113 thoughts on “So You Want To Work On An Oil Rig?”

1. of make $50-100k in some office job and not have to worry about drowning. I think the choice is obvious

   1. Or make 1000$ a night offering your spread butt to johns on the street. I think the choice is obvious

      1. r u aware?

         1. when will it be mine turn…

   2. Hey man, different strokes for different folks and all that 😉

   3. Not, its really not an obvious choice. I love that you have found what works for you but it may not work for me or others. Some of us want the chance to drown. Some of us want to feel the hair stand up on the back of our necks, feel fear, exhilaration, and living a bit more on the edge. This is why some of us join the military and others don’t. This is why some of us get more excited about risk as it is its own reward.
      Again, glad the comfortable desk job works for you. Do you man. But for some, it is a slow death, regardless of how much money we make.

2. I would do it.

3. Excellent article!
   I can vouch for the value of learning to stand on your own two feet through removing yourself from your comfortable environment. Once you push through the initial acclimatization, you start working on yourself, and get smarter and stronger. Pushing yourself really opens your eyes and gets you into areas where you see and learn a lot more than you would being an office drone.
   I’ve been seeing opportunities like this one and jobs like welding where you can make a good living and have a superior working life. As someone that’s been in an office for his career, I’d recommend you younger men seriously consider opportunities like this. Office politics and ass kissing is not as much fun as it seems.:)

   1. in the military, you can have it all: physical discomfort, danger, office politics and ass kissing.

4. Working offshore rigs is nothing like working a rig within the continental US. This article doesn’t apply at all to what a man will experience working, say, the Marcellus shale in Washington PA.
   If you want to know what working a rig is like, that’s easy. Put on a snow suit, cover your self in axle grease, go outside on either the hottest or coldest day of the year, work with bare steel while standing next to a jet turbine. It’s dirty, cold/hot, and NOISY.
   Pay’s good, but govt. regulations mean companies are scared shitless of fines and lawsuits which means you’ll be fired fired for anything.
   The one thing he got right about working in the USA is the danger. Guys die. Burned. Crushed. Falls. Poisoned. Maimed. Dismembered…
   There’s a reason why pay’s good.
   Oh, and your coworkers are NOT mechanical engineers. Traditionally roughnecks have been pure, 100% white trash. It’s better than it was 10 years ago, but don’t expect them to be good company.

   1. I also noticed he thinks that he can do whatever he wants as a father gone for six months.
      For one, whether he is married, or not, the woman has all sorts of ways to ensure that his paycheck is well spent before he ever gets to get his kid on their first adventure.
      Also, He assumes, if he does marry, that he will not have a gaggle full of committments to return to.
      Also, whether she takes him to court right away, or waits until he discovers her with the neighbor, is a sure fire way for his oil rig check to go to attorneys.
      As I have heard it said: “Don’t brag about tomorrow! You never know what a day may bring.”

      1. Hahahaa.
         I as wise enough to get married in a country where men still have basic rights. I also control my own finances as my wife is fucking hopeless with money (surprise) and she has fully agreed to me to keeping my money in a different country.

         1. Details. Please.

         2. Go to the Philippines, find a nice family girl, get married and keep all your money in your home country.

         3. I’ve been trying to turn my skills in talents into something i can sell online as of late and learn other skills i can use abroad. After dealing with these crazy bitches, i’ve decided to get my passport when my taxes come in cause i really can’t deal with this shit no more man.

         4. Seconded.

   2. Never worked in the US, so can’t say. I know people who have done/do though and they don’t seem to think it’s as bad as that but I agree there are probably some differences. I also heard the pay in the US is a little lower on the scale of things because of the high supply of qualified workers.

      1. The qualifications are lower. They pretty much hire anyone at entry level. If you’re good and get yourself a rig, as the tool pusher our guys were making $100k, plus company truck, everything reimbursed, and bonuses. This was several years ago when I was in the industry. I understand it’s changing. As far as I can tell, you need to know someone personally to break in even now. At least this is how the Midwest works. Texas and other regions it’s different.

         1. Entry level guys were i am are making 100k, toolpusher is probably on 250k+, but this is offshore deepwater drilling so as some have said, a different ballgame.

