Home state: Minnesota
Occupation: Hydraulic fracturer
Pay: $100,000 per year
I was in the plastics industry back home -- I ran a machine for four years. But it didn't pay the bills as our family grew. I heard about the oilfield through the grapevine, and there were hundreds of job listings. I didn't know where to start.
The job I got provided housing, and I've been here since January. After working four years as a machinist I had clawed my way up to $12 an hour. With all the taxes and deductions, I would take home around $1,500 a month, which you can imagine gets pretty tight when you're providing for a small family.
Here, I started at $14 an hour. But we work insane hours. Over this two-week cycle I worked 220 to 230 hours of overtime. We get more overtime than straight pay. And since I've started I've moved up several pay grades -- there's lots of upward mobility.
With the money I'm bringing home now, I've more than doubled my income -- probably closer to tripled it. There's really no comparison.
But it's a double-edged sword. In a way I feel trapped out here because there's nothing to go back to at home. I have no college education, so if I wanted to work at home again, it would take at least two jobs to pay the bills to provide for my family and then I wouldn't even see them.
NEXT: Trevis Pollman
