BC Program Outline

Natural Gas Boot Camps

The purpose of this document is to outline the delivery of a natural gas technician boot camp over a multi-week period; a partnership between CEWD, MEA, and the sponsoring utility. CEWD provides the structure, subject matter experts, curriculum review, and logistics support. MEA provides content, subject matter expertise, logistics, and possibly instructors. The sponsoring company provides location, instructors, and boot camp participants.

Benefit to the industry:  At the end of the boot camp, the sponsoring company has a pool of candidates ready to compete for a career in the natural gas industry.

SAMPLE SIX WEEK outline based on a Natural Gas Technician Outline:

Week 1

Science and Technology              2 MEA courses

Basic Components Knowledge    2 MEA courses

Customer Focus                           2 MEA courses

Week 2

Locating Gas Structures               7 MEA courses

Excavation and Backfilling            6 MEA courses

Week 3

Piping                                          12 MEA courses

Week 4

Installation and Maintenance

of Gas Main & Service Piping      5 MEA courses

Valves                                          4 MEA courses

Week 5

Cathodic Protection/Corrosion   10 MEA courses

Week 6

Final Exams and Hands-On Evaluations    CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

The natural gas boot camp consists of a ten week program which incorporates the Energy Industry Fundamentals, Math boot camp, resume and interviewing skills and natural gas technician specific skills such as safety, piping, valves, excavation, customer service and corrosion. The program is an introductory course for individuals who are interested in the natural gas industry, but have limited knowledge of the work. The program will provide students with an understanding of the principles of natural gas, how to use natural gas in a manner that is safe for the public, and the types of tools and equipment used in the industry.  Below is a description of each of the modules that are included in the program in the recommended order of presentation. The program is an instructor led online program available from MEA through the Center for Energy Workforce Development’s (CEWD) curriculum website.

MEA will manage the registration for the program. The following are the basic steps required for a community/technical college or utility to register and the process by which the curriculum provider can register students in the classes.

  1. A link to a Natural Gas Boot Camp Session Enrollment page will be on the Curriculum section of the CEWD home page at www.cewd.org. The host company or educational institution will download the enrollment form and instructions for $700 payment.
  2. Community/technical college or organization that will be providing the training will become a MEA Partner in Education (PIE). They will need to complete the required PIE enrollment form and pay the annual $700 fee.
  3. MEA will create a system level specific to that PIE. This level will contain all the required courses for the boot camp, and will contain a number of licenses equal to the maximum class size. A single license fee will provide a user license for one year. The PIE will be required to pay for the license in advance, and will be responsible for assigning that license to various users throughout the year.
  4. The PIE will be administrator of the system, which includes adding new users to the system, assigning courses, correcting courses/resources, running reports, resetting test scores, removing users, etc.
  5. The administrator will need to decide on a policy for adding/removing students and maintaining student records. The EnergyU license is good for one year from date of purchase. The license can be assigned to a single user for the entire year, or at the end of a boot camp session the user records can be exported and the user removed, allowing the license to be reassigned to a new user at the start of a new session.

Training:

  1. MEA has a variety of training materials already available via the web. There is an online Admin training course and there are captivate videos that walk you, step-by-step, through procedures.
  2. MEA will provide detailed boot camp-specific documentation, including directions for accessing Administrator training materials. A 30 minute conference call between MEA and PIE Administrators will cover any additional questions administrators might still have after completing the training.

System Set-up:

  1. MEA will ensure that the boot camp PIE administrator has a login, the correct number of licenses are available in EnergyU, and the required courses are available. The Administrator will add the users and assign the required curriculum to the students. The curriculum modules will always be available to the Administrator, and it will be up to the Administrator to make them available at the appropriate time for the users.