The number of industry jobs available in 2012 was around 134, 800. The 2012 median pay was put at somewhere in the vicinity of 37, 640. The forecast for the job industry is expected to increase, in the years leading up to 2020.
This number is expected to increase at around eight percent. What does this mean for those who wish to work in the oilfield industry? More specifically, what does the industry have for those who wish to exist as a worker in a camp?
It means that for those who wish to find employment through an oilfield worker camp, there are opportunities out there for you. However, it is important to understand that in certain regards, this is not a normal type of job.
Who Is Working In The Oilfield Worker Camps?
To be sure, working in this field demands an individual who is capable of bringing a lot to the table. You are going to need to be someone who has fantastic hand/eye coordination, good physical strength, and the ability to work in the outdoors.
If you can stand up to unpleasant, even harsh climates, then that’s even better. If you are someone who can work in a team, but if you are also the kind of person who can take the initiative when needed, you can succeed in this field. Finally, if you consider yourself to be someone who is very detail-orientated, you are going to want to explore the potential of working at an oilfield worker camp.
All of these traits make for a formidable character. Not only do you have to bring this character to the job site for hours at a time. You also have to do all of this under conditions that can sometimes strike you as being absolutely brutal. It is important to understand all of this, before you take the steps involved with working at one of these oilfield worker camps.
Challenges Of Working At Oilfield Worker Camps
Drilling workers and service workers are the two main types of workers in the oil and gas industry. Roustabouts, rig hands, derrick operators, derrick hands, and pipefitters are just a few of the more specific jobs you can find.
A camp can employ a great many individuals simultaneously. Good physical strength is an essential element to being a worker in one of these camps. However, in certain cases, additional/vocational training is sometimes required. One of the biggest challenges facing these workers concerns their schedule.
More often than not, workers in this field are required to move in full cooperation with the demands of an industry that can sometimes be unpredictable. Any oilfield workers will want to understand that they can find themselves being called to the job at any given moment. More to the point, working in the field can mean being made to spend significant periods of time away from home.
This is a job that can prove to be absolutely brutal on families. In fact, if you are planning to start a family, you may want to give serious thought over to the notion of waiting.
If starting a family is more important to you, then you may want to consider looking elsewhere for a job. This isn’t meant to discourage you by means. A great many men and women enter this field with families of all shapes and sizes. Anyone experienced with a camp along these lines will tell you that patience and honestly can go a long way towards helping families in situations such as these. There are even online support groups and measures that can be considered.
At this point, you can begin to appreciate the various challenges that come to this in this line of work. Nonetheless, there are several more things you are going to want to keep in mind.
Further Challenges For An Oilfield Camp Worker
Not only can this work keep you from your friends and family, but it can even keep you disconnected from the world as a whole. This job can often demand working for lengthy periods of time in places that are extremely isolated from the world at large.
The camp itself has to essentially function as your society for the short-term. Sometimes, it can be even longer than that. Some who seek employment as an oilfield worker find the isolation to be tolerable. You won’t be completely disconnected from all humanity, but you will move from the world you know, to something that will likely be different from anything else you have ever experienced. Many can handle this transition from one world to the next.
Others struggle. The chaotic lifestyle is yet another challenge facing an oilfield camp worker. Even if you make enough money to afford your own living space, there is a good chance that you will not be able to see as much of it as you would like.
The work is going to have you moving between camps, from one mode of a hectic lifestyle to another. Those who need stability in all aspects of their life, particularly in terms of their home life, are going to find it very challenging work at times
In Conclusion
Some workers are lucky if they get to go home once every three months. As we mentioned before, this can make something like raising a child quite difficult. Even if you only have your spouse, the long periods of time away from home, coupled with the chaotic lifestyle, can prove to be great challenges to a relationship. We’re not trying to scare you out of taking the job. It’s just that if you are going to take this job, these are the things you are going to discuss with your significant other.
Working as an oilfield camp worker can help your family to meet certain crucial financial goals. At the same time, it can keep everyone separated for long periods of time. To be sure, technology makes it easier now to keep in touch with our loved ones. It’s still an imperfect system, and your significant other/children/friends/family are still going to have to deal with the fact that you are not going to be around for large pockets of time.
Furthermore, while these jobs take the most considerable safety precautions possible, they are still jobs that often come with a certain element of danger to them. This is yet another element that you are going to want to discuss with your partner.
Again, none of this is meant to scare you away from the potential of this job. This can be a challenging career path, but it can also be one that is tremendously rewarding on a variety of fronts.
At the same time, it is still vital to have a deep understanding of what it will mean to be an oilfield camp worker. You don’t want to put yourself into a situation that’s going to be difficult to get out of. You certainly don’t want to waste any time on a career path that you didn’t research in full. Ultimately, the only thing that really matters is actual experience.
Talk to someone who has worked in this career field before. Ask them about the numerous benefits, as well as the difficult, but manageable challenges.
