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Anyone here worked on a Oil Rig?

Michael Burgess

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I know a few people that worked in oil rigs in Western Canada that did well financially and in terms of their career. From what I hear it can be pretty crazy and demanding work, but rewarding if you stick with it... the challenge is to not spend all of your money on alcohol, drugs, women, trucks, and other means of staying sane when you live in a camp full of overworked dudes.

Potentially a decent way to go earn some "quick and easy money" if you're willing to sacrifice your time, some of your sanity, and remember why you're actually doing it all.
 

minivanman

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I did for 1 day back when I was 19 in Abilene, Texas. Now keep in mind just a couple of years before, I had won a gold medal for the decathlon in my town so I was in great shape.... I worked on a rig for 1 day and swore I'd never do that again!

But with something like this in mind, the guy that started Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers went out on a fishing boat for like 6 months or a year (something like that) to raise money to start his franchise. So work hard and keep the end result at the top and you will succeed.
 
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Locomote

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Yes, I have. I worked as an MWD (Measurement While Drilling) Engineer.

Good job getting on a rig right now thats not an easy gig to get. Where are you drilling? Whats your position on the rig? Whats your rotation? (If you're part of the rig crew I assume you're on a 2&1 rotation). It may feel slow-lane but it can be used as a massive spring board to become fast-lane.

Two weeks to work hard, stack cash and read before you sleep. One week to hustle hard when you get back to town exploring ideas you've come up with on the Rig.

Stacking Cash:
I used to split my pay cheque into three types of money:
  1. To cover my expenses, (Rent, truck payments, bills) 30%
  2. To be stacked and saved, (This was my seed money) 45%
  3. A set amount of living money, (This was my reward so I didn't go crazy money) 25%
Reading:
If you haven't read "48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene you should. Its the perfect guide on how to survive in an environment like the rig floor. @Fox and I still joke about our rig disguises.

Life Lessons:
The rig is a perfect place to learn the age old lessons of:
  • Adding value, if you don't add value you won't be around for long
  • Daily routine, if daily tasks are ignored the rig won't run
  • Hard work without excuses
  • Listening
 
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SquatchMan

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I went on a fishing charter with a charter captain that worked on offshore rigs in Louisiana. He worked crazy amounts of OT during the BP oil spill and made a ton of money...

He then bought three nice fishing boats, hired some captains, and started a fishing charter company.

Good example of using a high paying slowlane job to fund the fastlane.

So to get to your point. Yes. People use money from their high paying slowlane jobs to fund the fastlane.

Quite a few people here also use money from their non-fastlane business to fund a fastlane business.
 
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Fox

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I worked for three years on and off doing the same thing as what @Locomote mentioned above (drilling engineer). I started at the bottom but since I had a degree in engineering I was able to quickly move up. Back when it was busy if you had a pulse and could stay semi sober for two weeks you had a job. It is definitely more competitive now.

It was a great three years but I am glad it is over. It is a high stress environment. When my personal equipment failed (instrumentation for directional drilling) every minute of downtime was wasted dollars as the whole rig waits on you. Imagine trying to fix something when you have 20 people watching you and every minute is costing a few thousand dollars. I have had shifts where I had to stay awake two days straight under huge pressure trying to troubleshoot or figure out a solution. I remember one job where I had to drive five hours to another rig to get a part after being awake already for 40 hours. I was falling asleep at the wheel but had no other choice - make it work or quit. Probably one of the most dangerous things I have done but I just always refused to give up. I have worked in -50 too and got slight frostbite once.

I learned to work under major stress with all sorts of people in all sorts of conditions. It is a high testosterone, non PC workplace - totally normal to hear a ton of racist, sexist jokes all the time and no one cares. If you can crack it its actually really fun too.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned but it a tough lifestyle. Its a "make you or break you"type environment.
If you can make it you will have a bunch of skills to use elsewhere in life when you finish.

IMG_20130730_090610.jpg

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minivanman

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While these guys were engineers, just realize that you will be standing on deck catching a pipe that weighs, what seems like a million pounds, with your body (YES!! Your BODY), putting it in it's correct place all while moving your hands out of the way or else you will get them chopped off by the guy throwing the chain around the pipe.... and little Katy at McDonald's is bitching because she stood at the cash register 3 minutes past break and needs a raise. Now you talk about a good job for them to make for a robot.....
 

Edwin Franco

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Thanks for the info guys. Sounds like a job perfect for me. I might move to Canada instead of working in the states. The idea of having everything paid (food, room, gym and internet) and earning loads of money, will help me create a fastlane business in no time.
 

minivanman

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What's the pay in Canada since they are giving you all of those amenities? What state do you currently live in?
 
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Fox

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Thanks for the info guys. Sounds like a job perfect for me. I might move to Canada instead of working in the states. The idea of having everything paid (food, room, gym and internet) and earning loads of money, will help me create a fastlane business in no time.

It is a lot quieter than it used to be. Plus it gets even worse in the spring since its season "break up". If you were to move the best time is Oct/Nov but I would recommend trying the US first.
 

DanVasiljevs

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Why not create a fastlane business that doesn't need much starting capital? Lots of businesses to start under 2k investment. And it'll save you time if you're gonna spend time doing a job just to eventually end up having to create a fastlane business anyway.
 
D

Deleted78083

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Mmmhh, i'm thinking of doing that. This thread is quite old so would you guys still recommend working on a rig/fishing boat?
 
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consignia

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Lots of great advice on this thread. A friend of mine got into it 2 years ago, it's not an easy job and it has some risk but like they said it pays a ton, you need to be mentally strong and have a goal in mind.
 

AceVentures

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No.

I worked as a reservoir engineer for 3 years. Which is at the highest end of the food chain in upstream oil and gas. And I quit 2 weeks ago.

Let me explain why not:

First - there aren't any jobs. Nobodys drilling. Dont know if you've been following the news - but the market is saturated with cheap oil, and expensive American barrels will be shaved off the market forever.

Second, well, does it even matter now that you know you'll most likely not work on an oil rig? In case you do - regulations are creeping. With the November elections ahead, change in power could result in drastic changes at the federal level. This means all offshore drilling, potentially gone. Many federal lands, gone.

Third, the industry is experiencing a massive change, with so many stakeholders money at stake, most of which will never return. Most E&P rn is riding out their debt extensions and at maturity will default. Most will merge. Many will shrink. Institutions won't even want their debt, because they don't even know how to manage E&P operations.

A handful of sharks will move money around. A handful of majors will eat up the rest and sustain the long term declining demand.

Idk what tk tell you - forget about the quick oil money, focus your efforts somewhere that can add more to your belt in 5, 10, 20 years time.

Don't start now to invest time and energy into developing skills, to compete in a dying industry filled with highly experienced and recently unemployed personnel, chasing quick bucks.

Start any type of service based business, and you can work yourself to oil money very quickly, doing field work, and owning your own biz.

My two cents.
 
G

Guest-5ty5s4

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My grandfather did this in the 60’s, saw lots of blowouts and crazy stuff happen… in the 70’s he started his own biz and now it’s pretty large. This is a great industry to get into and you will learn a lot of valuable skills
 
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