In a few days, I'll be signing a contract to work at a lodge in southeast AK during the fishing season from March to September. I'll be working about 60 hours a week and should expect to make $25k-30k. Free lodging, free meals, and free fishing are all included when I'm not on the clock. Seems pretty neat. I checked the lodge's website and reviews and I don't see any major red flags.
Has anyone here worked a summer season in Alaska or lived there for a few months?
I'm from Alaska, lived there for 18 years. Its a beautiful place, the people are very nice. If you have experience doing this kind of work then you shouldn't have any problems working at a lodge. One thing that may surprise you though is the sunlight, during the summer it will be bright for days and frick with your sleep.
Nice, what part of Alaska are you in? Yeah I've worked in restaurants and bars for my whole life so I'm pretty thick-skinned working in any kind of service job.
It's definitely not a ton of money (picrel), but at the same time I get to hang out and go PrepHole in one of the least populated areas in North America at least once a week. Free food and lodging is a huge benefit, plus no state income tax in AK. I make like $30/hr at my current restaurant but I'm only part time and my living situation is pretty shitty, so part of why I want to do the Alaska thing is so I can leave, come back with a ton of cash, and then move out ASAP.
>tfw restaurant wagie
Basically minimum wage plus room and board.
But you won't have anything to spend it on, and I don't think you have to pay tax on R&B so it works out to ~12k extra pretax equivalent.
Still not great, but not terrible, and you get to be in AK outdoors.
Nice if you can handle 60hr weeks nonstop
because its bear country
thats what 9mm n larger pistols are made for
>9mm
Yeah, okay bud.
Good luck bro. Sounds like a nice time.
60 hours just 25k?? Wow scammed
But also free lodging and meals. He'll get to keep most of that 25 for himself
I lived in SE and worked on salmon seiners so I’ve seen quite a bit of the area. Extremely beautiful and wild place. SE Alaska in the summer is great. Where are you staying? Is it near a town or is it skiff in?
How do I get setup with this kind of thing
How do you get a job in Alaska if you don't live there? All the jobs I see online say "only for current Alaskan residents" or they won't pay for you to move there.
you can be a live-in ranch hand if you want. https://alaskajobs.alaska.gov
Bullshit
This is not about Alaska, but have you done 60 hours a week before? I've done a couple of 4-5 week 80 hour stints and last year had a 21 week period of 60 hours or more in a row, and let me tell you, it's not for me. I really noticed my energy and health going downhill near the end, together with my mental state. Don't underestimate doing those hours for such a long time.
Not OP but I feel you. I think it depends on your outlook and nutrition level.
If you have no support - ie no on-site housing, no food included, you're doing everything else yourself - 60-hour weeks are really hard. If you want to succeed, you need nutritious food and excellent sleep. Lots of it.
If you have housing and food included, it's a piece of cake. I've worked 80 hour weeks in the Northwest Arctic with housing and food included, and I've never felt stronger.
Your work community is also important. When I worked that job I had a really close-knit group of my coworkers. We were constantly joking and fricking around while still getting shit done. Made the experience a ton of fun.
This. Don't be afraid to walk away from a job if it's exploitative.
And what tf is up with Alaskans thinking they're the shit? As a lifelong Alaskan here we're nothing special. But so many people have this fantasy of being some explorer frontiersman, just because they drive through wilderness on the way to fish the Kenai. Just like literally every other dude in the Anchorage area.
Yea, i did something similar one time and was promised around the same amount of money...in the end i was paid about 100 dollars a week.....
I met my wife though so it was a win, but still. I worked 80hrs a week the entire time. So just be careful and be prepared to leave at the first whiff of shit. Alaska sees alot of migratory people, so thereslots of scammy types that kind of prey on the handshake agreement deals for free labor. Just go in with an open mind. And also be prepared to realize that Alaskans are the smuggest people you'll ever meet. So many of them act like theyre some character on a tv show or some shit. Except for the ones actually doingthe damn thing, but theyre pretty stand offish
This. Alaskans can be the scum of the earth in both ratio and proportions that you might have previously thought impossible. Get EVERYTHING in writing, and never trust an Alaskan handshake. The consequences can be painful. Alaska is absolutely the penultimate place to stay frosty. 1/100 people will be the greatest person you have ever met, but the other 99 can certainly be a burden to get through.
