job decision/what would you do

[rancher1913]

currently work of the ranch in the oil patch as the ranch does not make enough to support us. I really like my crew, just 5 of us and we all pull together very well (we operate a coil unit for fish jobs and drill outs). I'm not that young anymore and the 15 hour days get old and with the current economy I could be laid off anytime. when we work we make good money. got offered a job at denver international airport that pays good and has good hours but its an hour drive each way, steady job good benifits and kind of recession proof. the oil patch job is more lucrative and the airport is more steady.
I know there are several members here that work the oil patch and wonder if you could, would you jump ship if given a chance, I'm torn about abandoning my crew but need to look out for my family.

[Greg S]

I here ya and facing sorta the same situation. I'm a steel painter (picture carnival worker) and travel extensively for work doing field re-paints. My body is doing better the past two years with 10 x 6 scheduales instead of 7 x 12s. My next job/career is going to be cloe to the house. 10-15 min, 20 max and no rush hour. I'd take a cut in pay over dealing with an hour in and 1.5 to 2.5 home in the evening.

Leaving the crew behind is a tough one. As far as employers, very few are loyal. If they have no work, they lay you off. Wasn't too much of a problem before, as long as you could keep your bases covered you were good. Now, with Ooobo care, fines ect. it is impossible. Steady 9-5 work is the safe bet.

Only you can make that decision for yourself, your family and your financial situation.

[phonejack]

Family first, no regrets

[hithard]

Slow and steady...go to the airport.you'll always know where you stand. Keeping things steady in life cuts down on the drama. .

[edler7]

The 2 hours/day drive will get pretty old, put lots of miles on the car and can become expensive. I had a buddy that did that for 5-6 years, and he didn't miss it a bit when it was over. The weather in that part of the state isn't always the best to drive in- but you already know that.

Day shift or variable scheduling ? Outdoor or indoor ? Still have your ranch chores before/after work ? I suppose that one is a wash since you still have them working in the patch, too.

I'm with the rest here, family first.

[Plate plinker]

Family first, no regrets
Family first. Oil will be there later if you need it.

[rancher1913]

I've done the hour drive thing before and its a pain but doable, lots of people in denver have longer drives and they are only a few miles away, at least the drive will be all interstate. the job is facility maintenance, so its mostly indoors which is a plus, the -20 outside for 12 hours on the rig really sucks so I won't miss that. just wish I had a crystal ball.

[bullet maker 57]

I agree, family first.

[richhodg66]

I'm back to driving 70 miles each way to work and back and most days, it doesn't bother me much, I'm apretty early riser and 24 years in the Army git me used to long days and less sleep than most people think you can get by with. When it's warm and I can ride a motorcycle, I really kind of enjoy the commute. Get some kind of a reliable car that gets good gas mileage and go for it.

[lightman]

I've had friends that had to commute and they usually bought a dedicated car for the purpose. A small stripped down Toyota with a 4 speed gets 40 mpg, small cheap tires last 70000+ thousand miles, regular oil and filter changes help the car last 200k miles. Front wheel drive works well in snow and ice. Purchase price is cheap.

After working 35 years outside in the weather, I can tell you that it don't get any easier. You will get used to and appreciate the inside job and will adjust to the cut in pay. Sometimes a short commute gives you time to unwind from work before you get home.

Just a note of caution. Beware that your added drive time increases your exposure for accidents. Practice your defensive driving and wear your seat belts. Watch the weather and adjust for it. Probably not as dangerous as the oil patch, just a different set of dangers!

[4719dave]

I'de take the airport .Steady work and out of the weather.....I've been working on garage doors for a total of 26 years parts are worn out .Body needs a break but have to pay the bills .Get a small car for sure I have a company truck :lol:

[MrWolf]

I switched to a government job when I could not afford the benefits being self employed. Took a pay cut but in the long run was worth it, even got a Masters degree out of it. It was tough for the first eight or so years with the pay cut but in my case commute is about 30 mins each way but my hours are regular and was able to be off for holidays and a decent amount of vacation, sick, etc. time. Good luck.

[bayjoe]

You can always go back to the oil patch.
I'd relax and take the DIA job and see how you like it.