   3. This definitely is from the offshore perspective, which usually tends to be a little higher up the food chain. Most of the rough necks I knew are not financially savvy at all. 3 divorces with child support, a pimped out $70k diesel truck, and broke half the time.

      1. You know it seems almost a given… I just realized a pattern. Just about every successful man has “a few divorces behind him” and my conditioned (by media no doubt) response is to think that perhaps the hardships of being successful – the work hours and all that – is the cause of divorces.
         But I know fellows who are not successful but also work their asses off and are at it all of the time. But they do not have divorces in their history.
         It’s not women being cunts like “Oh he does not spend enough time with me” (while she spends his money anyway) it’s women being even bigger cunts and for the most part gold-digging but without the stripper heels and hot bodies. They are simply using the courts and maybe their uterus.
         It should be prepended to every description of a career path for every man: you will only rack up serious wealth from this IF YOU DO NOT GET MARRIED AND/OR HAVE KIDS. GET MARRIED OR HAVE KIDS AND YOU WILL BE JUST AS BROKE AS IF YOU WORKED AT WALMART YOUR WHOLE LIFE.

      2. Our good guys were just like you described. The rest were illiterate low lifes; guys that would get paid Monday and be asking for an advance on Tuesday. We once had a crew filling bags with propane and huffing it.
         Low lives man.

      3. I remember hearing of a doc or reading an article on oilfield wives. Basically their man slaves all day for months at a time and they piss his paycheck away and fuck whoever they want

   4. Sounds good. When do I start?

      1. The company I worked for had unbelievable turnover. You can probably start tomorrow.
         😉

         1. Was it in North Dakota, by chance?
            I know a few vets who are desperate for work.

         2. Is this offer available for US citizens only ?

         3. Pennsylvania

         4. I don’t know.

   5. I knew a fellow who worked offshore rigs in his “youth” and in his mid 30s he was able to retire. I think he was also a technical diver or underwater welder.
      Of course the “key” to his retirement was NOT getting married during this time. He was single and simply had so much money saved up he could choose not to work any more. I think he eventually invested it or started up some venture capitalism on his own (lost contact years ago).

5. The problem with such jobs is that when you want to eventually bow out, you’re job skills are so niche and location specific it’s difficult to find decent paying work when you get back to “civilization” and want to stay there.
   At least with I.T. skills, Accounting, Network Administration, Plumbing, Carpentry, Electrician, etc. you can take those to any city of size and have some decent opportunities.
   Basically, unless you were brought up to have a strong backbone to hard blue-collar work in rain-or-shine, thunderstorm, tidal wave etc. conditions (which 98% of Millennials don’t) this kind of industry will chew you up and spit you out raw.

   1. There are lots of guys who transition from rigs to office work. It’s definitely not as transferable as IT, accounting, etc. However if you are willing to live somewhere where oil and gas is a big industry (Texas/Alberta/Denver) the opportunity is there. Currently the industry is struggling so anybody interested in it should wait until oil comes back in a year or two.

      1. I transitioned from industrial mechanic to reliability engineering and predictive maintenance without any additional education (except for a few company-sponsored training seminars.) It’s an interesting field that’s portable to many types of businesses. You use IR, vibration analysis, ultrasound, and various other tools to assess machinery conditions. It’s a good blend of field and office work that pays pretty well ($1500-$2500 a day if you own your own gear.) It’s worth looking into as a career option.

   2. “Basically, unless you were brought up to have a strong backbone to hard blue-collar work in rain-or-shine, thunderstorm, tidal wave etc. conditions (which 98% of Millennials don’t) this kind of industry will chew you up and spit you out raw”
      Bring it.

   3. why would you bow out?
      If the economy tanked sure, but otherwise I can’t think of another job I’d want to do?

   4. That’s the rub. There’s work out there for people willing to WORK. Problem is that a lot of people want a paycheck without any sweat.

   5. definitely not IT-level understanding of computers, but I do computer work keeping an inventory moving and making tickets charging for what I load that I can assure you I can transition into something like that

6. I have always been intrigued by this type of work but I never know when or how to get started! Your thoughts???

   1. Get a skill that’s needed on rigs and have a look on some big jobsites like oilcareers.com and see what they’re looking for. If you can, put yourself in an area where this is big business and make some connections.

