Shift Worker from Bashkiria Explains Youth's Disinterest

A drilling engineer from Bashkiria told UFA1.RU why shift work no longer seems as attractive as before and why new young workers quickly «drop out». According to him, the money currently paid for trips to oilfields can be earned «on the ground» without ruining one«s health. His detailed account of working conditions on shift is in a column on our portal.

The author is 39 years old and has been working in the industry for almost 20 years, having worked for major companies and at oilfields in various parts of Russia and abroad. He asked not to disclose his name in the publication. The editorial opinion may not coincide with that of the authors.

I would not recommend shift work to my children because decent money can be earned «on the ground» and there«s no need to go anywhere. Back when my mother was paid 130 rubles (about $1 at current rates) a month at the factory, shift workers earned 1,000 rubles (about $10 at current rates). They worked hard away from home, but for a salary seven times higher.

I entered the oil industry in 2007. The first time I went on shift was to the city of Megion for an industrial internship between the fourth and fifth years of technical college. After a little over three months, I returned with 180,000 rubles (about $1,800 at current rates). At that time, my mother, as head of the laboratory at the factory—a stressful job—was earning about 35,000 rubles (about $350 at current rates) a month. Can you feel the difference between the North and «the ground» 18 years ago?

Back then, many guys after such industrial internships bought themselves almost new «fours» (Lada 2114)—a new one cost about 250,000 rubles (about $2,500 at current rates). For comparison: now the price for a new «Granta» reaches 1.2 million rubles (about $12,000 at current rates). Nowadays, no one pays anywhere near that much to an intern for three months of work.

Initially, I entered the industry as an assistant driller for well workovers, without a higher education, at the fourth, lowest grade—as recorded in my work book. While still studying in college, I planned to end up at Schlumberger (SLB). I passed the interview well, but in 2008, when I was finishing my studies, another crisis occurred and sharp cuts in hiring began. Then I went to «Bashneftgeofizika», and two years later, Schlumberger remembered me and invited me, but already as a telemetry engineer.

Schlumberger was founded by French industrialists in the early 20th century and is now among the world«s top oilfield services companies. It saw major growth after entering the U.S. market but operates at sites worldwide, including in Bashkiria. In Russia, the company also became one of the industry leaders, but from the mid-2010s, it significantly reduced activity, and the remaining enterprises operate under the SLB umbrella.

I didn«t like working as a telemetry engineer at all because I was simultaneously getting a higher education in »Drilling«, and that seemed more interesting to me. Well, and besides interest, the financial factor was also far from last.

A telemetry engineer on drilling rigs works with measuring equipment to analyze data in real time in order to promptly transmit information about possible optimization options. This work involves constant monitoring of sensors and maximally fast calculations with subsequent transmission. The same «Bashneftgeofizika» was looking for such specialists in early 2025 with a salary, according to HeadHunter, of up to 330,000 rubles (about $3,300 at current rates).

But in 2013, I completed the company«s internal school and from 2014 to now, I have been working as a drilling engineer. Personally, the hardest thing for me is that while on shift, I constantly think only about work, can»t relax and do something else, shift my attention. I work, eat, sleep. But the biggest plus is the salary.

I come from a poor family, the easiest way to rise was through two social elevators: the oil industry and the army. I chose the first, and now, if such an opportunity arose, I wouldn«t change my choice. I am a conservative person, and if everything is more or less going according to plan, I won»t rock the boat.

And, in principle, the work is good, I know how to do it well, I«ve survived so many crises, layoffs, and I»m still valued. But due to age, I assume that I«m getting closer and closer to dismissal. If they didn»t pay so much, I wouldn«t have stayed in this industry and wouldn»t even have ended up here.

Salaries in the oil industry have been gradually degrading since 2014, which is why the contingent, the personnel, are becoming lesser. Previously, in all companies, there were many people from million-plus cities, where there is more choice of professions, with diplomas from good universities, but now mostly from weaker universities from settlements where there is no work at all. The latter have worse training from the start, and they come to work weaker.

Many don«t stay for long, there»s constant turnover. A young guy or girl comes, works one or two shifts, and meanwhile sees how friends «at home» work and earn money comparable to his or her salary in the same time. Shift work doesn«t seem so advantageous when »at home« you can get the same money, but there you also live a full life and don»t ruin your health.

Conditions vary everywhere. In some places, work stops in the frost, in others—even at -50°C (-58°F), you slowly continue. At some oilfields, to get drinking water, we had to melt snow—near Novy Urengoy in 2010–2011. All sorts of things happened—a leaky toilet, or something else. There were many curiosities in Krasnoyarsk at the start of my career, but you can«t tell about them in decent words.

The worst conditions were on shifts in Western Siberia, because all the oilfields there are depleted, everyone saves on everything. The best are on Sakhalin, probably, and the Caspian, but even then, now foreign customers have left, and under «Russian» management, everything is not very well organized.

Before his arrival, we were paid for 12-hour shifts, but suddenly an order came out that the workday lasts 11 hours, although in fact nothing changed, and at the end of the year, «overtime» was deducted from our salary. The approximate amount I was deprived of then, eight years later, was «returned» to me by mistake due to a glitch in the payment system. Then they wanted to cancel the transfer, but I wrote a bunch of applications, directly reminding: «Guys, this is for events from eight years ago.»

A couple of years ago, I got the chance to work at an oilfield abroad. At first, it was scary because I hadn«t spoken English since 2014, when all the expats left Russia. But it was okay, I got into it and now feel like a fish in water. After working here, I became convinced that specialists from the post-Soviet space are real specialists. Only North Americans and guys who worked in the Northern Seas can compare with ours. The rest are an order of magnitude lower in professionalism.

I continue to work because I«ve already reached a decent salary level: I have a lot of experience, I work on serious projects. Now I have long shifts; until 2023, I worked on a roughly equal schedule, but now trips take up to 70% of my time. My older son is 15, teenage years, younger is 12—naturally, it affects them when their father is away from home for long periods. However, I am able to pay for higher education for each of them, I will give them the chance to study well and live well.

Later, I can retire. Again, as long as the money is good, I can save, accumulate, and the Pension Fund, I suppose, won«t provide for me in old age. There were no long-livers in my family, so I plan to finish working at 49 years old—a good age when you»re not yet incontinent and can live for your own pleasure.

Read also the column of another shift worker from Bashkiria. He travels to work in KhMAO and assures that he wouldn«t trade his job for anything else.