A Career At Cedar Point

Just a funny (and rather uneducated) side note about engineers. According to a friend I had in college, one couldn't work in rides in the summer as a ride op unless one had an engineering degree.

You should set your goals a little bit higher. But, then again with low goals you will never be disappointed

What do you think a depertment heads make?

JJN13 said:
If my memory serves me correctly, there was a job posting for an engineer specializing in fatigue analysis and vibration analysis on CP's website for year-round employment about a year ago. Therefore I'm assuming Cedar Fair does have in-house engineering.

Both Monty Jasper and the new guy Eric have BoS in Mechanical Engineering. Basically the listing was to work with the engineering firms to improve safety and reliabity of their rides and to report directly to Monty. Technically they are just engineers in a rather large maintenance department as opposed to engineers in an engineering department.

It's actually rare that they post jobs for external hiring. They do it because they don't have qualified personel internally and they have to go outside. So luck is required to be at the right place at the right time and be more qualified than anyone else. I know someone that had the requirements and bid for the job. He even got to the second round of interviews. Eric turned out to have a couple years of experience over him and got the job.

And what a job it is. I think it’s the hardest working position at Cedar Point. *Sarcasm*

Funny story: Someone dressed up as Eric for Halloween last year at Louie’s. This guy really pulled it off to.

*** Edited 3/20/2006 11:09:15 AM UTC by 99er***

Is it hard to become a maintenance worker at Cedar Point? I would imagine not because of how often some of the rides break-down...

You have to have the skills and then join the union

the rides breaking down has nothing to do with how hard it would be to get a job as a maintenance worker......I have heard that it is hard to get a job in maintence--you have to be union and usually know someone to get referred

It's too bad that the "maintence" group (and others) feel a union is needed. They're not, when you work for a company that treats you fair.

Is Cedar Fair a company that treats it's employees fairly? And don't start in with the low pay for seasonals. You know what the pay is before you hire in. And those wouldn't be union positions, anyway.

MrScott

Well, my battle plan is to go to college for more educational based maintenance training and not so much an apprenticeship...

And, while attending college (In canada) I would work at Cedar Point as a seasonal employee(Ride Host) and get to know people...

Hopefully I'll get lucky and land a maintenance job at Cedar Point, that would be amazing... plus I'm well fit for the job... That's all I'm going to say.

Moving down to the U.S.A. would be a pain in the butt though...

shaniapatches said:I have heard that it is hard to get a job in maintence--you have to be union and usually know someone to get referred

Not necessarily. You just have to apply. As far as skills go, you just have to know your basic tools. Nothing to complex. I have known a few seasonal maintenance guys that didn’t know to much before working there, but were hired back every season because they learned what they needed to know at work.

Its not to incredibly hard to get into seasonal maintenance. You still have to join the Union but that’s after you have worked 400 hours. Spend a couple of seasons doing that and wait for a full time position to open. That’s how a friend of mine did it. A lot of the full time maintenance staff is older, so retirement comes often in that department. But to start off in full time is a lot harder. Unless their looking for a particular skill, it wont happen. Just like every other department, start out at the bottom.

A company wants what is best for the bottom line. A union wants what is best for the workers that it represents. The best answer is often in between. I know we all love Cedar Point, but to say that workers should trust any company is a bit naive.

MrScott said:
It's too bad that the "maintence" group (and others) feel a union is needed. They're not, when you work for a company that treats you fair.

I completely agree.

Screamomatic said:

Well, my battle plan is to go to college for more educational based maintenance training and not so much an apprenticeship...

Don't rule an apprenticeship out, it's probably the better option. The key is experience. You'll have internships and co-op's, but a skilled tradesman has the real hands-on knowledge and leadership. There are thousands of formen in maintenance have started their careers as apprentices. I would hire a skilled journeyman over a college graduate for a manager of maintenance any day.

College is not a bad choice, I'm a graduate myself. But as an employee of a company that works in construction, I have met some of the greatest skilled trades workers that could out do some engineers and project managers.

Walt,

I am not naive. Believe me, I have seen the best of both worlds, and the one without unions and a company that treats and rewards it's folks is the better one. I work (at least yesterday) for an automotive supplier...need I say more?

Case closed. I hate to see this turn into a pro/anti union thread.

MrScott

These days you need to know more than your basic mechanics to work on rides. They are a sophisticated blend of hydraulics, pnuematic's and electronics. Long gone are the days of manually controled rides, where the most complicated components were an automatic reset timer and a magnetic starter. PLC's rule today and they are a subject all unto themselves.

Well, going to college while being a seasonal maintenance worker is a good choice too... I'd get hands on experince and educational based experince.

Because I don't think I'll learn how to fix dragster by hands-on training alone...

Btw, I think the technical term for a maintenance worker is a Millwright...

and the one without unions and a company that treats and rewards it's folks is the better one

That's a blanket statement that simply isn't true for all situations. To say that unions are always bad is being naive. I'd hazard a guess to say you've had a bad union experience. I'm actually employed by a national labor union, but I wouldn't make a blanket statement that you should never trust the company (though I know people who would). But spend a week working on the railroad and then let me know how you'd do it without a union standing behind you. It's because of a union that locomotive engineers, driving a freight train weighing thousands of tons through residential neighborhoods, get 8 hours of rest. Trust that company? No thanks.

I was also a member of the union for six years when I worked at Cedar Point. On the other hand, I'm a staunch Republican and have a brother who worked in management for years. To say that I understand both sides of the issue, even as it applies to specifically to the park, is an understatement. It is just way too complex to generalize like you've done.

*** Edited 3/21/2006 1:15:01 AM UTC by Walt***

OK, Here we go.

I was refering to automotive unions, none other, since I don't have expierence with them.

Sorry if what I have posted is too general. That's just the way it is.

MrScott

I don't really know what you're looking to do at Cedar Point, but I was cruising the Geauga Lake website and they are looking for a full time ride mechanic and an electrician... Like someone said here, usually these positions are hard to come by, and there is always the possibility of being transferred to another park down the road as they are both owned by CF. If interested, send your resume to (no offense if he reads this, but this is an unfortunate name) Tony Bologna...

I know that last year Geauga Lake was crying for maintence personnel. There is always room to start out seasonal and then end up full-time