Roughneck Jobs - What They Are, And What They Pay
Roughnecks made it to fame when the film Armageddon came out starring Bruce Willis and Ben Afleck. Basically the story is about how a handful of skilled oil and gas workers save the world from a falling asteroid. Roughnecks is a generic term for someone who works in the oil industry. There are different kinds of jobs in the industry and these are referred to as roughneck jobs.
Definitely the first question that pops into the mind is how much do roughnecks and oil workers make in a year in terms of salaries? As with any industry there are different levels of salaries depending on job function and the like. Different levels of difficulty will have different corresponding salary adjustments and pay scales. We can discuss the oil industry jobs and see the different kinds of jobs and earnings they have.
The least paid in the oil industry are galley hands and cooks. Cooks have the function of making sure everyone is fed on the many shifts that rotate in a day. They make around 35,000 to 42,000 dollars per year. The trainees, or galley hands as they are called, do a lot of general jobs and assisting workers. They too get around the same salary as the cook at 35,000 to 42,000 dollars per year.
More specialized than the galley hands are the roustabouts, who make around 45,000 dollars per year. They are in charge of assembling and repairing oil field equipment using power and hand tools. They also do other tasks as needed.
Earning 55,000 dollars a year, roughnecks are the ones who mostly operate drilling equipment with the drillers. They have a whole lot of other functions too when required, like driving a truck of heavy equipment for example. Roughnecks also serve long shifts on the field.
The second most important person in the drill crew is the derrickman who literally hangs out at the top of the derrick servicing the drill pipes and works closely with the driller. He makes around 62,000 dollars a year. The one in charge of the entire drill crew is the driller who makes sure working conditions are optimal and safe. The driller takes home around 85,000 dollars a year and is one of the most important people on the field.
The onsite supervisor of the location or an oil contractor supervisor is called the toolpusher. Mainly an administrative job that makes sure that logistic requirements are all met. The job nets around 115,000 dollars a year. Its his job to make sure that if something is needed by say the drill team, then it is his job to get whatever they have requested.
The one who is almost in complete control of the field and all its operations is the supervisor. Its his job to make sure production quotas are met and that everything flows smoothly from extraction to delivery. This hard job gives the supervisor around 200,000 to 300,000 per year. A lot of other jobs also exist in the oil industry, but judging from the numbers they should also be well paying.
