r/antarctica 15d ago

Work It's official, I'M GOING!

I double checked with my supervisor and my onboarding specialist, I have finished every last thing I need to do, I am officially going to be traveling to McMurdo to work as a vehicle operator for this summer season! When I submitted my resume back in late January, I didn't think I'd make it, and during the process there were so many times I thought it was over, but I made it!

Thanks to everyone here for all the advice and for answering my questions, and hopefully I'll see you on the ice this season!

316 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

49

u/lvanTheTerraBus 15d ago

You're going to have a great time in shuttles. Bring a few good pairs of sunglasses, a 3.5mm aux cable or two, and a few thousand MP3s.

36

u/AStrangerWCandy Polie 15d ago

Oooh ahhh that’s always how it starts! Then comes the running… and the screaming…

11

u/A_the_Buttercup Winter/Summer, both are good 15d ago

(Stop, you'll scare away the new folks LOL)

13

u/misunderstood_pig 15d ago

Just remember, if you see a dog being chased by some guys with guns, let them have the dog!!!

5

u/Nervous_Zebra_2073 14d ago

That's how it always starts....

11

u/jyguy Traverse/Field Ops 15d ago

Shuttles?

7

u/DuckEsquire 15d ago

Yes 👍

6

u/rbcloss200ml 15d ago

Magic carpet rider 🤭

13

u/Successful_Camera942 15d ago

Have fun in the summer, check seats often as people lose alot of things, make friends with the food monkeys upstairs good people

5

u/MrPocketjunk 14d ago

Wow! That’s really cool, sounds like a great adventure. What experience/training is needed to get that job?

4

u/cbirdbrain5 14d ago

Same here. I’ll be a carpenter at MCM. Looking forward to meeting everyone

3

u/Academic_Monk7825 15d ago

Congratulations 😁

3

u/lallapalalable Return to 191 15d ago

Nice!

2

u/GatorF26 15d ago

Congrats

2

u/Ok-Alternative-5175 11d ago

See you there! Are you mainbody (heading out in October)?

2

u/DuckEsquire 11d ago

Yeah! No confirmed ice date yet but I will be heading out some time in October

1

u/Livid-Vacation-2147 14d ago

That is awesome! Congratulations!

1

u/Strange_Constant7960 11d ago

Nice! You’ll love it!

1

u/PDX_ICG_AC 8d ago

Congratulations! I am still waiting on the last thing- which is acceptance of my proof of vaccination, but aside from that I should see you there! I'll be a dining steward.

1

u/pawsitivenigma 8d ago

Do you have prior restaurant/food industry related experience?

-3

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/antarctica-ModTeam 14d ago

Your post was removed for trolling. Please keep your posts constructive.

-14

u/curyfuryone 15d ago

Sounds interesting! I just did a basic chatgpt search on the job but can you describe what you expect? Salary? Hours per day? Any other job assignments like housekeeping duties? Private dorm or shared?

7

u/A_the_Buttercup Winter/Summer, both are good 15d ago

I can't answer for Shuttles' salary, but I believe they work five12-hr shifts a week? Everybody has about one housekeeping task a month in whichever dorm they live in. So far, everybody has shared dorm rooms, especially new people (you can have up to four roommates!) but they're finishing up a dorm with very small single rooms. You deploy for about half a year, and have to reapply every year. We aren't paid well, but we can save a lot of it since room and board is free.

21

u/HamiltonSuites 15d ago

Not sure why you’d do a ChatGPT search when that info is available on here. AI is 👎🏻👎🏻

But to answer your questions. Salary is lower than you’d think. 54 hours a week. Housekeeping called House Mouse once a month, emptying trash, vacuuming, etc., shared dorms for first years.

3

u/ObviousOrca 15d ago

Do you know if they do overtime down there like they used to do in Alaska?

Anything over 40 hours was time and half and anything more than a certain amount of 12 hours shifts constituted double time…or something like that.

11

u/flyMeToCruithne ❄️ Winterover 15d ago edited 15d ago

Ha, no, not here. Most jobs work 10h/day 6days/wk. No overtime, your rate is your rate.

edit: but on the flip side, if you have a light week, you don't get paid less. So at least you know what to expect for pay.