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Geomatics Technician (merged)

Thanks,

Just in case anyone is interested, I did a bit of quick research.

Residence at Algonquin college is between $7210 and $7360 depending upon whether its paid in full as one payment, or over the course of three payments. This price is for the academic year, which runs, they say, from September too April. So, for these 8 months it works out to about $900/month. On top of that, a mandatory meal plan is imposed upon first year students living in residence, these plans range from $2000/academic year($250/month) to $3860/academic year(482.5/month). All included, costs for rent/food range from $1151.25/month to 1402.5/month.

So, a Private with pay level 1 and pay increment 1 makes $2860/month. This means that he/she will net $2423.33/month ($29,080/year if your interested) after taxes. After taxes/residence fees that leaves between $1020.83/month and $1272.08/month (basically depending on how much you want to eat, as the price difference really comes in the meal plans.

Now, with doing a search of craigslist and Kijiji, it seems that the average price for a room in a shared house adjacent too the college is $500/month, give or take a bit. In most postings, this includes utilities/internet, although not in all. I currently live in Vancouver and find I spend about $250/month on food for myself.

So, a private with pay level 1 and pay increment 1 makes $2860/month and nets $2423.33/month. $2423.33 - ($500 + $250) = $1673.33, whats left at the end of the month.

This does not take into account any subsidization and/or tax breaks one might receive from the military, as I am not aware there are any for this particular situation. I'm curious as to how these numbers compare with living on an Army base like, say, Petawawa.
 
Take a look at some of the bus routes that go directly to the college.  There's a lot of them that go fairly often.  Meaning on most days you can bus there within 30m from anywhere downtown, west of the Rideau river, Kanata and heading eastward, or barhaven and heading north.  That's about a quarter of the city, and you can find some pretty cheap rent if that is your geographic area.
 
They most likely receive an allowance to live on the economy that would cover their rent and food. It would not surprise me if MCE had a contract with a local rental agency.
 
Capt. Happy said:
They most likely receive an allowance to live on the economy that would cover their rent and food. It would not surprise me if MCE had a contract with a local rental agency.

No, and No.
 
Thanks for the thread guys, my brother had the same questions as he is facing a COR and is looking at the GeoTech trade.  Hopefully he gets to keep his Cpls.
 
In an OT, Cpl is the highest unprotected rank; he will keep his rank.

Indeed, even if he was a higher rank, and was undergoing a compulsory OT, he would revert to the rank of Cpl, but retain his prior pay level.

On the other hand, a voluntary OT will revert to Cpl and move to the Cpl pay scale.


Or, in one case I know, a Major entered the in-service legal officer training plan.  Forgot to mention to 9D that he would revert to Captain.  She discovered this on payday, when the deposit was smaller than usual.  "Oh, didn't I mention that?"
 
Capt. Happy said:
They most likely receive an allowance to live on the economy that would cover their rent and food. It would not surprise me if MCE had a contract with a local rental agency.

I have been told no. When you show up, you basically need to have a place to stay.

I spoke to the recruiter again yesterday and he didn't make it sound like my chances of getting into the Geomatics trade were very high. Not based on my personal application, just as a numbers game.
 
Got my offer for Geo Tech a few weeks ago. I get re-enrolled on the 29th of July and travel to Ottawa on Aug 1st. I was instructed to secure a place to live on my own so no they will not provide you a place to live. Luckily I will be getting my old pay grade so I wont have to pinch any pennies.

Anyone else starting at Algonquin in August?

EDIT** contract length is 6 years
 
If you are single, move into their Residences if you can, and stay away from the apartments near the campus which are within five minutes walk.  Those are for the most part slums.  The Residences on the campus are fairly new and in good shape.  If you don't want to live on their campus, find a place near OC Tranpo, as there is an OC Transpo Transitway that serves the campus.
 
I applied to the SHHO to try and get a place at Uplands. Cheap townhouse for me and my wife.
 
I got in the reserves INT Jan 2012 and switched to GEO Jan 2015 (on paper though only 6 months ago I think).  So I have 4 years in as a reservist now.  I CT'd to GEO at least a year ago, probably 2 years ago... do not recall as it took so long I just forgot about it.  I've did the reserve DP1 course summer 2015 and got my CPL soon afterward.

Interestingly, I got a phone call recently while I'm on Class B.  It was an Ottawa number calling asking me if I'd still like the CT to go ahead, as they're trying to load people on the course this fall in Ottawa.

My issue is, I just finished up school at NSCC COGS (Centre of Geo Science)  in Nova Scotia and now have an advanced diploma with GIS concentration.  So getting work where I want is much easier now.  I enjoy the reserves as well, and have some plans to help develop PRes GEO capabilities.

I'm not so sure now if I should accept, as I feel like I'll be doing a lot of work all over again, not to mention taking a reduction in rank (now Cpl).
Would this be the case?  I have massive student debt so keeping the Cpl rank plus pay would be amazing and I would probably accept if that is the case.

Not sure though.
Any thoughts is appreciated.
 
If I'm figuring this out correctly, you're CTing PRes Geo to RegF Geo? If so, Cpl is an uncontrolled rank, you should be able to keep it.
 
Correct.
I have this concern though because a Reg F Geo said he lost his Cpl after getting into Geo.  I *think* he may have transferred from Artillery though, so that is one possible reason why.
I mostly am concerned about pay scale, as I'm at Cpl 1 now and keeping it means being able to sustain someone else while paying off student debt, for both of us. It will be difficult to do that at Pte rank/pay scale

Thanks for responding!
 
I agree with PuckChaser's statement.

As you have furthered your education, you should be passing on that information and having a PLAR done.  That will have a great affect on what your future holds.  It could mean that you may bypass courses and/or get a better rank and IP offer.
 
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