[Smoke4320]

Take the Airport job .. At least for the foreseeable future oil jobs will continue to be cut..
take the sure thing with steady income . Think of your family and their support.. you may be out of a job any day now
if/when oil picks back up you can think about returning

[starnbar]

Take the airport you are not gonna get any younger and most jobs like that have a retirement benefit too. I worked for 16 years and came in to get a pink slip one morning so it was a county job for me after that with 5 kids to take care of and pushing 40 I had to have something that paid every week and had insurance.

[Suo Gan]

I'm thinking of fatherly advice without knowing most of what is going on in your life and almost all of the particulars.

Steady jobs jobs pay off when they provide you with job security, job safety, medical benefits, retirement, air conditioning, etc.Dangerous highly skilled manual labor jobs can sometimes pay more in a year than a steady regular job will in five years or more. It is a gamble.

Inhave found that that most people ride the gamble and scaunder all the money so there is no benefit to staying at the higher paying job because the money is blown anyway.

Weigh it it all out on a piece of paper pros and cons. Whichever side wins is probably the way to go.

[jmort]

I have driven a whole lot, for most of my life. Short of being a OTR driver, I know I am near the top, mileage wise. An hour each way is doable, especially in order to live on a ranch in the country. I did it for 20 years, just so I could be in the country. I can now work from home with occasional long 2,000 round trip mile runs to Colorado or wherever. How may years would you have to do this job in Denver before retirement? A 10 year commitment would be worth it to me. It is nice to have piece of mind job-wise. I have been self-employed for the last 30 years and that has been a roller-coaster and I am finally hitting the fun part of the ride. Pray about it and follow your inward leading. I hate cities and masses of cars and people, so I chose to be a road warrior.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Which job is more fun ?
I bet it's the one that no one mentioned...The Ranch.
Is there any possible way to get your Ranch to pay the bills ?

[jonp]

"I'm torn about abandoning my crew but need to look out for my family." Who comes first? By putting that statement in writing I think you know the answer already and are just trying to get up the gumption to pull the trigger..

[brstevns]

May be putting that Prairie Dog Hunt down the toilet, but Family Comes First.

[flyer1]

I would take the job at DIA. I have worked a steady, with benefits job for 34 years. My pay is 1/3 of my sisters pay. Yet, now I am close to retirement and can go and my sister who is 7 years my senior still needs to work 2 or 3 more years. She did not plan well with all the extra money she made. It just kind of slipped throuh her fingers. Her retirement is 1/3 of mine. Take care of family first.

[tinsnips]

My uncle drove 120 miles per day for 43 years to the same job so I asked him if the drive bothered him. His answer was no it was the best part of his day. No one bothered him at all while he was driving to an from work. A lot can be said for a steady job good luck.

[troyboy]

No reason to sweat an hour commute. Time to get out of oil and mining.

[country gent]

I drove a little over an hour each way to work for years the big thing is learning to use the commute to your advantage. While driving I was also thinking things thru and deciding what was needed for things. If the traffic isnt bad it can be quite enjoyable. I bought a convertable and in summer got a lot of sun LOL. Providing for your family and making sure they have what they need is the only issue. Also dont hesitate in bad weather to use the cheaper hotels for a night or 2. A 30.00 or even 50.00 room is cheaper that a wreaked car and or injuries. There were 4 guys who drove farther than I did and they rented a small house cheap together to stay the week and went home weekends, holidays or special occasions.

[Ural Driver]

Take the airport job.

[EDK]

I lived 10 miles from my job UNTIL the divorce. Then I drove 40 miles one way...mostly good two lane..for 17 years. I retired with a little less than 42 years with the power company. (Unfortunately, got divorce papers after 8 months of retirement., but that's another story.) I was lucky that I enjoyed my job MOST of the time and same thing on co-workers. It was getting a bit too politically correct for an aging dinosaur/veteran/red neck, but that's the way it is everywhere.
You need to take care of the family and have a job with benefits and a pension. The fact that you can continue to live on the ranch is super. I had to put down my Appaloosa/Arab gelding, age 31, 8 years ago. I bought his mother (by mail) as a yearling while I was in Viet Nam in 1969. My dad and I farmed flood control land in Illinois for years.
One of my last bosses at work drove 80 miles each way for four years. He had started with the power company late in life and needed to get his pension ramped up so he took the foreman job. He said the quiet time on the road was pretty good most of the time. Incidentally, he lives in the house he was born in.
I'd leave the uncertain oil field job and jump on the airport. Keep the ranch going for another generation and have a decent retirement check and some benefits for yourself and mom.

