technologist

safety specialist

research engineer

process engineer

mechanical engineer

NOVA Chemicals

I drove over 5000 kms to work that job, thought that it was a career and they laid me off for safety reasons after reporting a cut on my arm. The guy before me was there for one month and they didnt like him so he was fired and I saw 2 more job postings for the same lab (PE2) 1 month after and 2 months after I got fired so those other guys probably didnt last long either. 

Easiest job I have ever had in my entire life. Ended up working for only 2 hours out of my 12 hour shifts and swept floors 3 times a day to appear busy. once you're in the union, its a great job with O.K. job security, but they put you on probation for a full year and all of the full time guys are very old, making over 100k per year, and definitely unwilling to give up their jobs to some young new guy. 

You have to be very careful what you say and do in PE2 because they have monthly quotas of reporting 2 safety incidences a month and the older guys will write you up for absolutely everything. One time I had to drill and cut a polyethylene sample from reactor 1 and the older guy gave me a pair of cut resistant gloves and a pair of drill resistant gloves. He scurried off to his office and watched me from a small distance as I worked, probably to see if I was using the proper gloves for each tool... it was messed up. That had to of been the safest laboratory I have ever worked in. Absolutely no need to have 2 incidences reported every month as a quota

Through out my years at NOVA Chemicals I had the pleasure to work with some very talented and highly academic people. 
It was a excellent place to learn when given the chance.  The culture was tense at times due to high stress projects and poor leadership.  The lack of opportunity and support from leadership made this a difficult place to progress and move up the ladder unless you had an "engineer" status,male and/or a minority.
Nova's culture for advancement is primarily based on an "Old boys club" mentality and is very male dominant.  The few female leaders you'll see in NOVA Chemicals Mfg. East operations are in a "traditional" role.  i.e. human resource or accounting.

I know of quite a few extraordinary female Engineers that would be an excellent choice for leadership within the Nova leadership.
This was how I saw it when I was seen as a fix-cost reduction rather than a valuable asset to the company due to my multi-skilled background.

I do not know what the culture is in the present NOVA Chemicals because it is now owned by a far east Abu Dabi firm.

I was at NOVA for 20 years. I came from Suncor. Far more civilized work place at NOVA than at Suncor. Hard work is rewarded. They work to analyze and improve their project processes and performance. High quality of engineering in design packages that work well in the field. High quality personal in key Leadership, Engineering, Operations and Maintenance positions. Always a great working atmosphere. Bad apples get moved on, but only after a dedicated effort to help them get back on track. Internal moves are available to broaden your experience in different areas of the site. Training available. I would work there again with out any hesitation.    

You do not see the hire and then Layoff cycles that EPC firms have - it is steady work.

My typital day included designing experiments towards new research or troubleshooting due to undesired operational issues at plant or pilotplant. Over looking the work of operation group to doing the experiment, testing and analyzing lab results, preparing reports of finding, communicating to scientists, business groups, operation,and vendors.
The management were mostly focused on research findings rather than employee's growth. I had very good team of colleagues and I enjoyed working with them a lot and learned a lot.
The hardest part of my job was report prepartion to make sure the right information is passed to the right audiences.
The most enjoyable part of my job, was being involved with different groups of poeple and use their expertise to solve problems and ofcouse the work environment was very relaxed.

One thing I have learnt from NOVA Chemicals and will take with me in my everyday life and career is the emphasis on safety!! The teams and awareness that we implemented really makes no room for complacency.  In a plant environment it is very important for employees to feel safe during work, and to make sure they come home to their families safely.

Also I appreciated the community involvement with my career there.  They emphasized we be a part of the community around us and to respect any discrepancies they may have. It made us to take responsibility in any work we did.

Benefits and salary were improving when I left, im sure it's worth working there financially as well.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people for sure , benefits are pretty good, vacation time is good as well

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Some deadlines are almost impossible.  It is hard to have your ideas or requests approved as running up the chain of command takes awhile.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I enjoyed the people I worked with.  It was a sense of team spirit.  You always have your cliques but overall everyone worked together for the common goal

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You work a full 8 hours, some days busier than others.  Daily communicating with peers and management.  Most work has daily deadlines.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Good pay and good benefits. The work shifts were fair with a balance of time off to work time

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working with younger less respectable employees who thought they were owed something by more senior employees

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very clique based, either you are a friend of the leader of the clique or you are an outsider

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is a set routine to what has to be done but if you are not in the group then you do the work while others sit and do nothing

NOVA provided employers with extreme safe workplaces. I felt very safe to be in NOVA. People are so easy to communicate, I felt I can talk to anybody in the company. The hardest part of the job is to be able to manage and complete multi projects at the same time but at the same time, I learned how to really organize and prioritize my tasks. The most enjoyable part of the job is the people I worked with. Everyone in my team is so helpful and willing to mentor me on the time I needed. I took the initiatives to ask them questions and never felt disappointed about the answers my mentors gave me.

> The day begins with Calibration of RAEs and maintenance of the used equipment.
> Conducting monitoring sessions eg: Noise monitoring / NORM.
> Attain IH meetings.
> Training production and maintenance engineers on how to use different monitoring devices.
> Walk through plant survey for hazards, steam valve leaks, noise and others.
> Compiling reports based on findings and present it to HSE Manager.
> Conduct same for 3 plants (Corunna, St. Clair River Site and Moore site)

Operations coordinator - I spent sever years with Nova as an operations coordinator in charge of pipelines and utilities.  I worked on the Utilities Area Work Team and was involved in making all equipment modification and improvement decisions.  I was in charge of 6 operating teams and worked on all projects related to the direct operation of the plant and pipeline.  

Training Specialist - I work for several years developing training for the operations group at Nova.  Responsibilities included : writing training manuals, procedures, one on one training of operators, and working with the LMS system.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Technologist 3 salaries reported	$85,960 per year
Safety specialist 6 salaries reported	$145,500 per year
Research engineer 5 salaries reported	$120,000 per year
Process engineer 4 salaries reported	$117,000 per year
Mechanical engineer 4 salaries reported	$122,500 per year

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