There’s a reason old-timers with 20+ years in Alaska are called “sourdoughs.” Sour on Alaska and no dough to leave.
If you settle into your groove, it can quickly become paradise and you may very well choose to stay permanently.
I live in Southeast Alaska and have worked in the tourist industry, are these Russian demoralization replys? I'd go and have fun. Your 60 hour work week is going to be sitting on a boat all day yelling "fish on!!!". The tips are very good also.
I have done two full seasons up in Haida Gwaii as a dockhand. What's your position at the lodge? Guiding is a sweet gig but you get zero days off. Dock work was absolutely kickass except for fish packing at 330am for eight hours, then coming back after break for another six. Kitchen and housekeeping understandably suck. Vacuum packing fish for ten hours a day can also get tedious.
Expect a big drinking/party culture. You won't thrive if you have issues with alcohol. Bring up ample supplies of weed and condoms at the start of the season. These lodges often employ pretty young women for FOH and housekeeping. It's a great place to be a young man.
The biggest perk of the job is taking home a chest freezers worth of salmon and halibut. I'm sure you'll take full advantage of staff fishing privileges.
>housekeeping understandably suck(s)
I take this back because FOH is probably worse. Most of the complaints from coworkers relate to dealing with rich entitled boomer buttholes. Getting called "toots", whistled or snapped at, etc. You have to put up with absolute tools who are sexist, homophobic, and show no appreciation nor respect for the nature around them. I had a pod of orca cruise past while we were fishing and the old geezer on board was pouting because "they scared away all the fish". Some only care about catching their legal limit of every species. I'm comforted by the fact that these types will be dead soon.
>up in Haida Gwaii
That's in a different country.
How do I get one of those live in Alaskan jobs as an out of state guy
A: show up when the snow is melting and get taken advantage of by scummy businesses
B: show up anywhere that isn't Anchorage, work a normal-ish job, and get to know the locals. Once you've built a reputation as a reliable worker and/or trustworthy person the good opportunities open up.
I don't have any qualifications or skills
So there's nothing where I like sign a contract and get room and board and a salary in exchange for a lot of work?
That's option A. Thousands like you arrive every spring for seasonal work. Most have a decent adventure and leave at the end of the season. Just be aware that in addition to long hours and/or low pay, modern standards outsiders expect like labor rights and OSHA are not widely respected, and the dirtbags know it's even harder for you to refuse immoral or illegal instructions when they control your housing, not just continued employment. There's good people up here too, but they're usually not the ones who own or manage these seasonal hire-anyone-with-pulse companies. Some PrepHoleists can handle that, some will find it hell.
If you'd rather deal with more typical problems like a housing shortage and finding transportation, just about every business in Fairbanks is hiring entry-level staff and they're not picky about degrees or certifications.
Either option can lead you to paradise (I sure found mine) as long as you know what you're getting into.
I'm not really sure how to arrange this. I only find jobs for instate residents
An example of option B is making inroads with the state university system. They hire people to keep the professors and grad students alive during fieldwork, setting up base camp, cooking, keeping the generator running, hauling equipment and sometimes a bear gun while they're tromping around the bush doing science. Some private businesses have analogues primarily for oil+gas exploration, assisting professional geologists and the like.
C: have an in-demand skill/profession/degree and be willing to endure the hardships of village life.
Go to Washington, get a job on a salmon boat. You'll get your feet wet (literally and otherwise), get a feel for the place and then you can go back next year if you're so inclined. When you're in port you can go to bars and libraries and local schools and shit and ask about jobs and whatnot, and get some leads that way. There's also a little bit of almost everything in Alaska these days so if you look you'll probably be able to find SOMETHING, even if it's just working at a hotel or whatever. A lot of the work is seasonal and includes room and board so you can decide if you like it or if the scenery isn't worth it.