électricien

concepteur

ingénieur

directeur technique

monteur électricien

Bc-Hydro

This is just my experience, so take from it what you will. Pinches of salt recommended.

The work itself is really interesting, and depending on the project, it very likely will have real-life consequences for the people of BC, whether they know it or not. Maybe you run a piece of code and find a customer with a higher than normal temperature on their meter base. Maybe a truck rolls out, and yes, the meter base is hot. That code might have saved a house fire. So, yeah, thats pretty cool to have done that. The customer has no idea; all they see is a truck roll up and do a safety check; they'll never even know your role, but you did something that saved their house. I love that thought of helping someone without them knowing; that personal satisfaction is neat.

There's also so much to do, there's never enough time or resources to explore all the bits of analysis that could be done, so that's a frustration.

The relationship between Technology and Business is weird. If you work in Technology for any length of time, its like working for a different company; no focus on the customer, nothing "real life"; its all just abstract concepts; there never seems to be an effort from Technology to think or learn about the "why"; its always "how". If someone from IT asks me about "Use Cases" one more time, I think I might strangle them.

On the business side, its all about the customer. How can we help? What does the customer want?

There's this strange tension between the two parts of the business that should be working very closely together to work toward common goals, but it just isn't working. Technology seems to want to take over the business, but they really haven't got a clue about what a customer even is, let alone understand their needs.

The salary: its just MEH.

People talk about "big wigs" at these public crown corps, but I'm like: who are you talking about? You mean the CEO? The CEO of Hydro makes what... $400K a year? From a revenue of $4bn a year. Try finding a similar valued company ANYWHERE with a CEO who is paid less than $1M. SHOW ME. I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL.

Government pay is meh.

Vancouver pay is meh.

I like Hydro because of the impact the work has. I don't like it because the pay is meh, and upper management needs to fix their s**t.

Really looked forward to this job but in the end it was completely nothing like I expected and was really let down. In the interview it was mentioned that the position was full time temporary but most people roll over to a permanent position and to not worry. What they don't tell you is that the temporary position is covering for another person who is on leave, like a maternity leave and that the majority of the people on leave do come back to work and when they do, your position will be terminated and you will be laid off. So if you are taking a full time temporary position, expect to be in that position for under a year and be laid off. The job was laid out to be like a project management position but in the end, all it was was a glorified call center where you speak with customers and electricians who often don't even know what they are talking about and is really frustrating. The position is highly micromanaged, you have to sign in and out for breaks and everything you do is tracked and monitored excessively. It is a very clique work environment and favourites are very clearly chosen and treated differently. The training expectations for the position are unrealistic and are expected to be done on your own time after work and the pay is not good. There is very little room for advancement and you are not rewarded or appreciated for the work that you do and management is a complete joke. All in all it was a horrible work experience where I dreaded going into work every day. I really had high hopes for bc hydro but in the end I would definitely not recommend working for the organization. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I learned what I don't like and what I won't accept when it comes to terrible management from the top down. I don't recommend working at this company if you are a competent leader  looking to learn new things. Managers and executives do very little work and hire consultants to fill in the gaps. They take no accountability and are ineffective in communication and leadership. Which is very important for a critical infrastructure organization.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You are expected to do the work of 10 people, work lots of overtime and not get paid. However, if you speak out, they will target you until you feel like leaving. Nothing changes as the same people are in the leadership positions for many years.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very siloed with little to no communication for the people actually doing the work. Management takes credit for things they don't do. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Regular 8-4 workday except most of the time you're expected to work overtime and not get paid.

Good pay and nice working This employee has consistently demonstrated a high level of technical proficiency and dedication in their role within the quality department. Their background in computer science, paired with a meticulous approach to inspection standards, provides a unique and valuable perspective to our operational workflows.
Key Contributions:
Technical Expertise: They have shown exceptional skill in managing complex CMM programming and software troubleshooting. Their ability to maintain precision in measurements ensures that our hardware meets the rigorous safety and durability standards required for provincial utility infrastructure.
Regulatory Compliance: They maintain a deep understanding of critical industrial standards, including ISO 9001 and nuclear-grade requirements. This ensures our quality assurance processes remain audit-ready and compliant with regional safety mandates.
Professional Growth: Their current pursuit of the National Professional Practice Exam (NPPE) reflects a strong commitment to professional engineering standards and long-term career development within the sector.

