Drastic Career Moves (Specifically Into the Oilfield)

[Ruffneck1320]

how many of you guys have made a move from one career field into another that can be considered drastic? I am asking because I am considering a move into the oilfield, which is a far stretch from what i am used to. i need feedback. help me out?

Like i said in my first post, the oilfield is a great place to work. I have enjoyed every day of my job, from throwing a spinning chain as a worm, to working 100ft in the air as a derrickhand, to my current position as a driller.

There is a high demand for SMART able bodied men in the oilfield right now, we need all the people we can get... the only thing you need to think about is what part of the oilfield you want to be employed in...

Snubbing unit (dangerous)
Roughneck (dangerous)
Work over rig (Semi dangerous)
Cementer ( not dangerous, but gone all the time)
Frac crew ( not as dangerous, but alot of HIGH pressure equipment)
Logger (not dangerous but gone all the time)
AND there are many other third party jobs that you can look into...

I am a Roughneck. More specifically, a driller i am the man that runs the drilling rig, I havent been home in a month and a half, due to my company being so short handed, YOU have to be prepared to work long hours at times... MY regular schedule is 7 days on and 7 days off, and i clear 100k a year, and i normally work 6 months out of the year

[crapstang]

<--- City Planner to Air Force Pilot.

seems reversed.

[crapstang]

me moneyGUSTA

[ZYouL8R]

<--- City Planner to Air Force Pilot.

[goofygrin]

Hell if you need to put some distance between you and the GF. One of the other Halliburton etechs I talked to said they shipped his ass overseas(Africa, I think). He made some serious coin and had no bills or time to spend it. Now he's back here still making good money and has a good cushion.

My father in law works for Halliburton and they shipped him to Algeria (4 weeks on, 4 weeks off) for the last few years. He just switched to a different division and he was in the shithole parts of the US (Houston ). He's in the UAE for the next couple weeks though.

He got a TON of hazard pay and had some crazy tax benefits as well (since they paid his Algerian taxes for him, it counted as both income and foreign taxes paid, so it worked out well for him).

[LS1Goat]

Go for it. People make career changes all the time. Sometimes the economy itself demands you either adapt or die. I can't tell you how many people I know that were working in restaurants after the dot.com crash.

I went from being a Paramedic to IT Web Design. The only limiting factor to learning a new vocation is you. Commit yourself. Dive in and learn something new. Don't look back.

[ImayBblack]

I work for a fracing company and i will say our field guys work 100 - 120 hrs a week. They make bad ass money for not having a degree, etc. but its long hard work.

As long as you are willing to work that many hours and travel quite a bit i say go for it. The industry is in high demand.

[GrayStangGT]

Not really, I've heard of someone getting chopped up in the spool on a rig and it was back to turning the bit within 24hrs. We got called out to that rig to fix some BS electrical stuff osha found in their investigation. Personally the only accident I've seen was a guy roll a hot oil rig right in front of me and die, appeared to have blown out a front tire at 70mph.

[71chevellejohn]

It's the first one, they are drilling like crazy around Garden City right now.

And they've got at least one opening....



too soon?

[runin90lx]

i went from selling auto/home insurance and into the oilfield. this was almost 8 years ago. i now make in one month more than i made in a year selling insurance. i average working about 20-23 days per month, 12 hour shifts MOST of the time. but usually 8-10 days are out of town.

i am a supervisor(motor hand) over down hole tools that are run on coil tubing. i am based out of east texas where i only do about 60% of my work. the other 40% is working in south texas. south tx is CRAZY busy right now. from what i have heard work in the barnett(dfw area) is slowing down. most of the guys at my company in that area are having to travel to south texas to work.

if i was new and wanting to get into the oilfield i would look at coil tubing or wireline. its alot less work than working on a rig and you will make just as much if not more than a rig hand. most of the coil hands start out at $15-18 hour plus a daily bonus of $100-250 depending on their position.

[GrayStangGT]

one of these

http://www.laredopetro.com/

http://www.laredo-oil.com/

It's the first one, they are drilling like crazy around Garden City right now.

[SMKR]

My degree is just business management but, thanks for the advice.

edit: I applied with CUDD but never heard anything back, that was almost 2 months ago..

yea CUDD just rolled in down here in south texas. Heard they pay well, but never see them recruiting. They are new to the area down here like most others.

Laredo is the oil company

10-4.

[JFurst]

Laredo is the oil company

one of these

http://www.laredopetro.com/

http://www.laredo-oil.com/

[GrayStangGT]

wow RIP. I wonder what lease that was on, Marathon, El-Paso, SM, etc.

Laredo is the oil company

[SMKR]

15,000 psi can kill someone pretty quick. It is more likely with the old school guys who do not respect the equipment they are working around. These guys say when its their time they cannot do anything about it and it hasnt killed them yet. Actually heard someone saying that the other day.

I wish I could show you some of the accidents that have happened around here. See 3" iron cut like it was paper or drill pipe bent in half. There is a reason these guys get paid more than your average Joe.

yea, our lines run up to 10,000 psi, which is still very dangerous. The treating area is a dangerous area to be in when pressure is on the line. We had a guy lose his hand Monday, he works over in the wellhead division and had his hand where it shouldnt be and he lost it.