I just made a major change in careers...now a blue collar worker w00t

[nicklk]

So I started working in the sporting goods industry more then 8 years ago here in Wyoming, and then moved to Oregon and continued my retail management and thats what I did in Denver as well.

Well my girlfriend has a bachelors degree in the health industry, and she's been attempting to get into nursing in Denver for quite some time with no success. So she applied to the Gillette Campus in Gillette, WY which is one of the best community college nursing programs in the US. And she got in right away, so thats why moved here.

But Gillette is known for their energy, they've been known as the "Saudi Arabia of the U.S." with all the energy sources that are available.....coal, oil, and recently coal bed methane has been like a gold mine here.

Soooooo, I decided to get out of retail.....the hours are taxing, and dealing with customers was starting to annoy me so I got into the coal bed methane field! I started Friday with a company here in town, that does the gauges for the methane pumps....kind of a cool job. I drive out to sites, and calibrate the gauges to verify they are pumping the correct amount of gas that the gauges say....making the company more money, and making sure the correct amount of gas is being gauged. I have to drive ALOT, so I get my own truck with XM radio...this bad mo fo:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v154/nicklk/IMG00542.jpg

Cool thing is the amount of money I can make is UNLIMITED, and the longer you stay with a company here, the more you make. I know JACK SHIT about coal bed methane, I dont know how its pumped out, I dont know how it is transported, absolutely nothing....and they hired me at $18/hour, full benefits, I get to use the truck for everyday use, two weeks vacation during Christmas, Monday-Friday 7-5, and if I want to work overtime, it is unlimited......I can work as much overtime I want with no questions, because they are so far behind and so busy that they need it.

So I got to buy my first pair of steel toed boots the other day lol, some Carhart pants w00t!

Has anyone else made a transition from white collar job to a blue collared job? How was your transition? Glad you made it?

[SERIOUS CUSTOMS]

NICE! They call it "work" for a reason... this means that it doesn't always have to be enjoyable. BUTTTTT, anytime you can enjoy what you do, that makes it even better!!!! Kudos!!

[lswhitecivic]

The company that Nate and I work for have coal bed methane fields in Wyoming as well. They get the methane out of the well, basically by flooding the well. As they fill it with water the methane gas is trapped as it comes out.

[b16efhatch]

$18 an hour aint bad starting pay considering youve never done any of that work, do you get per diem? Shit back when I started it was only at $11 an hour with $75 per diem, your doing pretty good.

[jackmode9316]

It was all of the Blue collar hard ass labor that prompted me to get into the white collar side of things. Although I must say, for starting at the bottom, you are not doing to bad for yourself. Right on!

[M@]

Damn, sounds like a pretty awesome gig, Nick. Glad everything's going well up north for ya!

[SERIOUS CUSTOMS]

Until the blizzards come and the truck is all chained up (tires) and the gauges are frozen - LOL

[nicklk]

The company that Nate and I work for have coal bed methane fields in Wyoming as well. They get the methane out of the well, basically by flooding the well. As they fill it with water the methane gas is trapped as it comes out.

What company do you work for? My company sells and installs state of the art gauges that read out how much gas is coming out of the well. I get to drive out to the wells and calibrate and verify that each well is pumping out the amount of gas the gauges are saying they are.

[nicklk]

$18 an hour aint bad starting pay considering youve never done any of that work, do you get per diem? Shit back when I started it was only at $11 an hour with $75 per diem, your doing pretty good.

Nope, straight up $18/hour. The guy that helped me get into the job started in April at $18/hour and is now making $24/hour, just by showing that he's a hard worker......so I'm excited to get farther into the company as I progress!

[nicklk]

Until the blizzards come and the truck is all chained up (tires) and the gauges are frozen - LOL

lol, thats something that I will have to get used to. I know how cold it gets up here in northern Wyoming (I grew up here). My buddy said that last year during a blizzard, it got so cold his diesel pickup gelled up and he was stuck in the middle of nowhere lol

[lswhitecivic]

What company do you work for? My company sells and installs state of the art gauges that read out how much gas is coming out of the well. I get to drive out to the wells and calibrate and verify that each well is pumping out the amount of gas the gauges are saying they are.

St. Mary Land & Exploration Company.

We have field offices in Gillette, Riverton, Thermopolis, and Casper.

[SERIOUS CUSTOMS]

lol, thats something that I will have to get used to. I know how cold it gets up here in northern Wyoming (I grew up here). My buddy said that last year during a blizzard, it got so cold his diesel pickup gelled up and he was stuck in the middle of nowhere lol

Ha - altho I lived here from 04 - 05 working for NORAD (Cheyenne Mountain), I am from Atlanta so I couldn't imagine it being that cold - lol.

[TXKompressor]

St. Mary Land & Exploration Company.

We have field offices in Gillette, Riverton, Thermopolis, and Casper.

HAHAHA, I used to live in Thermopolis. I played football there and did my first import swap when I lived there... too funny. It gets cold as shit up there. I do NOT miss it.