What is your time worth?

[mongers]

How do you go about becoming an oil worker, anyway?

Strangely I got mine from a very good temping agency; one that didn't have anything suitable for me, iirc they said most of their stuff was rather too mundane for me, and that they'd get back to me.... and they did.

[Ideologue]

I actually looked at the Halliburton thing, and most/all seemed to require engineering or at least voc school type credentials/experience.

[mongers]

I actually looked at the Halliburton thing, and most/all seemed to require engineering or at least voc school type credentials/experience.

Viking is your 'go to man' here. 

For what it's worth there are quite a few jobs in the industry that don't require that, you could get a service job with one of the contractors and then move sideways or jump ship into another related area ?

[Ideologue]

Networking on Languish?  Sure, that could work.  Shame there aren't any lawyers on here.

[mongers]

Networking on Languish?  Sure, that could work.  Shame there aren't any lawyers on here.

Oh, I meant for general advice, though given Viking is a well travelled guy, he might have useful US contacts.

[Valmy]

Not much....but probably too much to spend anymore of it here today 

[Ed Anger]

I actually looked at the Halliburton thing, and most/all seemed to require engineering or at least voc school type credentials/experience.

http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/27/8495501-now-hiring-north-dakota-oil-boom-creates-thousands-of-jobs

[Barrister]

I actually looked at the Halliburton thing, and most/all seemed to require engineering or at least voc school type credentials/experience.

All the rig pigs out here seem like all they need to get started is an H2S safety ticket and they're good to go.

Mind you those are unskilled labour positions.  If you want something higher then yes, you need more qualifications.

Ideo - if you were in Alberta I'd just have you talk to my brother-in-law, who runs a rig for one of the big drilling companies - he's a push, essentially the foreman of the rig.  But for North Dakota I don't have any idea.

[mongers]

As I've posted in the OTT I've never had a puncture on my bike in my life yet here in Japan it seems to be happening a hell of a lot.
I've never had to fix a puncture before and it is quite a long and reasonably difficult process. Painful too.
At a bike shop...fixing a puncture costs 1000 yen...
Now...this does seem rather a lot of money for something which you can do at home. Yet...I'm earning pretty good money these days...its painful but...1000 yen for an extra hour to do what I want/sleep/whatever is pretty nice.

.....

I'd say you should fix your own punctures as it good practice if you ever have to do it out and about.

Today I've had a situation very similar to what you describe; I wanted a rack for my road/urban bike, so I got my local bike shop to order one, fit it and true the rear wheel, which is a bit of a black art you can either do it or not (bodging it to be sort of true is also not) and I can't do it for some reason.

I was more than happy to pay the $50 an hour rate for a skill I don't have, and they found the ideal rack for the bike and fitted it in a very neat way, otherwise I might have bought an inferior one and ended up with a not so good fit.  As it is they gave me some free 2nd hand spares for my run around bikes and over all I'm far more likely to use them again for all sorts of things anyway.

So for the right service I'm willing to pay about $50 an hour, but for most things I'll do it myself or try and repair stuff.

[Maladict]

As I've posted in the OTT I've never had a puncture on my bike in my life yet here in Japan it seems to be happening a hell of a lot.
I've never had to fix a puncture before and it is quite a long and reasonably difficult process. Painful too.
At a bike shop...fixing a puncture costs 1000 yen...
Now...this does seem rather a lot of money for something which you can do at home. Yet...I'm earning pretty good money these days...its painful but...1000 yen for an extra hour to do what I want/sleep/whatever is pretty nice.

Replacing a tire takes about 10-15 minutes, probably less time than it takes to take your bike to the shop and back.
You lost both time and money. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yes, there is a knack to changing tyres and once you have it then it only takes a few minutes. So, especially if it is happening a lot, learn how to do it...........apart from anything else it saves you from wheeling the bike home.

Hint.....buy some proper tyre irons, they help a lot.

[Razgovory]

I actually looked at the Halliburton thing, and most/all seemed to require engineering or at least voc school type credentials/experience.

All the rig pigs out here seem like all they need to get started is an H2S safety ticket and they're good to go.

Mind you those are unskilled labour positions.  If you want something higher then yes, you need more qualifications.

Ideo - if you were in Alberta I'd just have you talk to my brother-in-law, who runs a rig for one of the big drilling companies - he's a push, essentially the foreman of the rig.  But for North Dakota I don't have any idea.

You have to be fairly strong for that work.  I hear the pay is good, but you need to have a lot of endurance and lifting power.

[Josquius]

As I've posted in the OTT I've never had a puncture on my bike in my life yet here in Japan it seems to be happening a hell of a lot.
I've never had to fix a puncture before and it is quite a long and reasonably difficult process. Painful too.
At a bike shop...fixing a puncture costs 1000 yen...
Now...this does seem rather a lot of money for something which you can do at home. Yet...I'm earning pretty good money these days...its painful but...1000 yen for an extra hour to do what I want/sleep/whatever is pretty nice.

Replacing a tire takes about 10-15 minutes, probably less time than it takes to take your bike to the shop and back.
You lost both time and money. 

Replacing a tire is a bit wasteful and expensive though no?

[Maladict]

Replacing a tire is a bit wasteful and expensive though no?

What do you think they do at the bike shop?

[Josquius]

Replacing a tire is a bit wasteful and expensive though no?

What do you think they do at the bike shop?

No idea. Its cheaper than replacing a tyre though.