   2. There are websites like rigzone.com that show companies looking for all types of tradesman. Look for someone needing a roustabout, that’s entry level position on a rig and you can work your way up to being an operator or meeting other people and moving on to something else

7. You taught English in 07? I teach English now. I’d love to do this. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for opportunities.
   Go a month without sex? Check.
   Deal with loneliness? Check.
   Disciplined and challenging? What worthwhile job isnt?
   I’ve worked a 21 hour work day with out a break before. I’ll have to look for oil rig work.

   1. Just join the Army already. Sure, they’re cutting top brass, but there is always a need for more 11B’s (pop-up targets for the enemy), as it appears that America will be at way forever. Great pay, benefits, travel, stories, etc., plus free housing and clothes

8. Getting a job in the oil rigs is one of the most toughest industries to get a job in.
   The only way to get a job now in the oil rigs is through connections, networking and nepotism.
   However, if you can get in, then its a golden ticket to wealth building.

   1. 100% agree. Day labour agencies will also help you get a foot in the door for a few days/weeks at a time, and if you show you have what it takes, you will get in.

   2. The exception is if you can show up during a boom time in a new field in area few are willing to work. That’s how I got my job in North Dakota. Of course there’s a lot more nepotism in established fields like Lousinana and Alaska.

   3. They want to ensure that they are not hiring oblivious carefree idiots. country or farm folks getting out of farming are ideal. People who work with their hands and are able to think on their feet with the sophistication in the modern equipment

9. Help a brother out and get me a job on an oil field/rig ; ) I’d legit give someone 10% (maybe more) of my first year salary if they got me a job on one.

   1. wait for the price of oil to rebound, then start looking at Nabors or Patterson’s websites

   2. Ensco, Diamond, PArker, Spartan (offshore drilling rigs)
      Vessels go to Chouest (pronounced shwest), Tidewater, Harvey Gulf, SEACOR,
      Internet availability means you have no excuse to not know this

10. Good article. Proper work for a man.

11. This sounds like great experience for guys who have the proper mindset for it–I am too old and too fond of comfort these days. 😉
    What are the economics of it now? I would tend to be a bit careful (unless one’s opportunity cost was low), because low oil prices would seem to me to lead to layoffs, at least in American fields, as the price of extraction in US fields is (as I understand it), higher than in other areas.

    1. This is a good point. At the minute rigs in America and some higher cost of extraction per barrel countries are feeling the pinch. As rigs shut down and supply decreases, the price should slowly creep back up and things will get ticking again.

    2. No man’s education is complete until he has worked at least one job that involved heavy manual labor.

       1. Been there, done that, back when I was young and had a young man’s back. 😉

    3. I work in the oil patch in Canada and right now there are very few rigs going, and a lot of guys are out of work. A large portion come from other provinces though, so they just move back home when this happens and go back to fishing or whatnot. The divorce rate for field guys seems to be about 90%, but otherwise it’s at least as good as the offshore stuff that the author was talking about.

       1. I have noticed the massive divorce rate. I’ve also noticed the guys who are divorced seem not to give one fuck as they are knee deep in 25 year old strippers and weekends in Thailand and Vietnam – Maybe it’s just expats in Asia.

12. Living in shitty camps for months at a time without access to quality internet would be difficult for me. I guess I am just too lazy.

    1. Internet can be a hard one to deal with, as can trying to keep in touch with family and friends back home. I guess you have to choose what’s more important for yourself.

13. I assume it is better to work on an offshore rig as opposed to say, North Dakota? You dont pay rent to the rig owner, correct? I see there is money to be made working rigs on land, but the lack of housing during this boom has led to NYC- level rents(and youre renting a shitty mobile home in the middle of nowhere). thanks for any feedback

    1. You don’t pay anything offshore, I worked out in the gulf welding pipe and it’s easy cause I liked having a routine and working a lot so you just put away money and save and federal law is you are paid a minimum of 12 hours a day regardless if you work or not so that’s 84 hour a week checks but the government rapes you on taxes.

