a "summer" in McMurdo

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>>1072980
>McMurdo
my friend died in a toilet stall from a asthma attack there. I say go for it if you love the cold.

>>1073047
Kinda surprised he got in with asthma.

>>1072980
>I've spent 3 years as an OTR driver, deckhanded on a lake freighter for a season and worked on a fishing boat.

Seems like you'd have no trouble. There are some location-specific things to watch out for, but the people who are there can fill you in on that sort of safety stuff.

>>1072980
>on deck in 30 degree cold
then you should be fine with the interior temp kept at 57.

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>>1072980
>McMurdo

>>1072980
Go for it. You seem like you can take whatever you'd have to deal with working at McMurdo so you should try for it.

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>>1073137
>Mc Spurdo

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I'm attracted to the romance of this OP, but I'm pretty certain I'm not nearly tuff e nuff. Also I have no manly skills.

>>1073199
To be a cook or janitor all you'd have to do is get a job as a cook or janitor so you can show experience. They talk a big game on the website, but the truth is most people applying for these jobs are utter trash with no relevant experience so even six months as a janitor will put you at the top of the list.

It won't be particularly hard if you have even some tolerance to cold. Doesn't hurt to apply, if you made it a goal to get out there and worked at it you could probably stand a good shot at a summer in 18-19 or 19-20. You will gain a lot of skills and know-how just being in that community. It's a very crafty crowd.

Do it. Then post here about your experiences inna antarctic.

>>1072980
>a "summer" in McMurdo
Since you put summer in "", do you talk about northern summer, i.e. antartic winter, or local summer?

Either way, be prepared for the lack of light or abundance of it to fuck with your sleep schedule.

24-7 light is not much of a problem. While you probably tend to have some issues to fall asleep easily, you also need much less sleep, so its likely to even out.
The darkness however had me constantly tired, falling asleep at the weirdes hours and I had no sense of time of the day.
Also, if you don't find friends and nice things to do, its really easy to become a depressed alc in the dark.

>source:
>lived on Svalbard for a few months

What kind of things can you do in your free time at McMurdo? Can you go /out/ and explore the surroundings?

>>1073137
ids so gold i gant feel my degs. fug

>>1073404
not to derail from McMurdo, but please tell me about Svalbard.

What did you do there?

>>1073435
agree with this guy, its story time mate.
these sort of places are beyond my imagination.

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>>1073435
>What did you do there?
Drinking
Partying
Skiing
almost killing myself in an avalanche
walking around with a large rifle
kayaking
crusing around the island…

I was studying at unis.no for a semester and they had some fantastic field trips for us geologists. And alcohol was tax free and the student dorms are closer to the glacier than they are to university, so makes for some difficult priorisations.
>pic related. Early morning skiing before the lectures begin.

>>1072980
may as well go for it, people tend to forget the many needs down there. As a recently qualified unemployed geologist/chemist I can tell you the needs beyond science are often overlooked (mainly by phd autists). But here in Christchurch they advertise for carpenters, project managers etc pretty regularly for the Antarctic program.

>>1073404
I don't think they will let you winter over in Antarctica on your first contract unless they are in dire need of whatever job you do. It's basically a skeleton crew trying to keep the place from falling apart.

OP, you may have trouble getting on as a heavy equipment operator or operating engineer. They aren't going to count CDL experience and while it may be more difficult working a self-unloader or deck crane on a laker they won't be too impressed by that either. I'm sure once you are there they will have you using cranes and all equipment anyways, because veterans get lazy and once new guys show proficiency the experienced just pawn the work over the rookie (this is true in almost any job). But they probably won't hire you as one for your first contract, the only difference this will probably make is pay. As long as your teeth are good they'll take you over all the bored college students and digital nomads who can barely drive cars and are just looking into the job for meme purposes.

>>1073645
> As long as your teeth are good they'll take you over all the bored college students and digital nomads who can barely drive cars and are just looking into the job for meme purposes.

What do you mean about the teeth? Is this a concern there?

>>1073650
There's a dental exam. It weeds out a lot of people, I dont think you need a perfect set of pearly whites but rotten/missing teeth will DQ you.

This thread is making me want to rewatch Encounters at the End of the World.

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Make sure you've had your appendix removed. It's mandatory. Or so I've heard. They can't treat appendicitis well, and it's an 'easy' preventative surgery.

Do you need to be a US resident for a Janitorial or cooking job? Where do you apply for these?

>>1073788
Yes. You must be a US citizen or permanent resident to work at McMurdo or any other US station.

>>1073786
The only time this is an issue is if you are wintering over. Even then, they do not require an appendectomy, you just have to pass the physical.

They are desperate for qualified (QUALIFIED) equipment operators, carpenters, plumbers etc. Skilled trades are a ticket to the pole, even appearing as someone capable of learning those trades while there will probably get a shot.

They get a lot of disillusioned corporate climbers and over-educated urban types who apply, I actually think a degree hurts rather than helps. Every year these people last only a couple weeks before demanding they be taken out.

I have a friend who went, it's rough but nothing crazy the way he tells it. It's just cold and the internet is bad (like 1995 bad).

