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Modern day gold rush. Workers with no experience are making $100k+ a year
Mr_Serenity
Veteran
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-boomtown-workers-no-experience-154600953.html
Really intriguing stuff to me. I'm considering trying to make the trip to one of these oil rigs and try to get a drilling job there. But it's such a gamble. I've never done anything like this before where I travel far to somewhere and try to make a life there without my own car and no connections. I'm sort of wondering how to go about it. Wondering if it's even possible for me to make the trip and survive without my own car (the weather out there is harsh). I feel like I want to get in the action of all this money as soon as possible. As everyone I know in my age bracket here in Los Angeles is struggling, either unemployed, or employed working for peanuts,
So I'm highly considering it, but just thought I share here for possible related discussion/feedback on this oil business.
Really intriguing stuff to me. I'm considering trying to make the trip to one of these oil rigs and try to get a drilling job there. But it's such a gamble. I've never done anything like this before where I travel far to somewhere and try to make a life there without my own car and no connections. I'm sort of wondering how to go about it. Wondering if it's even possible for me to make the trip and survive without my own car (the weather out there is harsh). I feel like I want to get in the action of all this money as soon as possible. As everyone I know in my age bracket here in Los Angeles is struggling, either unemployed, or employed working for peanuts,
So I'm highly considering it, but just thought I share here for possible related discussion/feedback on this oil business.
0
Comments
http://capreform.eu/investors-buying-up-farm-subsidies/
this article was written in 2007.
It's still going on, uncurtailed.
the thing now is, that foreigners in Russia and in the Eastern bloc of Europe, are also raking it in.....
at 120 000 a year, you can buy your first car with your first pay check...
the way i would go about it would be to digg the internet and try to find people who actually work there. either foreman or whatever.
send them an out of the blue email or call them directly (i would go with the second option).
ask them (I'm thinking of coming down there, you think i can find a job? do you know who i could talk to who might have a job for me?) type of thing.
it's a long shot but nothing to lose.
There's always a catch. Things are never as good or easy as they seem. There are always trade-offs.
I also read some of the comments from people who are doing just that.
They mentioned a lot do sleep in hotels/motels and their cars.
I think I'll start digging to see what I can find.
Hey Leon,
Glad you like the article. As for my education, I have a high school diploma that I got online. I've taken college classes in culinary arts, creation of comic books, graphic design. I also have 5 years+ experience in martial arts, have experience in security, and testing simulation games for the military.
I'm kind of all over the place with no clear direction. But most of my experience is in fighting. So I've been part time employed as a bouncer/doorman. The hours and the pay is not reliable, and not good. It's a safe and easy job though. Never had to get in any fights so far, I'm pretty good with negotiations and working things out through words. I've also been getting focus groups on the side for pocket cash, but really it's not a stable place to be.
So I don't have much to lose, but everything to gain. I'd like to make some connections over the internet if possible too, it may help give me some leverage before I do anything crazy on my own.
Just another opinion for you... I started working at 16 from very little knowledge of HTML, and have worked myself up to making >$4000 a month at 20 (and I'm still reaching higher...). You can get a job for just about anything, just work for it! The key is experience - you gotta market yourself to the employer. And whatever you do, try not to deal with HR - they're horrible. I don't have a degree (which is unheard of in the Computer Science industry), the only way I can get a job is through local guys - but they pay just as good as the big companies do, and its funner work imo!
ANYway, good luck with whatever you choose... I might just be young and naive, but I seriously believe anybody can make good money in this world with a (lot) of hard work. It might take you a few years, but you'll definitely be better off.
Blessed be
EDIT: BTW, I know somebody with one of those "oil rig" jobs, and it does NOT sound like fun work and does not sound like it pays very good. To make that much money, I think you'd have to be working all damn day for it!
She really went on and on, till I finally managed to calm her down a bit and she told me to do a lot more research before I decide on doing something that hardcore. I really thought it could be a good opportunity for me. I was surprised how she took it.
It's cool to hear that you have had so much success with your web development at such a young age. Thanks for your perspective on that, maybe I'll consider it. I'm a more creative type of person that likes working with my hands, but also creating things. That's why I was attracted to graphic design.