14. I would add more words of caution for young men considering going to the rigs. 1) Don’t let the money slip through your fingers, oil is very boom and bust 2) blue collar work punishes your body. Overuse injuries can catch up with you eventually. 3) Move up or get out. 21st century America has no mercy for blue collar workers who reach the end of their shelf life. So if you choose the oilfield path, make sure you are getting promoted upwards.

    1. oil prices not doing too well lately…. rig count cratering… the bubble is over (for now).

15. Nice article,but you should correct a few mistakes: “I got to know some people involved”; the link to your blog doesn’t send me to it, it sends me back to this article.”This is a cutthroat business where mistakes are not tolerated”;”I wake up every morning”; “a day’s work”; “for eight hours of sleep”;One of the worst qualities a man can have- if it’s negative it cannot be a quality. It’s a character flaw in this situation. “bads I’ve mentioned” . That’s what I’ve picked up on first glance. Did not mean to bash you in any way, just trying to help you on your way to becoming a better writer. Great article and have a nice day!

    1. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quality

       1. Ok,my bad, sorry for that mistake. Good to know 😀

          1. No problem. It can be difficult to guard oneself from marketing speak these days.

    2. A quality is just an attribute of someone or something it can be either positive or negative. Which is why a product advertised as “quality” without any adjectives is weasel marketing.

16. 100k+ a year, Gyms on the rig, 6 months off? Where the fuck do I sign up?

    1. Ensco, Diamond, Parker, Hercules, Spartan.
       Those are drilling companies but there are vessel companies as well.
       Google to find out….

17. Why can’t the oil company hire a couple local prostitutes to live on board the rig and service its men? Why is the company so thoughtless toward the cock needs of its loyal and hard-working men? Please answer

    1. Bitches on platforms would cause more problems than they solve. They should never have allowed women on ships in the US navy.

       1. Though I’m skeptical that rape exists. Im pretty sure women on a submarine would get raped.

          1. Thoughtful shipmates would open up these girls to the world of gang bangs… but most of the time its every man for himself lol.

    2. If you’re working offshore in Indonesia you don’t need hookers. When you take vacation time onshore the local women will make you feel like a rock star, and you won’t have to pay them. You’re not in a culture where any skinny white woman is pedestalized like Paris Hilton. You might need a wing man to help you get women out your of room in the morning who don’t want to leave. Yes, its the world’s largest muslim country. No, they aren’t uptight about sex as long as you learn basic rules and don’t embarrass them in public. Bahasa uses roman characters and is one of the easiest asian languages. But if you really want to pay for massage with happy ending, they’re fairly open about that.

    3. There are land rigs in Indonesia where there are literally hundreds upon hundreds off brothels in the vicinity to service the men at night. You just can’t fly 50 hookers on a chopper offshore, imagine the headlines if it went down in the ocean. lol.

    4. Who are you talking about? These are huge companies that don’t really give a rats ass about the employees. They’ll bring in the strong, sharp men with good pay but that’s where their loyalty ends…

18. Getting a job working offshore is more difficult from working onshore. Its easier to get hired onshore, more rigs, more job openings. Offshore jobs are more selective. They don’t want any mental defects or beginners out there in the middle of the water, too difficult to replace. But working onshore, you might be able to drive home to a real bed.

19. I’m an industrial automation/control system engineer. So I spend time on customer sites commissioning and starting systems that i have designed and programmed. I( am very familiar and comfortable with working 12 hour days and living a gym/reading lifestyle. As long as there is a gym I can work out in (ideally a swim pool for lap swimming as well), I am happy.
    I know guys who have worked on rigs. It is dangerous work. it is probably the most dangerous work you can find, outside of being in a combat zone. You do not want to go into this work without an appreciation of the dangers involved.

    1. If you’ve been to places like Midland, TX you will have noticed all of the billboard ads featuring law firms looking to represent injured oil rig workers in lawsuits. This alone should tell you something about the inherent danger of such work.

