorage (going home to the family each night) vs working on ice-road sprayer trucks at Deadhorse and living in a dorm on the northslope are going to be vastly different, just for the difference in condition premiums.

[rppearso]

So even diesel mechanics are taking it in the butt, hate to rain on everyones parade but 100K is not all that much money as the US dollar is becomming worth less and less, if wages dont start increasing to match the problems we are seeing in this economy is just the tip of the ice berg. I would think a diesel mechanic is highly skilled labor as I am an engineer and frankly getting tired of the low wages I keep seeing on posted jobs. Maybe sooner than I thought we will be forced to somewhere on the globe that respects these types of skills and compensates for them accordingly, thats going to be a tough fork in the road because people have family and friends in a given area but as wages for skilled educated people in fields that very few have the apptitutde to do keep going down to slave wages soon we wont have a choise.

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by rppearso

So even diesel mechanics are taking it in the butt, hate to rain on everyones parade but 100K is not all that much money as the US dollar is becomming worth less and less, if wages dont start increasing to match the problems we are seeing in this economy is just the tip of the ice berg. I would think a diesel mechanic is highly skilled labor as I am an engineer and frankly getting tired of the low wages I keep seeing on posted jobs. Maybe sooner than I thought we will be forced to somewhere on the globe that respects these types of skills and compensates for them accordingly, thats going to be a tough fork in the road because people have family and friends in a given area but as wages for skilled educated people in fields that very few have the apptitutde to do keep going down to slave wages soon we wont have a choise.

Hmmmm....in another post you were a doc...maybe a patient out on a weekend pass

[lazyboy]

Originally Posted by Grannysroost

Hmmmm....in another post you were a doc...maybe a patient out on a weekend pass

Good catch Granny!

[lazyboy]

Originally Posted by MeridithJill

This may be an odd question...
My husband is a diesel mechanic at CAT and his friend/co-worker (also a diesel mechanic) told him he turned down a job in Alaska for $100,000 a year. When he refused they offered $150,000.
Do mechanics have high salaries out there? That seems like a lot of money.
thanks!

I would say it's not out of the question for a diesel mechanic to make $100K + a year. Depends on location,living conditions and over time.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by lazyboy

I would say it's not out of the question for a diesel mechanic to make $100K + a year. Depends on location,living conditions and over time.

Yes there are some, but you could count them on your two hands. And those that do, have been in the same place for a lot of years with the same company.

The normal startout pay for most Diesel Mech's is going to be in the $20.00+ an hour to start. If you work a 12 hour shift at seven days, that is an 84 hour week. 20x84=1,680 then add 44 hours of OT to that at 44x10=440. 1680+440=2120 a week in pay. If you worked all 52 weeks a year, that would be $110,240 a year. Sounds great eh? Problem is that almost all jobs like that are on the North Slope in the oil fields, and pretty much all of the full time jobs are a week or two on and the same time off.... So effectively, you only work 26 weeks a year which is half of that "huge amount".

There are exceptions, but very few and those that are, have been at it for years and the hourly rate is higher.

[lazyboy]

Originally Posted by starlite9

Yes there are some, but you could count them on your two hands. And those that do, have been in the same place for a lot of years with the same company.

The normal startout pay for most Diesel Mech's is going to be in the $20.00+ an hour to start. If you work a 12 hour shift at seven days, that is an 84 hour week. 20x84=1,680 then add 44 hours of OT to that at 44x10=440. 1680+440=2120 a week in pay. If you worked all 52 weeks a year, that would be $110,240 a year. Sounds great eh? Problem is that almost all jobs like that are on the North Slope in the oil fields, and pretty much all of the full time jobs are a week or two on and the same time off.... So effectively, you only work 26 weeks a year which is half of that "huge amount".

There are exceptions, but very few and those that are, have been at it for years and the hourly rate is higher.

Wow! Alaska wages must have really tanked! I worked in construction trades for several years of the 48 years I lived in Alaska. I had several friends in the trades. The mechanics I knew 10 or 15 years ago working in town made $29-$35 per hour plus benefits. Helpers made $20+ an hour.
I can see some mechanic for a small independent company maybe making $20 an hour. The bureau of labor and statistics has the average at $29.43 and then figure in time and a half and double time