Start as a floorhand with no experience and climb to driller. Big money in 12-hour shifts, and no work when the rigs shut down.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Motorhand or derrickhand
$83,000
Leasehand or floorhand
$52,000
Driller
$98,000
Job Bank's national median is $40 an hour, about $83,000 a year full time. Rigs run 12-hour shifts, so a full year of work grosses more than the hourly rate suggests, but the patch slows every spring and in every price crash, and there is no pay when the rig is stacked.
About $25 an hour
Leasehand or floorhand, no experience needed
Job Bank's low end is $25 an hour, about $52,000 a year. Because you work 12-hour days on rotation, a busy first year can pay more than that. Camp, meals and flights are usually covered at remote sites.
$47 an hour and up
Job Bank's high end is $47.30, about $98,000 a year
The driller runs the rig floor and the crew. Rig managers, the next step up, earn more again. Overtime and a full drilling season push a driller's gross past six figures.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the basic safety tickets bought yourself: H2S Alive (hydrogen sulphide gas safety), first aid, fall protection and WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials information system). The high end adds steel toe boots and coveralls plus a couple of extra tickets some contractors want before they will put you on a crew. Many companies pay for the tickets once they hire you and supply the rest of the gear, so the real cost is often lower than the low figure. A driver's licence is required by most contractors and is not counted, since most people have one already.
One of the fastest paths on this site from zero to a real paycheque. The cost is measured in tickets, not tuition.
Camp, meals and travel paid
At remote rigs. You spend almost nothing while you are out.
Health plans
Common at larger drilling contractors, less so at small ones.
Pension
Rare. Most rig hands save on their own during the good years.
Employment Insurance (EI)
Many rig hands collect it during spring breakup when the rigs shut down.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Hire on, then climb the crew one job at a time.
High school
Grade 12
A diploma is expected but the real requirements are a driver's licence, a clean drug test and being fit enough for heavy work. You must be 18.
Safety tickets
1 week
H2S Alive (hydrogen sulphide gas safety), standard first aid and a general safety orientation from Energy Safety Canada or a similar provider. A few days of courses.
Leasehand, then floorhand
6 to 18 months
The bottom of the crew: cleaning, moving pipe, tripping drill string on the floor. Job Bank says most contractors want about a year as a floorhand before promotion.
Motorhand, then derrickhand
1 to 3 years
Motorhand runs the engines and pumps. Derrickhand works up the mast handling pipe and looks after the mud system. Some employers require rig technician certification for these jobs.
Driller
3 to 5 years in
Runs the rig floor and the crew. Rig manager after that.
Shop and mechanics
Engines, pumps and hydraulics keep the rig turning.
Math
Mud weights, pipe counts and pressures.
Physical education
12 hours of lifting and pulling in minus 30.
Science
Gas, pressure and geology are what a well is.
No province licenses rig workers. Alberta built a Rig Technician apprenticeship with three levels (motorhand, derrickhand, driller), each 1,500 hours on the rig plus 4 weeks of technical training, and some drilling contractors still require that certification for motorhand and derrickhand jobs. The trade no longer appears on Alberta's current list of designated trades, so check the province's apprenticeship site for its status before you count on it. The only regulated jobs in this group are snubbing services in Alberta.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Rig technician certification
Where it is offered, it is the formal ladder to driller.
Well control and blowout prevention
Required for drillers, the most important ticket on the rig.
Service rigs and well testing
Related crews with different rotations, sometimes closer to home.
Rig manager
Runs the whole rig and the paperwork. The top of the crew ladder.
Class 1 or Class 3 driver's licence
Moving rigs and equipment adds another skill and another paycheque.
Mechanical or welding experience
Rigs break in the cold. People who can fix things move up.
Heavy equipment experience
Loaders, picker trucks and skid steers on the lease.
A savings habit
Boom years pay for the bust years.
Every spring the frost leaves the ground across the Prairies and northern roads turn to mud. Rigs cannot move, so drilling stops for weeks. Crews are laid off or sent home without pay, then rehired when the ground firms up. Experienced hands plan their money around it. It is the first thing to understand about a career in the patch.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Crew change at 6am or 6pm, safety meeting, then 12 hours on the floor. Tripping pipe in and out of the hole, mixing mud, cleaning and greasing, moving the rig to the next well every few days. Everything is heavy, loud and outdoors, at plus 30 in July and minus 40 in January. Rotations are typically 2 or 3 weeks on and 1 week off, living in camp or a motel near the lease.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Canadian Association of Energy Contractors says its members run 336 land drilling rigs and 668 service rigs, supporting more than 80,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country.
Leasehand, floorhand, motorhand, derrickhand, driller. Each name is a job on the rig, and each one is a promotion. Old-timers still say roughneck for anyone on the floor.
Hydrogen sulphide, called sour gas, can kill in a few breaths and you stop smelling it as it gets stronger. That is why every rig worker in Canada carries an H2S Alive (hydrogen sulphide gas safety) ticket before their first shift.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.