But the more I learned that industry, the more I was told that graphic design was mostly free lance work. And how it was hard to get stable gigs through graphic design. So I was tired of searching for work as a freelancer. I just wanted to find something stable, and I quit the graphic design stuff. If web development is more stable, and if it pays better, maybe that is something worth considering.
I also do have a lot of experience with both testing and playing games. So maybe that could be another thing to seek out for me.
Thanks for your thoughts as always Dakini. Yeah I read into the comments, about how everything has sky rocketed at those oil towns. It's a trickle down effect to the near by surroundings, people living in tents, living in their cars even. Because the price of living there keeps going up due to the population and the local economy there that is growing. But then at the same time, the guys that do get in usually end up saying that they're very happy with the money they make. It's a job that is possible to get with no experience too. So it is, or was very tempting to me.
@invincible_summer
By incorporating Buddhism into my life a bit I do try to meet people with the mindset of being compassionate as possible. I like to think that I can work with any type of person. Working with someone and associating with them on a personal level is a whole other type of situation. So often when I'm associating with people on a personal level I'll be very real with them, and let them know when something rubs me the wrong way.
But when I'm working with people, even if I don't like them I try to always act professional and cool, and compassionate even if they seem like jerks all around. I try to make it work. I care about money a lot right now, enough to even consider taking the worst jobs with the worst people. But I don't think I'll be able to get that care out of my system still I start making enough at least to buy my own car and pay for my own apartment.
Those who would naturally do well in those jobs are strong kids from farmers type of thing.
12 hours a day 7 days a week manual labor is horribly difficult.
you certainly almost never going to spend any time with your girlfriend
But if you have any experience with hard manual labor like farming, you probably know what to expect, do you have such experience?
I remember i was in great shape around 16-17 years old, working out and doing lots of exercise.
Then i started working on a farm to make some money.
My first job was to take the rolls of grass (im french, dunno how to say this in English) from a truck and putting them on a conveyer belt so they would go up in the attic of the farm.
After one hour, i thought i would die. literally. It was so incredibly difficult i immediately gain a great amount of respect for the farmers
all of this for about $5-$6 an hour haha
but after a couple days/weeks, if you stick to it, it gets alot more comfortable and you get use to it. I certainly build character strength since you have to battle every single fibers of your mind and body who are begging you and coming with alot of good reasons for you to give it up and go home!
I don't have experience with long hard manual labor. But I still am probably physically capable of doing it. I've fought competitively in martial arts before. When I was 20 (five years ago) I used to fight 2 kendo black belts at a time in a dojo with bad floors for tournament practice. We fought till our hands bruised purple, black and blue, and till my feet were covered in blisters or ripped. I had to do surgery/first aid on the ripped skin of my feet countless times. That weekly training raised my tolerance to pain better than anything else in my life.
Last year I was also training with a professional Muay Thai fighter weekly. We would run 3 miles, and up and down 10 flights of stairs. Then we would lift weights, and after that we would spar (with gloves and pads) usually till someone got near injury or one of us totally lost our wind. It would always be around a 3 hour training session, but for sure it was the hardest physical training I've endured. That weekly training raised my endurance better than anything else.
So I actually feel a little insulted when my girlfriend says she thinks I would get myself killed or disfigured out there, like I would just fall in the oil or something
The best way to make money in this world, is to start your own business though.
Good luck.
I think the numbers in Canada is about 2 third of new business close within 2 years...
personally, i think the best way to make money is to get a university degree in something that is in high demand. something like engineering maybe...
Most university degree don't pay quite as much as people would like to believe, and often have very little opportunity in terms of jobs so you need to do your homework before choosing one.
that is if someone want to make lots of money, as far as making decent money, i think anything like nurse, mechanics, welders are always going to be on demand.
With all the changes in the economy the last decade, though, I wonder if jobs like that are more rare than they used to be.
The danger working on oil rigs and pipelines is with the machinery. If you're fatigued from too many hours and lack of sleep, and if it's a free-for-all type of environment with insufficient safeguards, stuff is at high risk of happening. Losing a hand, for example. And try sleeping in a car at -50 degrees, in winter, + wind chill factor.