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>>1073186
I came here to post that.
>fug
But'stead I'll post this because the ayylmaos

>>1074326
Why is there such a huge disconnect between what employers are looking for and what potential employees believe employers are looking for? Most people who are even aware of and want to get into the Antarctic program are pretty well educated but think they need to have astronaut qualifications and so most of them don't even bother. Then you get a huge shortage of skilled tradesmen working for the program because they don't bother advertising to any of those demographics. Whenever you hear about the types of positions down there, it's either "university researcher with Ph.D.s in at least 3 fields and 20+ years of experience managing an entire country's scientific effort" or "lol we're hiring cooks, but qualified candidates will have a BSc minimum and at least 10 professional recommendations". They are absolute dogshit at attracting the kinds of people they need and they can fuck off and suffer until they get their act together

>>1074543
I dont think its their fault, its just the people who get caught up in the romance of it are people who've never done a day of physical work in their lives and dont realize how hard it is. Its harder to sell a bag of goods to veterans of the trucking or construction industries.

I mean look at this guy:
https://www.jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/2012/10/getting-a-job-in-antarctica-my-long-journey-2009-2012/
tl;dr

He's living in NYC (strike one), he works for in a prima donna industry like tech (strike two) and he mentions IN INTERVIEWS that he uses HR to mediate disputes between coworkers (he went in the trash for that alone). But these are the types who they get a lot of applications from, and they know that once they get to the pole they quickly become upset and a morale problem. They are not actively looking for these people, but these are the types of people who will find them.

This guy wrote a massive blog post and they pity hired him to be a production cook, but they really hope most of these people will go away after a half decade of rejection. Its kind of funny that if he just spent one month getting a CDL they probably would've taken him on his second go-around.

Do they have a brothel?

>>1074679
They have penguins.

>>1074702
>Penguin sex
Good enough. I'm in.

OP don't be disappointed if this proves to be more difficult than you thought. If you have any medical problems at all, including dental as mentioned above, you won't be going. The openings are almost always very competitive because even low to no skill jobs pay very well compared to stateside, and you're forced to save money while there, because there isn't much of anything to spend it on. I have a friend who works there quite often as a carpenter/general contractor. I tried to go as a radio operator/technician after I first got out of the military, but wasn't able to. I had loads of experience with the different systems in use there, in great shape physically, and used to working in shit environments with little contact outside of my immediate area. I seemed to check all of the necessary boxes, but I still wasn't able to get on.

If you do get on, just some tips my buddy passed on; load up a kindle with books, fill an external hd with shows, movies, and music. Bring extra batteries and shit to keep your electronics charged, and earbuds too. The commissary might not have the shit you need all of the time for electronics. There's almost no such thing as 9-5 regular hours there for most jobs. You could have shit loads of down time some days, and only getting a couple hours of rest others. Obviously day and night cycles are fucked there, so it takes some major adjustment. You will absolutely have a roommate too, so if you don't like that, don't go. You live in what are basically dorm rooms.

My buddy loves it and has been on enough to have wintered there as well. If this all sounds interesting to you, then I hope you get picked and enjoy it. Even if your are apprehensive about it, do it for a season for the experience.

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>>1073786
>They can't treat appendicitis well

They honestly can't treat one of the most common surgeries in the world?

>>1072980
If they are hiring for support staff then they probably mean working in the sewage plant. They box their shit in big plastic lined boxes and ship it out.

https://scienceroadshow.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/power-up-what-keeps-mcmurdo-going/

This is relevant to my interests.

>>1075479
FYI you don't need your appendix removed, but doctors who work in the winter do, so unless you're a physician you're all good.

Just so you know, it's because there was a Soviet doctor in Antarctica who had to remove his own appendix since he was on a skeleton staff on a station during winter.

>>1075472
How far did you get in the process? My understanding is that landing an interview can be extremely difficult, but once you get past that hurdle your chances go up dramatically.

>>1073199
Two of my drop-out ski buddies did a summer as dining stewards. You don't need manly skills to wipe tables and wash dishes.

They also said it was one of the easiest gigs they'd ever had. Lots of breaks, no long shifts, etc. They don't want to over work the support staff because it's too expensive to fly them out if they get hurt or burn out.

>>1075547
No interview unfortunately. I know the hiring personnel saw my resume thanks to my contractor buddy. I just lost out to guys with more experience in more fine details like soldering and shit like that. The guy that went out there had some computer certs as well.

>>1075494
>Just so you know, it's because there was a Soviet doctor in Antarctica who had to remove his own appendix since he was on a skeleton staff on a station during winter.

That was a small russian center, not McMurdo. McMurdo has dentists and doctors and can do surgery. There are 250 people in the winter and over 1200 in the summer.

>>1073463
did you cuck the locals with their Thai wives? good times

>>1075681
Government jobs are for cucks, lazy losers, parasites and the otherwise unemployable

>>1075472
Do you have any specifics on how much better the pay is?

Load up on certs, literally everything is useful. They are looking for people who can improvise with their skills.

Also, demonstrate you can deal with the conditions. They do not want to send you home...it is wildly expensive.

>>1078708
The military wishes to have a word with you...

>>1080471
The military has degraded it's standards to the point where most enlisted (and a large number of officers) are utter trash. There are obviously a lot of good people doing a great job in the military...but no longer is it really that impressive to simply have served.

when does hiring season start?

I know summer starts in october but is it too late to get hired for this season?

>>1078708
They were hired by a private company actually.

>>1082633
Feb/March. Unless you have a really in demand skill getting on for this season is gonna be really tough.

>>1080471
Just look at the Marines:
>hire tons of screw-ups and delinquents
>beat them into submission
>have them do things that don't need to be done
>pay them more than they would be worth in any other job
Voila! You just took someone who would be earning minimum wage and gave them enough handouts to make them middle-class, and without them actually benefitting society in any way. Now the unemployment and/or poverty numbers are kept in check.

>don't tell the government that I figured out their secret plot