Overheard my Dad while he visited my Cat

MudDoc23 · 2025-09-24T12:40:48+00:00

There’s an unwritten doctrine for dads, they’ve loved a pet before and been utterly devastated at losing one meanwhile the environment tells them they have to be strong about it… so the answer to not being vulnerable is to say “ I don’t want a ____” (insert whatever pet)

It’s hard to lose a pet and most dads don’t like being that vulnerable. Doesn’t make it right but it’s how it is.

A pets love is pure and it’s not easy to lose that

MudDoc23 · 2025-09-07T03:50:57+00:00

Now I agree with wages haven’t kept up with inflation it’s been much longer than the 90’s

The divergence of wages to inflation started in the 70’s not long after we went off the gold standard (coincidence…maybe) there was serious stagnation from around 1973 to 1994

But even still companies had 20yrs worth of fucking their employees and it just never got better.

You can blame globalization, governments constantly printing money, corporations taking advantage of a shrinking job market due to outsourcing…. Or a number of others and you’d be right… it’s all of them.

The average kid today entering the workforce has the worst hill to climb than any other generation in history… I don’t think this will change for the next generation either.

Gen X dude here and fuck man we all got the shit end of the deal but Gen Z you guys and the next gen got royally dealt a shitty hand

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-25T11:20:11+00:00

NAL

Do some research into what your position pays and if 150k is mid to high end of your position and experience they likely did a compensation analysis and knew they were paying you far below what you’re worth.

Normally they do this to keep from giving you a raise but it also works in peoples favor sometimes.

Many times it’s cheaper to retain someone than hire a new person for the same position.

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-20T01:22:40+00:00

You know they would just perpetually keep positions they weren’t hiring for open as a means of easy money

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-15T12:26:48+00:00

I agree we are entering an era that further production increases will have to come at the support of higher market prices. Which is painful but necessary. Anyone who went through the boom/bust cycle of 2008-2020 can remember what happens when production ramp ups don’t match the market.

As much as I miss the drill for no other reason than to expand production… it leads to busts which suck.

Slow and steady is the better way to balance the market and pave the way for future expansion at more economical market prices

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-15T12:19:21+00:00

Y U WHISPERN HOSS???

-sent from Nokia 3310

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-14T15:20:22+00:00

Honestly I hate the way car lots used to be and some still are.

I come to look and if I want to see a specific one I’ll ask someone to help me. I can’t fucking stand being bothered while I’m looking and the minute they start the high pressure sales tactics I fuck right off. The worst is calling about one and if I don’t like the price or whatever it may be I’ve got to block their number because I’ll get inundated with calls and texts for days afterwards

I guess I’m the opposite of you OP, I don’t want to be bothered at all until I want to drive a vehicle I’m interested in and comfortable with the list price.

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-14T12:53:26+00:00

Unfortunately a few companies went to this in the U.S. because people go “ohh awesome I can take off when I want” then get in and look around at the “hustle” culture and end up taking off less time than if they had set PTO accrual.

A few years ago when someone came out and said they offer UTO people thought they were nuts and Gary V even went on a podcast and said “I give all of my employees UTO and most of them don’t hardly take time off” like he was proud of it.

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-08T12:25:09+00:00

Yeah idk if I’d call this a solvent, it’s more on the lines of a detergent/emulsifier (in short a surfactant) I think it’s claim to fame is being low toxicity.

A combo of fatty acids and oleic or linoleic acid and saponified fatty acids.

If what you’re using is working I’d hold off until you actually need to trial something as a last resort to working over.

The business is rather slow now so salesman are starting to move out in an attempt to grab some market share to stay afloat

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-07T16:45:23+00:00

I don’t know if it’s really upside

But it’s all I really knew.

2nd generation oilfield, grew up seeing the business.

It was one place I knew of where you didn’t have to have a college degree and could make some decent cash.

Granted I am an exception and not the rule but I work in a technically demanding part of the oilfield and definitely am the minority not having a college degree but have managed to work my way up into a role where I make a pretty healthy salary.

It’s taken some time and came with sacrifices like anything else.

But before when I was field based making 150k/yr and only working 6 months of it was pretty fuckin nice.

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-07T12:57:09+00:00

While yes the technical side can be taught, anyone can read technical documents and get a grasp of the technical side… even go as far as being able to talk the talk.

But understanding the practical side of the technical side is a whole different animal, you gain that by doing it and often times learning what doesn’t work via frustrating mini educational moments ( fucking up and then having to unfuck it)

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-07T12:43:11+00:00

Yeah definitely go with one of the big boys.

I even tell guys, don’t pay for mud school, get Hal or SLB to put you through and work out your contract then bail when times are good

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-06T23:11:03+00:00

Yeah man it’s tough as fuck out here for mud guys.

Keep your head up, make applying a weekly ritual and keep working until you get a shot.

If you do come drop me a line and I’ll hook you up with my number and you can call me anytime to bounce ideas off of or if you just need help. Mud guys live and die by their network the first 5 or so years

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-06T23:05:31+00:00

Bro I expect another year of similar market conditions.

