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Tickets that raise your pay

• Well control certification

  Required before you can be a driller or supervisor. The single most valuable card in the wallet.

• CDL (commercial driver's license)

  Opens up vacuum trucks, pump trucks and hot oil work, which pay more and are less brutal on the body.

• Welding

  A rig welder is a different pay grade, and the skill works anywhere if the oilfield goes quiet.

• Crane and rigging certification

  Offshore and on big land rigs, certified crane operators and riggers are always short.

• Offshore survival training

  Helicopter underwater escape and sea survival. Required before you set foot on an offshore platform.