20. Have you all not been paying attention to the news? With gas and oil prices lower than they’ve been since I can ever remember, oil companies are gonna have to start making cutbacks, which means firing people and not hiring people. I’d love to work on a rig, but now is not the time. Maybe 4 or 5 years ago, but not now.

    1. I read some news about oil going down to $10/barrel. That would bankrupt lots of oil producing countries and cause revolutions and bring crazies to the surface. Hope opec get their heads out of the sand.

       1. Aint happening. No one is drilling at that price. They werent drilling for that price from 86 to 99.
          The price dropped because of a 2pct supply glut and a lot of exploration on deck. A 2pct shortage will shoot it up to whatever price will cut use and as we learned in 08 oil is as elastic as fuck.
          It crashed in 09 to 36 in 6 months time or so for a hot minute then it rocketed back up. I was young and i had debt, but i took a strike.
          This time around i saw the 6 month crash. i put 27k in oil etfs a day before bottom but i got scared and didnt put in the other 13k until it already shot up 20pct to 59. I listened to fear of asshats saying it would go lower. Instead of being up 8k im up 3 or 4.
          long term anything under 70 is good because it may go up to 80 to 120 again. Afterall, the cheap easy to access oil is past peak. Short term buy anything under 60 because its going to level out at 70 to 75. Im no stock analyst but that what my obsevations tell me.

          1. It depends on how determined the saudis are to punish other opec members for cheating. The saudis also want to cripple the fracking competition in america. Look what happened to Russia in the last year. Its boom / bust business.

21. In Canada, (Alberta) the rig (land) industry is amazing for a single man. Some deckhands will make over 150$ per year, and it goes up from there. That said, as the other notes, divorce is pretty common. The woman feels “lonely” with all “her” money, finds a side guy, keeps her husbands money and leaves. Not an oddity at all.
    You also see alot of men buying worthless gadgets, with no ambitions for the future. You want a Chevy 3500 Duramax HD today? Swell! your kids will never have money for a college education.
    The main takeaway I have from all this is to justify your effort by making a plan for your LIFE, not for your toys.
    Side: I worked the oil patch for a couple years in a variety of positions. I squandered a lot of my money (ex wife) and just ended up putting myself if more debt, despite the $2000 per week or what-have-you.

22. Rigs aren’t the same as they used to be. Now there is a very real chance that some untrained immigrant kills you through sheer stupidity.

23. only work in the oilfield if youre single. All the married guys I worked with, their wives would fuck around on them since they knew theyd be gone long periods at a time. And once she fucks around, she still gets alimony from your hard work.
    Making 80k or more is useless if wife, children and taxes saps it all away from you.

24. Any Mudloggers on here?
    Does anyone know how many wells actually use a mudlogger? I can never find a good percentage stat on that.
    So for about 1500 wells drilling in USA, how many are using a mudlogger?

25. Article is misleading, quality of life in this profession is trash.
    – the people are uneducated garbage. You’d do better hanging out in a halfway house
    – the “six months off” is actually more like “six months of mandatory training”
    – you can’t see the stars, the thing is lit up like a christmas tree
    – your land based “friends” are quick to move on any females you attract
    – your skills don’t transfer to anything else. you are one screw up, accusation, or personality conflict away from unemployment
    – most of your money goes to fixing the problems that accompany this profession
    – regulatory requirements get tighter and tighter every year, almost impossible to comply with them now
    – when you do have time off, everyone else is still working, enjoy drinking alone at the bar

    1. Big fuckin deal. Everything you mentioned has happened to me before or happens in the work place anyways. Ive dealt with it before and id deal with it again.
       some people shit on english teaching i make the best of it.
       sign me up yo!

       1. Rule number one of teaching English: don’t complain!
          There’s always something wrong in every school: students without textbooks, extra students without warning, inconvenient schedule, lack of materials, printer breaks down, sub-par accommodation etc etc
          You have to smile and deal with it, sharing problems brings everyone down. As my judo teacher used to say (when someone complained of non-serious injury) ‘I didn’t feel anything’

          1. Thats the absolute truth. Every job has those problems too. You’re paid to figure it out.

    2. You obviously did not have the skills required to do this sort of work.
       *************
       Find a nice office to go to everyday and keep quiet about your failure at this job. When you disparage the men who can do this work you come across as a pansy.

