utility operator

ATCO Gas

The people at ATCO are some of the nicest people I've known. (both field and office staff) Although the quality, work ethic and knowledge has dropped off somewhat as veteran workers left or were forced to leave, there are still a few very good workers from the younger generation.  Generally speaking, it is a quite young company now.(at least in Calgary)
The atmosphere used to be very laid back and quite fun at times, but has become somewhat politicized as management has driven a wedge between different work groups, e.g. customer service and field workers, and even between crew chiefs and junior employees and foremen and crew chiefs. If you don't know the person you are working with very well, you tend not to trust him/her until you've worked with them for a while. 
All new employees must attend "ATCO school', which is kind of like an in house apprenticeship program, where you attend class for a few weeks, followed by  a year of field experience. This is done for 3 years after which there is a final exam which you have 2 attempts to pass. I have never seen anyone fail though. If they do they've been given more attempts to pass. The company seems to be very lenient on younger employees. There is a more in depth, more technical program for customer service workers where they earn their gas fitters ticket.
This company definitely has a very strong safety culture, but unfortunately has now gone beyond being about safety and more about being a tool for management to use for punishment (or not use, depending on who you are) against workers  at its discretion.
 The work itself is great if you like physical work outdoors in all sorts of weather conditions and locations. You get to see the best and the worst of what society has to offer, as basically everywhere has a gas connection. There are quite interesting and even exciting situations that come up as you quite often get to work closely with other emergency services and see things most people don't get to.
 But unfortunately underlying everything good about the company is management and the addition of the happy worker to the endangered species list. You are well paid but there is now a heavy cost to that.
This is my opinion only. Don't sue me.

I would typically be retrieving or inputting various data on spreadsheets.  Before construction started the design engineers and site foremen would visit the site to see if there would be any complications with the proposed gas pipe placement, and if there were any spots we were unsure of we would make note of them and get them surveyed to make sure we had enough room.  Site visits were frequent, especially when construction started; seeing the progress of the projects firsthand helped with the ongoing cost estimates of the projects.

I learned a lot about how difficult it is to obtain the land rights to place gas pipe for our projects, and I also learned a lot about SynerGEE Gas modelling software that helped in the design of the projects to make sure everything would still function properly after old pipe has been replaced.

My co-workers were all really great, they had very diverse personalities, none of which I would say were bad.  I got along with them all very well and they were more than willing to help if I ever had any questions about how to do something.  My supervisors as well were very easy to talk to and just as willing to help me when they had time in their schedules as they typically were in a lot of meetings.

The hardest part of the job for me personally, was balancing all the different projects I was working on.  Landowners would refuse granting right-of-way for the pipe that was going to heat their home, so we would have to redesign the project with a new pipe alignment on a different strip of land, on a (hopefully) more willing landowner's property.  I had six full projects on the go that I was having design, and that was between the smaller, urgent tasks that my supervisor(s) would have me do,

Conversely, I feel that the workload kept things interesting because I had a variation of things to do.  So I would probably say that the hardest part was also the most enjoyable part.

ATCO is a very secure place to work, when they're not going through their re-vamping.. management was just dramatically changed and it seems to be making a positive impact on the politics and stress.
The pay and benefits are phenomenal. The option to buy into shares is excellent too.  The culture is getting better as the people with the old mentalities retire.  It's definitely an equal opportunity workforce and respect for everyone is high: just do your part and don't be lazy or take advantage of the trust given you, just like any other company would expect.  The hardest parts of my job are having to shut people's gas off for collections and trying not to empathize with their sad or angry faces, as well as going into multiple people's dirty basements.. this is just part of the job.  Working outside in all weather conditions is hard too but also part of the job.  
The most enjoyable part is competently fixing someone's furnace and being able to walk away without charging the customer and seeing their SUPER grateful faces.  So grateful they sometimes feed you.  I'm going to miss the multicultural differences in my customer base..  definitely eye opening.  The support given when needed is beyond anything I expected.  ANYTIME of the day or night, if I was stuck and couldn't figure out a furnace, I could call ANYONE on my team and they were happy to help.  I know that's rare and I always fully appreciated it.

