A buddy of mine had headed out to Williston, North Dakota to try his hand at landing a high paying job in the Oil Boom occuring out there. He wound up landing a job, a few weeks later got angry with the company and left. He wound up landing another job that started two weeks later, however he wound up giving up and heading back to Chicago before the job started.
I asked him to write up a quick/brief 4 point guide for others of what brought him home and what were the hardest parts about living and working in the oil industry in North Dakota and here's what he had to say...
No Lodging
Was a bit concerned about it, but to me it didn't matter. I was prepared to live in my if I had to and yes I did I wound up living in my car. It's not glamorous guys. Some people can swing it as you spend most of your time at work, it's not like your cooking nice meals and relaxing and watching movies by the fire so you don't need fancy digs. That said it's not glamorous living out of your car. You can't prepare a good meal. Any water or anything else to drink you have will freeze, you'll have to spend about as much as your saving in rent on cold weather gear and an engine block warmer.
I lived in Alaska and Montana for a short while so I had a negative 40 sleeping bag. If your willing to endure the hardship and by the way prepare yourself to endure alot of it, you can make it out there. Obviously living out of your car isn't really a viable long term solution but until you decide your there to stay it's not a bad option. Also for those of you who want an oil job in North Dakota but don't yet live there, your chances of landing a job living locally goes up exponentally.
Food Is Expensive!!!
Going out to eat is incredibly expensie. Makes sense since I saw some restaurants with signs advertising that they were hiring waitresses at $18 an hour and were not talking nice steakhouses were talking diner type restaurants and pancake houses.
Eating out is expensive, shopping at Walmart is not. That said if you're living out of your car you will probably be eating out alot as you can't prepare food in a car and pretty much anything you buy will freeze. I basically lived off this everyday... 3 instant oatmeals, 3 protein shakes, and a $5 football sub from Subway.
Out Of Staters Have It Tough
People from out of state have a tougher time finding jobs, this isn't just true of the oil industry or North Dakota jobs it's true of any job but especially these jobs. People want to hire someone who is local and ready to start work, ready to get the physicals, drug tests, and take any necessary testing. They don't want to have to wait for you to come to town.
There's also a bit of an attitude that outsiders aren't welcome. Some locals will come right out and say it while others are a bit more passive aggressive. There are some nice people in North Dakota as well though. It's understandable though. Though the oil industry has brought a lot of money and a lot of good to the town it's also brought a lot of problems.
I personally didn't care. I knew getting hired would be harder if I wasn't physically there. I traveled to Wiliston, and put where I slept as the address on my resume, a Walmart store in Minot. I wound up getting a North Dakota CDL license. I wound up landing a job although in the end it turned out I wasn't happy with the company I chose.
A Job
A job is the one thing that did matter to me. I already had my Illinois CLD so I didn't have to pay for training and to get a CDL. It did however take me 3 weeks to land a job which may sound like a lot of time to live in your car doing nothing but 3 weeks is actually incredibly fast for landing a job out there. Sure some people will land a job day one but this is rare. Expect it to take a few weeks to a few months if not longer.
In the end I wasn't happy with my decision. I started a job and three weeks later I got angry with the company over pay and left. I wound up pretty quickly lining up another job but it didn't start for another three weeks. I was running short on cash and the prospect of living in my car for another 3 weeks waiting for my job to start was too much. I wound up going home.
Yes there are some great high paying jobs in the oil and gas industries in North Dakota however it's a tough way to make a living. Consider these things before heading out there.
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