Wireline Operator - $120,000/yr starting salary with CDL?

i dont know, but thanks for the idea...i gotta write down questions to ask the recruiter next friday.

 

First of all, sorry to raise this post from the dead but I didn't exactly want anyone whose looking for this type of information to be mislead since this is one of the first results when 'wireline operator' is googled.

I'm really not sure where a lot of this information comes from but I'll do my best to set a few things straight and any questions anyone has pertaining to it they can message me or respond and I'll do my best to answer.

I'd like to address the difficulty first as it seems a few frac hands seem to be mislead, The only time frac hands see wireline hands is on a stage job. Honestly I giggle each time I hear a frac hand say they have less downtime and work harder than a wireline hand. Stage jobs are only one single section of wireline's capabilities. Since theres such a broad opinion on how the larger companies run their shifts and pay I'll explain why their wage is low.

The larger companies pay by the hour, and only by the hour to allow for the way they run their crews. They bring out more people than regular wireline companies. If Weatherford has a job (not stage work) that requires grease and crane there will be a grease guy, a crane guy, and most of the time 3 operators plus the engineer.

Every wireline company I've worked for runs 1 Engineer 2 operators normally regardless of the job type.
This is also to be accounted to the fact that our pay scale is different. We earn a salary + bonus.
I'm in South Texas, Experienced operators here earn a salary of 60k/yr +2%
Engineers here earn a significantly advanced salary based on capability and typically 6%

There are a lot of companies out there that are only focusing on stage work, but that's not real wireline. If you plan to make a future out of it, look into a full service company that services from drilling rigs to re-completion projects.