[edn88]

I was born and raised in Northern BC, so

Benefits
- Summer is brilliant up there - sun comes up really early and goes down really late
- Starting out in the field can be a huge career advantage later on when you come back to head office and actually know something about the operations first hand
- if you are an outdoors person, there is a lot to do (fishing, hunting)
- lots of sports as well - softball tourneys run regularly (and is a great place to actually meet women up there)
- Northern living allowance - often times companies pay for a northern living allowance - to help offset cost of living

Drawbacks
- Winter sucks unless you play hockey or ski (and if you play hockey, be prepared for a more physical level of hockey)
- Culture - none really
- Edmonton is the closest big city (and a large number of Norther BC folks flock to Edmonton on weekends)
- The Oilers (and Canucks) are the hockey team of choice up there.
- 7% PST
- Liberal Government

Miscelaneous (you decide if it is a pro or con)
- Single women up there are either young and hot or old and not (but the married women are sometimes promiscuous)
- You definitely need a truck (not just for show - lifestyle)
- Northern BC is more like Northern AB than the rest of BC (in fact if they could they would join AB in a heartbeat)
- golfing is good up there, but really short season.
- drinking is a prerequisite
- learn proper use of colorful metafores (especially gratuitous use of the f word)

Summary - If you are a young guy and the job seems right, give it a go - it is not as bad place and if you have not lived in a small town, it is a great learning experience. If you like your martinis, art galleries and Friday at the theatre, this is probably not the move for you.