Career Ideas: The Pros and Cons of Working an Oilfield Job
Have you ever thought about working in an oilfield? There are a huge number of oilfields in the United States, mostly located in eight states, including Texas, California, and Alaska.
There are a lot of great things about working in an oil field. For one, there are high-paying jobs available that don’t require much education, but there are a lot of downsides too.
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at the real pros and cons of working at an oilfield. These should help you make an informed decision about whether this career is right for you.
Are you ready to get started? Then read on!
Pro: Excellent Wages
One of the best parts of working on an oilfield is the big wage packets. Oil companies make a fortune from the black stuff and they hand part of these profits on to you.
A lot of these jobs are blue-collar labor, and you don’t need to have a degree in the field to get a job. If you need to get trained up, you can usually get a solid job with six months’ to a year’s training.
This means that even without too much training or education, you can make a fantastic wage, something that was last possible for most Americans in the 1950s.
Con: Injuries Are Common
While the wages are high, workplace injuries are pretty common on oilfields. Part of the reason for the high wages is that the work can be dangerous.
Head and brain injuries, concussions, facial injuries, severe lacerations, and other injuries are all risks when you’re working with heavy machinery.
If you’re injured, you may be able to get compensation by hiring oil field injury attorneys but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to get any. It will depend on the specifics of your case and any contracts that you signed.
Pro: Travel and Variety
One thing is for sure: when you’re working on an oilfield, you’re not going to get bored. The work you’ll be doing will vary a lot from day to day. One day you might be helping put up a derrick, another time transporting machinery, and another day you could be taking part in fracking operations.
When you’re an oil field worker, every day is different. You’re going to have to wear a lot of metaphorical hats in addition to your standard safety hat.
You’ll also have the opportunity to travel a lot as an oilfield worker. Oilfields are large and you’re going to have to go to different areas of different states quite a lot over the course of your contract. As you become more experienced, you’ll also get opportunities to travel internationally to other oil-rich parts of the world.
Con: Long Hours
Oilfield work is very hard and you’re going to need to be prepared for long shifts. You may need to work up to 80 hours per week, with night shifts too. Being on-call is very common too, as if something goes wrong, it needs to be fixed right away.
You won’t get normal weekends either. Most oilfield workers have to work a schedule of two weeks on, one week off, or similar. This means that those two weeks will be full of hard work with very few breaks.
Pro: Good Workplace Atmosphere
There’s usually strong camaraderie between oilfield workers and with good reason. This sort of work is only suited to hardy people out to make a lot of money through very hard work. This means that you can expect adversity and fatigue to be common.
This kind of atmosphere forces people together and creates very strong bonds between you and your colleagues. Difficult experiences create tight bonds and you can be sure that when you make friends on the field, you’ll be friends for life.
This will extend into your off hours too. You will probably be living on the oilfield as well as working there, so you can expect to spend a lot of time with your colleagues getting to know them better.
Con: You’ll Be Away From Family a Lot
The brutal hours mean that you’ll be away from your family for a lot of the time. This can take a severe toll on your relationship with your family and could mean that you miss crucial moments.
You may have to miss birthdays, anniversaries, and important moments in your children’s lives while working away. This is one of the biggest cons of working in the oil industry, so you need to be prepared to make this sacrifice before you head to the oil fields.
Pro: Job Stability
The oil industry is not going anywhere. While the world is trying to grow less reliant on fossil fuels, it still needs them at present, and will for the foreseeable future.
This means that you’ve got a lot of job security in the industry. You’re less likely to lose your job than you are in retail or in other entry-level positions for instance. If you perform well, you may have a job for life.
Con: Boredom During Off Hours
Most oil fields are in the middle of nowhere. This means that you won’t be able to go to a bar, move theater, casino, or the like in most oilfield jobs.
While the camaraderie is great, you should be prepared for the boredom that can come with working in very remote areas.
Working Oilfield Jobs Isn’t for Everyone
Not everyone is suited to working on an oilfield. If you think that you’ve got what it takes, it can be lucrative work, but you need to be prepared to make sacrifices.
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Ben Stern wrote this article on behalf of FreeUp. FreeUp is the fastest-growing freelance marketplace in the US. FreeUp only accepts the top 1% of freelance applicants. Click here to get access to the top freelancers in the world.
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