David Dempsey ChatterHigh Profile

Background

I grew up in the South End of Saint John and enjoyed spending my time in with my friends at the Boys and Girls Club. I was always very involved in sports and recreational activities at the club.

At 21 years old, I started working for Irving Oil in the service department. In this role, I handled a variety of customer and technician calls which varied from booking service calls for broken equipment to maintaining customer equipment. This team was responsible for relaying vital information from the customers to the service technicians to ensure they could fix the equipment efficiently.

Irving was an excellent choice for me as there were so many opportunities for growth. While I worked for the service department, I took an interest in learning from the technicians about troubleshooting problems. I spoke to my manager about my aspirations to become a technician, and from here I enrolled in the gas technician course which was offered at New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) in Saint John in 2008.

Career

Once I graduated from NBCC in 2009, I worked in the gas industry for a couple of companies in the Saint John area, until I had the opportunity to move to Inuvik, a small town in the Northwest Territories. I stayed there for two years and worked in the natural gas industry, until finally securing a job back with Irving Oil in the Maritimes.  

Irving has helped me achieve many goals for my role, such as obtaining multiple gas licences, including my G1-L endorsement which allows me to work on a variety of equipment in the field, such as fireplaces, cookstoves, furnaces, boilers, or even asphalt plant roof top units for commercial kitchens. We also work on vaporizers or dispensers. I have even been given the opportunity to acquire a Propane Plant Operator Licence (PPO1) which allows me to run the Bulk Plant (distribution centre).  

I love the job path that I chose because it is very fulfilling to be able to go to a customer’s home and supply them with heat, hot water and their basic everyday needs. I enjoy seeing how happy they are to receive this service. You get to meet so many people and make so many new friends.