This company has one of the highest mental health disability rates in North America. No one is accountable for their actions.  Every job is disorganized and it seems like there are more managers than workers!  They are constantly rolling out new programs with little regard for the consequences or follow up from the last program rollout.

Generally as individuals co-workers are great but toxic work environments are present throughout the company.  Part of the problem with that is that managers are always looking to the new promotion instead of focusing on the people and departments they are tasked to manage.

The absolute hardest part of the job is the government involvement!  They have handcuffed BC Hydro into terrible deals that make their corporate friends RICH!

It is also hard to go anywhere in public with Hydro vehicles or gear on because people are constantly making remarks at you.

The most enjoyable part of the job is the paycheque, plain and simple.

A very stable and relaxed envirnment to work in. Most generous benefits in BC province. Some employees work there just for the benefits but most people have a sideline job to feed their family. I was also encouraged by my manager to get some kind of extra work because he was aware that the salary was low - very low. But there are lots of politics involved. If you know someone in management you can negotiate a much better starting salary. it took me a few years to realzie that. It is very politicized. People protect each other in their little kingdom and come down hard on anyone who tries to upset the kingdom. Bonuses are handed out to friends. The benefits are great. Did I mention the benefits are great. There are a lot of very senior experienced technical people working there that are involved in profesional bodies too and provide a great contribution to the engineering field.

They sell you hard on how amazing it is, and all the pros during the interview process. But unfortunately, its not great. Not terrible, not great. Hourly wage is terrible comparative to industrial rates out there. A large portion of the crew has limited experience( strictly residential or commercial). "Management" is office heavy, little supervision or organization in the field, which leads to non communication between the two, which is bourne onto the workers to remedy. Pretty laid back working environment, just a lot of nonsense passed down from above. They preach a 'culture' but its pretty much just for show, and is really quite far behind private industrial sector. Overall, private sector is offering more these days.


Great place to work if you are willing to stick it out many years to try and move about in the company to gain experience in order to gain the job experience.  If you do, you may run into many others doing the same thing and competition is tough.  It is a BIG organization and very hierarchical. Some people are toxic.  There is a pecking order in place and they don't deviate from it.  Extremely good benefits if you are a full-time employee with a pension plan guaranteed to inflation.  Many people there over 15+ years waiting it out to retirement.  Slow to move up the chain of command because the sheer number of people employed in the organization.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Just Culture - Safety first - work life balance  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Shared responsibility for safety is very serious and the number one value of the company. Right to intervene must be shared accountability. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very supportive just cultural. Everyone is responsible for safety. Great work life balance. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Back into parking spot, safety first. Greeting all colleagues, tailboard meeting all have valued opinions. Do job, no dumb questions as all questions are valid and encouraged. Always all have  responsibility for safety. Protocols followed any new info shared. Always finish day with respect for colleagues.

I had several business operational positions on short & long term projects.

The staff at hydro locations are from all over the world bringing their expertise in fields such as engineering, distribution, development & security of services.

BC Hydro is a huge company, which can provide more opportunities, but it may take time to move up, depending on your skills of course.

Upgrading skills with internal training & external training very encouraged.

We will always have electrical needs, so in that sense, job security is more possibly, due to the product offerred and the number of utitlities in BC.



Top Job Titles	Average salary
Électricien 55 salaries reported	$119,957 per year
Concepteur 20 salaries reported	$75,748 per year
Ingénieur 36 salaries reported	$115,601 per year
Directeur technique 22 salaries reported	$131,205 per year
Monteur électricien 18 salaries reported	$49.95 per hour

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