ATCO Gas fosters a friendly and open work environment that led to increased job satisfaction during my time at the company.

A work day consisted of many tasks including project management on one of several on-going projects, creating and improving gas hydraulic simulation models using Synergi Gas, working on comprehensive long term plans of gas distribution systems, training new group members, and responding to general inquiries from the field.

Management at the company were very approachable, keen on passing their knowledge, and willing to answer questions if they required their attention. This resulted in enhanced performance because of the free-flow of ideas and reduced the amount of time needed to develop project alternatives. 

I gained very important presentation, inter-personal, project management, and computer modelling skills over the 22 months that I was employed at the company as an Engineering intern followed by a full-time position as an Engineer-in-Training. The scope of work, management, co-workers, and work environment resulted in a positive experience for me at ATCO Gas.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Everyone is amazing and you are treated like a real person.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Steady work, taking holidays can have the work pile up naturally.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Amazing. Everyone is great, welcoming, friendly and helpful. They care about your wellbeing and success in the company.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
The day starts with a brief meeting of what everyone is doing that day. People discuss work, begin their day and a safe pace, take breaks regularly, don't overdo it because the company cares about your wellbeing, and you have access to hot beverages, people are productive yet people don't look over your shoulder, there is respect, people work together or check in on you, and you finish the day feeling accomplished in good spirits.

My daily tasks at this job were answering inbound calls from customers inquiring about their accounts, scheduling appointments, meter reads, billing info etc.

I have learned a lot about furnaces and meter reads. Which is quite interesting. As well as how the weather effects our usage.

Management were really good, always giving us coaching if we needed it. We could always talk to them if we had concerns. They were very strict about the job and how we handled the calls which I think is good. They always make sure we were all giving 100% to the customers.

My co-workers were great. It was a small office so we all got along good.

The hardest part of the job was probably dealing with the irate customers and customers who didn't speak well on the phone.

The most enjoyable part of the job was interacting with the customers. Feeling appreciated by management.

Very typical pipeline company of "good ole Boys" and drinking buddies will keep you working.
Totally dysfunctional group of co-workers who take every opportunity to stab everyone in the back, co-workers, management and  contractors. Very insecure group who take pride screwing anyone they can over with no remorse and management is to blind to see.
 Projects are delayed from finishing intentionally regardless of the cost so the inspectors can invoice for another week and again management is to blind to see.
No oversight from management or senior Atco planners/ Engineers. 
Terrible work culture, insecure " Chief " (so called) Inspectors and co-workers, poor communication from the top down and a huge disconnect between quality and Atco specs to what is actually happening in the field on a daily basses'. 


Liked the work. Was an area operator and gave support to the other operators. Pipeline patrol was a required duty and was always interesting. Repair signage and look for activity in the right of ways.Would test and repair all types of regulators,positioners,reliefs,vavles and esds. Did emergancy response 24hr call out duty. Freeze offs, over pressures, blowing reliefs, high differential on filters, compressor alarms, gas odour calls, low temperature calls on line heaters,gas quality,odourant,buy back after plants have upsets,H2S,low air alarms,low N2 alarms,door or site alarms. My favourite job was building new sites.Have done lots of wrenching,lining up flanges and bent installed miles of tubbing. Liked everyone and was very well liked. There wasn't a hardest part to the job enjoyed all aspects.

I have learned to listen to how the customer feels and his or her needs. I have greatly improved my confidence in being able to advise the customer in the right direction while achieving their immediate needs and desires.  

Competent in using Microsoft environment

Contacting and setting up my own appointments with potential and existing clients. Presenting an informative information to the customer and building a solid relationship while maintaining continuous contact. 

Signing of contractual agreements and maintaining records. 
Setting future appointments.

The people in ATCO Gas are friendly. Everyone will make you feel welcome. My day was never boring. You learn something new everyday, and the workers are more than willing to share their knowledge. The management was fair. There were a lot of team building activities and the company was always involved in the community.
I enjoyed doing the pipeline design, coordinating with the utilities and stakeholders involved. The hard part was trying to meet all the stakeholder's requirement, which sometimes conflict. But the challenges make the job interesting.

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