Salary

Average Salary: $90,000

Expected Lifetime Earnings: $3,757,000


Those without any experience may be hired on as a maintenance roustabout, roustabout, deckhand, wielding assistant, cleaner, steward, painter, or cook. Hey, oil rigs are basically floating cities. There are a lot of positions that need filling.

Stewards have the lowest paying job on the oil rig. They make a measly $45,000 a year. Roustabouts make between $45,000 and $55,000; rig welders and radio operators make around $60,000; medics can make up to $70,000; painters make around $58,000; storemen make $60,000; mud engineers average $110,000; subsea engineers make $135,000; and a rig foreman can make close to $200,000 (source).

The more experience and education you have, the more you'll make. If you have some certificates under your belt, you can make more than the average Joe off the street. A certificate in Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) gives you an edge over the competition and ups your pay (source). Also, it would be really cool to get a (HUET) certificate. It'd look nice next to your bowling trophy.

Someone will no longer be "striking" out with the ladies.