Low wage jobs eh? (Houston: how much, college, income)

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by Oildog

I'm a downstream guy, and have heard that upstream gets paid much higher than us. The numbers seem to lean a little high to me.

The Upstream is where the salaries are highest for operators. Downstream and midstream are materially lower than upstream. I am talking about engineer or geologist jobs not admin nor plant operators. The upstream has more travel to less desireable spots these days and is seeing the huge demographic shift as retirement is hitting those ranks hard now and the pipeline is low as a result of not hiring much over a couple of decades (1984-2000+)

[Bily Lovec]

I know the design/engineering is paying good

[RPS13]

For a technical position, those salaries are maybe a tad high, but not too out of wack with reality. Keep in mind there are plenty of people at the majors making $200k+, which skews things compared to companies further down the chain.

[Schumacher713]

If you are an engineer that is great. Most my engineering friends make 120-180. I have a lot of friends who are energy traders and brokers. That business blows my mind. The brokers make 150-900ish. The traders make 500-10mil a year. It is just crazy. I picked the wrong career.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by RPS13

For a technical position, those salaries are maybe a tad high, but not too out of wack with reality. Keep in mind there are plenty of people at the majors making $200k+, which skews things compared to companies further down the chain.

True, but I can't see how that counters the glut of 48-53k Chemists being hired like crazy in downstream.

My wife is a downstream manager. Obviously, she does quite well but she thinks that average is *******s. (Wow, for English slang? Really?)

[Cbink]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

True, but I can't see how that counters the glut of 48-53k Chemists being hired like crazy in downstream.

My wife is a downstream manager. Obviously, she does quite well but she thinks that average is *******s. (Wow, for English slang? Really?)

I'm upstream but you can't even hire graduates easily at that rate anymore. Salaries are really starting to gather momentum. The oil companies in particular have been hiring recently and are pushing salaries sky high. Guys/Gals with 2-3 yrs experience are looking for $100k+ for a position with no real responsibility.

[RPS13]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

True, but I can't see how that counters the glut of 48-53k Chemists being hired like crazy in downstream.

My wife is a downstream manager. Obviously, she does quite well but she thinks that average is *******s. (Wow, for English slang? Really?)

I work for an EPCI company, and no one is starting out anywhere near $50k as I understand it. I'd say $50k jobs are by far not the norm, and if people do start there, I'm sure they get to the $70-90k range fairly quickly.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by RPS13

I work for an EPCI company, and no one is starting out anywhere near $50k as I understand it. I'd say $50k jobs are by far not the norm, and if people do start there, I'm sure they get to the $70-90k range fairly quickly.

Not really (in my opinion, solely based on my wife's experience). Chemists take about 4 years to make it up to that range (undergrad only). And if they aren't good negotiators, it can take a lot longer. Also, support, admins, tank cleaners, custodians, sales and every other ancillary position seems to have been forgotten by this Fuel Fix article as if these jobs aren't part of the oil industry.

With that said, my wife did recently tell me about an outstanding employee who got a 4 percent merit raise, walked into his bosses office for about five minutes and wound up with a 19 percent raise.

That story probably gave away where she works.

[RPS13]

True, some of the staff of companies probably make less than the amounts we're talking. But if the lower compensated technical folks are making ~30-40% less than the average in that article after 4-5 years, is it that hard to believe that average? People with 25+ years experience are surely going to be above the average if that's the case.

The sales guys I've met seem to do very well in the subsea world.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by RPS13

True, some of the staff of companies probably make less than the amounts we're talking. But if the lower compensated technical folks are making ~30-40% less than the average in that article after 4-5 years, is it that hard to believe that average? People with 25+ years experience are surely going to be above the average if that's the case.

The sales guys I've met seem to do very well in the subsea world.

Yes, but only because the way FuelFix explains.

Your way, it makes sense.

Perhaps you could get a job with FuelFix on the side?