About to turn 18, looking to get into the Oil Field (Waco: how much, schools)

[Slowpoke_TX]

TyPo:
I work in the oilfield, so listen up. For long-term job security and income potential, I'd recommend you become one of the following:

Pipeline operator
Instrumentation & Electrical Technician
Health, Safety, and Environmental professional
NDT (non-destructive testing) - the X-ray guys


You could also become a pipeline welder, but once the pipelines are in the ground, welders go looking for other work.

If you want to get started right away, you can become a gauger - but the potential for advancement may or may not be there, depending on what company you work for.

When you turn 21, you can get a CDL with the tanker endorsement and the HazMat endorsement, and that will open a lot of doors for you in the short-term. But there is very little (if any) room for advancement there, and after truck-driving for 13 years, I'm tired of working 70+ hours every week.


Do not get a job on a drilling rig, frac crew, casing crew, or anything that has to do with getting a well started. Those jobs only last as long as there are holes to be drilled. Once the well goes into production, those jobs move out. Once all the wells in a particular formation have been drilled, those jobs disappear. Oilfield has long had boom-and-bust cycles, and when it busts again, those are the jobs that will disappear. The first 4 jobs I mentioned above will still be around, as will jobs associated with production (gauger, crude gatherer, water hauler, etc.)

You seem to have a good attitude, and that will be an asset to you. Make smart decisions about what kind of hard work you're willing to do, and for whom, and you'll do quite well for yourself.

[slingshot]

Although I was a weldor for 40 years, 14 in the oilfield, when the large lumber companies wanted to cut my timber, I ran them off. When the oil companies wanted to run a seismic crew on my land, I ran them off. When a coal company wanted to take coal from a deposit under my land, I ran them off. I could have really really really used the money but I chose to "cut the branch that I was standing on". Sometimes folks just have to do what they know how to do the best to earn a living.

[TyPo]

Thanks for all the great advice kathryn and slowpoke and everybody else that helped me i will look into those jobs slowpoke_tx. i haven't really had time because we have been moving but i will look them up tonight. And lordylordy, thanks for your advice about becoming a farmer. But, no offence i can't say that i'm really a down to earth person. We've already done the un-rewindable damage to the earth. I can't fix the ice caps melting, meteors coming closer to our atmosphere because we've burn alot of it up, or fixing the polluted water that you speak of. But sadly to say neither can you, nor can anyone else here. I'm not trying to say what your doing(farming) isn't just Awesome, but providing us with products that we couldn't get other wise if we didn't have farmers, i'm just saying trying to say that when one individual can't make even a .0000000005% change in the world, what's the hard work worth. But, if i can go out and work hard, get paid extremely well, and help someone get to work,or even to the farm in the morning, to run their diesel tractors all day to spray their insecticides out of rubber houses, than hey, i think i will o just fine in the oil industry. No offence to anyone here, just my 2c. Hope to hear more from you all, everything helps me kick start my career, thank you all!

[slingshot]

Go back to post #10 for the answer to your last sentence. Also, isn't this getting a little off topic? It's supposed to be a thread about helping a fellow get a job in the field that he has chosen. Let's help him. Do gooders should start your own thread, how 'bout it?

One example of what happens when solar panels are produced.... http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22847

[TyPo]

Sent out some applications. I Highly doubt companies will even take a peak at my resume(pretty bad due to just out of high school LOL), but hoping some company will at least give a call and talk to me. Probably going to try to send out some more applications... Hope I'm at least in the right direction. I figured oil companies like people with ambition (trying to kick start my career early lol)

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by TyPo

Sent out some applications. I Highly doubt companies will even take a peak at my resume(pretty bad due to just out of high school LOL), but hoping some company will at least give a call and talk to me. Probably going to try to send out some more applications... Hope I'm at least in the right direction. I figured oil companies like people with ambition (trying to kick start my career early lol)

Well, good luck! And like I said, I think it would be very helpful to include a letter of recommendation regarding your strong work ethic.

[slingshot]

Absolutely!!! Please don't do what a fellow did when I was interviewing him. He said.."You're not hiring, are you?". Another said.."I only want to work here long enough to get some experience".

[TyPo]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Well, good luck! And like I said, I think it would be very helpful to include a letter of recommendation regarding your strong work ethic.

Yeah ill try to get my old supervisor to write me a recommendation (He's kind of a jerk though lol), but im really good friends with his son so it should be too hard.

[TyPo]

Originally Posted by slingshot

Absolutely!!! Please don't do what a fellow did when I was interviewing him. He said.."You're not hiring, are you?". Another said.."I only want to work here long enough to get some experience".

Lol i can see that interview not going well...yeah hopefully i even get an interview. Kind of worried if i did, due to the physical exam thing i have to do. Will i be able to work if i torn my ACL in my knee in the past and i got it cleared? I tore it playing football, and am really starting to regret it.

[Barefoot Daisy]

TyPo, I second, third, etc everyone who encourages you to get CDL, Welders training etc .. consider machinist training too. Machinists are in short supply, and someone who has training and a good work ethic can really go a long way.

My husband is in the oilfield (fishing/rental tools) and has been his entire life. He's worked his way up to district manager, but it's still a 24-hour job. The unskilled "learn by experience" jobs are harder to find, and those people tend to get the really tough jobs. Some training/certification will start you off with a much better foundation. The more you know, the more you can learn.

We have a friend who is a machinist, and worked in other people's shops for years. He finally saved enough to buy a small lathe for his home workshop and began turning metal after hours on special projects. His work ethic and dependability has taken him far: his own business has expanded greatly and he's doing very well, with multi-year contracts. He's also in a shop with at least some air conditioning/heating and out of the weather. There's a lot to be said for that, believe me!

Best wishes!