[Killerb]

It's great if you are in the right program. Here in PG I am currently taking my 4th year in college. The course itself counts as my firing time so I can write my part A and B and have my full ticket by the end of the course.
Then our college has a deal with canfor that they will hire 16 students from my class to work over the summer to get firing time for our 3rd. If you do it through correspondence you have to find somewhere that will give you firing time.
You can basically work anywhere. Wherever steam, pressure vessels or boilers are being used you can work in. You can work in small plants like the one in my college for heating water, big plants for creating power, pulp mills use steam boilers for many reasons, the oil sands use steam to soften up the deposits, breweries (everyone's dream job lol) use pressure vessels for their fermentation etc. The list goes on and on.
Just make sure to get your 3rd class as 4th is harder to find jobs with. Sometimes though the companies might be looking for 3rds but will hire 4ths if they can't find any 3rds.
Chances are you wont reach the panel for a few years. You will probably be the person going out taking samples and doing the dirty work for the higher up engineers.
From what I've heard there is heavy lifting and lots of confined spaces. I've been lifting weights and losing weight so I can move some heavy valves and fit in a few confined spaces.
The course itself here isnt that hard at all. The lowest mark in my class is 80% and we are nowhere from geniuses. If you have any more questions just private message me.
I'll be taking my part A exam in Dec. 13th.