[dragonrider]

I did a 40 minute drive each way for 35 years, job was good, pay was better, nothing closer that paid as well. I know it is not a hour but you will get used to it. As said above family first.

[Blackwater]

As we get older, I think it becomes more important to do something we just plain LIKE doing, rather than what pays the absolute best. I've read where most folks today have 3 or 4 different careers today, on average, so many face the spectre and opportunity of a change in mid-stream. Money's always important, but it's not all there is to it, and there are many things to balance in making these decisions. Over time, I've never known anyone to really regret going with the job they enjoy more, rather than the one that paid better but required a lot more of them, and was harder on the demands it made on their time and emotions. The time we spend at work in necessary. The time we have left over is our "real life," the part that makes us who we are and lets us be that. Only each of us individually can balance all these factors out. You can't take the money with you, but you CAN take a lot of memories of being with family and friends.

Probably the best thing about these situations is that there really is no wrong answer. Just simple choices. Wish I could help, but I'd be the last to try to tell someone what to do in this situation because we all have our values and skill sets and desires, and they're all different, so it'd be in appropriate for any of us to give you much serious advice, really, though it does often help to get opinions from others to help us make up our minds. My only advice would be to go with your heart, rather than the money. I suspect you're much more likely to be happy doing that, but even that's no guarantee. We pays our monies an' takes our choices, an' either way, it's gonna' work out less well than we'd hoped sometimes, and occasionally, even better than we thought. We always have to estimate what the future's going to be like, and none of us seem to hit that one dead on. Try to keep your options open, too. That's always a good thing.

[Boaz]

I broke out roughnecking on drilling rigs doubling for hands wanting a day off while I was in high school (rigs ran 7 days a week , no relief , no time off) . Drove rig up trucks , drilled , blacklegged , ran work over rigs ,.............whatever .
Started a rig mechanic field service in 1977 , making $18.00 an hour , overtime before 8 in the morning and after 5 in the evening , double time on weekends and holidays , 50 cents a mile driving time , all expenses paid . Yea , I was making doctor's wages ..........thought I was gonna get rich and then ...
The boom cratered in the spring of 79...........2 years later I was welding up trashcan racks under my carport and peddling them door to door with free installation . Waiting for a boom to come back is very self defeating , been there . Looks like oil is done for a while ...

[rockrat]

Go for the Airport.
My daughters fiancee works for a fracking company and I worry about him and his job.

[bedbugbilly]

Sometimes "less" can be "more" . . . . . .

[daniel lawecki]

Steady income and benefits are very important and does the new job have a retirement package.

[rancher1913]

thanks for the replies. I would love to just stay on the ranch but after the drought a few years ago I was forced to sell down the heard as my pastures were being pushed to hard and my crops all failed, now that the weather is cooperating I could rebuild the heard but will need about 100 grand at current heifer prices and I refuse to borrow money. if calf prices would stay like they were 2 years ago I could survive but that was a fluke. at 55, I still have a long way to retirement and may have to work until I die, the plan was to build the ranch up to support us in our old age so we don't have any retirement funds but everything we have is paid for. all my coworkers have said the same as you guys, take the job and in a few years you can always come back if need be. as for traveling in bad weather, that won't be an issue--when a storm hits you don't leave til the runways are clear and I would be spending long hours in a plow truck, all my years of operating equipment were what got me the job.

[Boaz]

thanks for the replies. I would love to just stay on the ranch but after the drought a few years ago I was forced to sell down the heard as my pastures were being pushed to hard and my crops all failed, now that the weather is cooperating I could rebuild the heard but will need about 100 grand at current heifer prices and I refuse to borrow money. if calf prices would stay like they were 2 years ago I could survive but that was a fluke. at 55, I still have a long way to retirement and may have to work until I die, the plan was to build the ranch up to support us in our old age so we don't have any retirement funds but everything we have is paid for. all my coworkers have said the same as you guys, take the job and in a few years you can always come back if need be. as for traveling in bad weather, that won't be an issue--when a storm hits you don't leave til the runways are clear and I would be spending long hours in a plow truck, all my years of operating equipment were what got me the job.