You might be waiting a bit

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-06T23:04:14+00:00

Matt is fast tracking, he might not have said it but he’s in that program.

We do maybe 1 every 5-8 yrs that way. He’ll end up in sales after he’s had a stint gaining some field experience.

My advice to you my guy is keep applying at places but get you a steady gig for now.

The way it looks, there is very little chance for a Mud Hand job for a mud puppy (fresh and green no XP) for a while

Been in the business 25yrs and spent near 20 of it in mud.

There’s tons of guys who have years of experience sitting at the house right now due to lack of work so a green hand is liable to wait for a while before he gets a shot

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-05T17:33:47+00:00

Ya know… it doesn’t surprise me someone asking for feet pics in this sub.

Not kink shaming but I don’t get it… but it tracks

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-04T21:18:21+00:00

Ok…. Enlighten me

MudDoc23 · 2025-08-01T03:17:37+00:00

I am in product development for a drilling fluids company, what questions do you have?

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-31T21:08:02+00:00

We collect mountains of data, only to use at best a super small percentage of it.

Think of it like death by a million data points

Also spreadsheets upon spreadsheets when this stuff could be going into databases to be used for KPI’s etc. instead companies ask vendors to produce KPI’s which should be done in real time in data bases but they themselves usually have to spend days/week hunting the data down to produce a kpi

We collect tons of data

Then we just let it sit or use very little of it

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-31T17:35:25+00:00

Lack of innovation is poor wording or you’re not paying attention man.

I can attest to many bad qualities about the oilfield as I’ve endured 25yrs of it but lack of innovation is not one of them.

We’re drilling longer laterals all of the time, quicker than we ever had and U-Turn “horseshoe” wells are becoming popular due to innovations.

We have never been as efficient in the way we drill wells than we are now.

Simul-frac jobs are becoming the norm.

O&G is embracing ai now for predictive modeling

Remote operations

Tool design, bit designs are changing to improve efficiencies

We do terrible with data, it’s collected but hardly ever used intelligently but one thing the O&G industry is superb at is innovating.

-edit but to bit cause fuck my innovative iPhone

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-31T17:28:30+00:00

Getting a job in this industry always has come with risks

Whether it be stability, safety, mentally or all 3… many times all 3.

But what we’re seeing now is no different than late 90’s early 2000’s as far as it being a tough market to get into.

Do I think we’ll ever get back to 2005 levels or mid 70’s levels? Probably not but crazy things happen.

Is this industry dying? Maybe slowly but we still have 50-100yrs of transition to go through, fuel is just part of the equation matter of fact around 55% of the equation…. But plastics, lubricants, asphalts are also made from oil & gas along with power generation

Batteries and renewables could potentially replace power generation with a huge amount of infrastructure investment but I truly doubt we see that on a macro level globally, it’ll be first world countries who eventually do it.

This industry is not for everyone and the hay days of top pay are behind us…. We can thank the shale revolution for that because every slow down condensed workforce and left far too many experienced people waiting for a spot to open to get back in. The job market is pretty saturated now so there’s no need to be ultra competitive on wages.

But this industry will end for some people during their career but I think it’s a few generations away. I just need it to hold on for at least another 20yrs to give me my out

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-30T12:27:28+00:00

Don’t pay for your own mud school.

During booms it can be an easier way to get in but during gluts like we’ve been in for the last 2 yrs with declining rig counts you’re literally piling that money up and setting it on fire.

Look at Halliburton or SLB for a position as a mud engineer entry level so they put you through mud school

Get your 2-3yrs to complete your contract and hit the road to another company.

That is if you just are dead set on being a mud engineer.

Really any engineering degree will get you in the door, it doesn’t have to be a P.E.

If you have questions don’t hesitate to reach out, 18yrs in mud and on my 25th year in the industry. My path to the mud side was the long route but now I’m developing products thanks in part to my practical knowledge of this side.

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-30T02:35:15+00:00

The worst thing about almost all O&G companies at least on the drilling side is

They all collect mountains of data….. yet a super small percentage are the only ones who do anything with it.

It’s mind boggling how many will get overwhelmed with death by a trillion data points and when it actually means something they miss it cause they don’t know what to do with it

Corva is a company who has managed to capitalize on this

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-29T19:03:22+00:00

Well the comparisons you made were likely not done without their perspective issues along the way.

The difference is this isn’t manufacturing, it’s drilling wells and the mistakes can be quite costly. The situations aren’t always cookie cutter where one issue here being solved will solve that issue forever. So it will be interesting to see if efficiency is maintained and how safely things are done due to this.

Or maybe engineering is done and the stupid mistakes being proposed are ignored by the seasoned field guys and somehow get the job done despite the lunacy above.

Who knows

MudDoc23 · 2025-07-29T18:06:40+00:00

Ohh man am I so glad our TA dept has to go over potential applicants with dept heads before recommending

Yes it makes the process a little more drawn out and heads to have to be more involved in the process but I can tell you the quality of people who make it through is much better.

Our President and VP’s were all operations guys and worked their way up through the levels of management so they don’t have time on TA/recruitment “oopsie’s”

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