       1. maybe a career as a community organizer would suit reboubt231 better or Marcus could tell him how to use the feminine products.?

          1. He could probably make a little cash on the side as a test subject for new feminine hygiene products.
             *************
             From his complaining I’m guessing his mangina is in a constant state of emission accompanied by extreme cramping.

          2. maybe even redoubt231 can assist the transgender in the military initiative currently so damn important to these scum sucking political hacks stealing my tax dollars..

       2. Very well said! (as usual). 😉

    3. 5 day a week grind leading to depression and suicide…CHECK.
       Not making enough money to live with less anxiety……CHECK
       I’ve been 14 and 14 for ,,,well,,,coming up on 14 years. Like said in the article you can have a second job with that much time off and really put some serious money away.
       You have a bit of training when starting out, wouldn’t have it any other way if employee is inexperienced. Eventually the six months off have classes occasionally, not all the time.

26. If you want to work on a rig come to Canada. Leave your feeling at the lease entrance, pull your head out of your ass and work. Heat,cold, assholes yelling at you, hard physical labor, ya is all coming your way. The old saying used to be derrick of wood and men of steel but working on any rig ( except a slant ) should also make you a man of steel. And yes I fucking known. I started roughneckin 4 years ago busted my ass and now I’m a driller. Be a man or fuck off.

    1. Hey, Harry, I swear I didn’t show your daughter Grace how to use her Tampax, I just told her.
       –Yours, Rockhound.

       1. ??

27. Nice article.

28. This article comes at an interesting time. I live in Houston and work in oil and gas. Every company is massively laying off people including our company (hell, I might be gone soon). And this is in the office. Rig personnel are always the first to go in downturns so it’s probably dramatically worse out there.
    Just some perspective. Looks like it’s probably best to wait a few years.

29. My father went with Brown and Root for 2 years on the rigs. He saw the world and made his fortune. He had one bad experience that turned him off the rig caught fire and the big guys were being rescued by helicopter while the rest were jumping into the water waiting for help to come, my dad was one. That did it for him.
    My man also worked the oil rigs when very young and he has some real stories to tell it is a hard way to go.

30. I imagine work has decreased with the price of oil.

31. Great post – thanks for the input.

32. I work on a riverboat gone for the same time. It definitely matures you as I’m far ahead, mentally and physically than most people my age. Solitude is the most underrated aspect of human life.
    Being gone allows me to do shit i couldn’t accomplish when distracted by my comrades. Plus there’s no substance abuse. The company isn’t great but you find a method to that madness. Plus the money, the reason I’m doing it. All i do is swipe! I’m not making life decisions at the pump.

33. The money is good, better if you are willing to go international from the US (or like the author resided abroad)
    He is 1000 percent correct you will get hurt if you are an absent minded oblivious individual, though usually those types of folks get weeded to the least amount of responsibility. (you know what a gopher is boy?)
    I myself work in one of the facilities that keep the rig-going vessels loaded. I’ve been offshore a long time ago for a short period and it was not for me. I’ve essentially got the same schedule while staying on the dock area.

34. I work offshore in the gulf of mexico making 130 a year never finishing college and have a really easy job I’m offshore 5 days max at a time getting paid around the clock and only work maybe 5 hours

35. Oh that’s odd… a week ago i was thinking about what jobs would be available and suited for me and working on a rig was one of them. The only cons is that i never worked a day in my life and i’m not in a good shape. Anyway I’ll check the blog, thanks for the article.

36. What if person has fear of failing from heights? Is it possible to get catering job on oil rig if you have fear of failing? I mean do you have to climb up he ladders above the sea to get on the rig?

37. Best advice I can give anyone doing oil work is: save as much money as you can. Don’t be like some of my former colleagues who blew all their earnings on crap.

38. It’s hard to work in Oil Rigs because you will sacrifice your time, family and leisure. However the salary is very high when work in that place. Sometimes we need to sacrifice for the better future of our family and children. Evert workplace has pros and cons, the question is how do you deal with that situation?

39. A feel of how the Oil Rigs are put there – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq2W-girP_g&t=18s

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