Education · 1 of 4

The path

Hired for your willingness first, trained on the rig, promoted by proving you can be trusted with expensive equipment.

1. 1

   High school diploma

   Grade 12

   Usual but not always required. Shop, welding and math classes help. So does anything that proves you show up on time.

2. 2

   Safety tickets and a medical

   Days to weeks

   A rig safety orientation, hydrogen sulfide awareness, first aid and a drug test. Some are done in a day, some the employer pays for on hire.

3. 3

   Get hired as a roustabout or floorhand

   Immediate

   The bottom of the crew: moving pipe, cleaning, handling tools, doing what the driller says. Go to where the rigs are and apply in person.

4. 4

   Work up the crew

   3 to 8 years

   Floorhand to motorhand to derrickhand to driller. Each step is more skill, more responsibility and more money, learned on the job.

5. 5

   Well control certification

   Before you run the floor

   Drillers and supervisors need certified well control training, for example the WellSharp program run by IADC (the International Association of Drilling Contractors), renewed every two years.