These decisions are hard and even harder as you grow older knowing your options lessen . Talk to your family and talk to GOD . I know everyone here hopes you do well , many will pray for your situation .

[pmer]

I'm seasoned commuter and 1 hour is doable. I do field service and commutes can vary to more or less time. Ergonomics in the drivers seat is more important to me over the years. I like my shoulders back and down and upper legs more horizontal. It promotes good spinal posture. A car or truck with a nice adjustable seat really helps for repeated long trips. I average more than 4 hours a day sitting in the service van.

[Plate plinker]

Good choices rancher. Hope your ranch becomes more profitable again it is definitely difficult to buy back a herd right now. Your on track with the breed your way back in mentality. Could you perhaps rent out pasture to other ranchers or bail up grass/hay for more income?

[Fishman]

Airport job and careful planning/budgeting. The extra driving hours added to your work hours are still less than the current work schedule. Use the time spent not working for a paycheck to work on your ranch, which should make it more profitable. Find some interesting podcasts to listen to on the commute. Get a small fuel efficient car that is cheap and save your big 4wd truck for real work. Those of us who have a steady job that want to live away from town have to commute.

[Hardcast416taylor]

After working construction jobs for quite a few years I lucked into employment as an industrial pipefitter/plumber. I worked that job for the final 35 years before I retired. I drove a 50 mile stretch, 1 way, that took on average of an hour +/- weather conditions both ways. Then there were the `rush - rush` jobs that I worked 12 - 16 hour days for weeks on end. I got very nice pay and benefits that was great for my family and me when medical problems started settling on me. I`d take the airport job as people will always be using an airport rather than an oil well that goes dry, or shut down.Robert

[Nicholas]

The solid foundation to your family security makes the airport job better. It frees up some time to feed your entrepreneurial activities on the ranch and maybe other possibilities that you might develop. Depending on your personality, driving time can be a relief from a hectic life. It would be miserable if you spent the time racked with worry, though.

[runfiverun]

i'm in Brighton right now working in the patch.
why?
cause right now Colorado is where all the work is.
once it slows down that's pretty much it.
yeah some other places have a little work here and a little there and our camp is getting by right now picking up those jobs in Texas, and Colorado, and Wyoming.

unless your willing to travel and stick [eke] it out until the next boom i'd bail, especially for a job near home.
if I could get on with the mine or whatever near home right now, i'd jump for sure, and I have been doing this for 12 years now.

but I know my crew has a customer [contract] waiting on us for the season [where i'll only be 3 hrs away from home] so i'll stick it out.
in your case i'd bail.

[quail4jake]

Feel bad for ya. Family first, petroleum will come back and you'll have better times. This country needs guys like you and everyone needs oil and gas! above all VOTE! Best of luck from shale gas country of PA.

[rancher1913]

all the in-tell I have collected shows its a good place to work and when I talked to the plant manager this morning he liked that I wanted to give a two week notice and even offered to make the start date 2 weeks after I pass background which means I won't have to quit until its a sure thing. tentative start date is middle of February and will be working w/th/f/s with three day weekends which will give me time to get projects done around the ranch. I've got several older cars that I will run the tires off while I save for a newer one. thanks for all the support and r5r maybe well run in to each other between now and then, we are the orange and grey trucks with the huge roll of pipe in the middle.

[armexman]

Rancher, here's hoping you can meet Selby.

[.45Cole]

The oil patch will come back. In the meantime you have to put food on the table. When the :dung_hits_fan:everyone will be looking for work. Denver is getting bigger. When the patch comes back, you already have the experience and there's always someone dumping something downhole.

I grew up in the western slope, boom and bust, the eastern slope has never seen a bust but without ag they're going to see one if oil drops like it looks like it will. Sounds like you already have your mind (logically) made, just need a little support.