Is it true that EXPATS make 300-400k a year? 28 days on 28 days off? If so what type of field do you have to be in? Engineer? what type of engineer? Just looking for info. I am currently in school.
Thanks!
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The whole pay package may be in the range of $300K to 400K but that includes foreign taxes paid by Company on behalf of expats plus educational subsides for kids' schooling and airfares for you (rotational and resident) and family members (resident status). The only net difference is the uplifting of base salary plus vacation payout. The rest is just accounting gimmick.
Loved below response right on brother lol
You'll be lucky to get a job at all. $300k? Are they serving up crack at your dorm? Put down the crack pipe.
Eh. I started a rotational assignment when I was 21. Of course oil was around $110/bbl at the time.
The above is correct. You need some years behind you to get a rotation assignment. Experience is needed and its high pressure so they do not have a lot of young expats in Tengiz. Dont know about the other locations. And yes be prepared to miss holidays and other celebrations for the job. Still, it can be done and surprisingly you get used to it.
That is a very nice story, fake or not, and I am so happy that there are hard working individuals who are willing to give up half of their lives on a career which pays half of what a senior level software engineer/coder or supervisor makes in many areas of the country. That's not for me. My time is way more valuable. You never learn that until it's too late, unfortunately. You can't get your youth back, but you can always make money, and in unlimited ways these days, with very little effort and without leaving home.
God Bless you.
@H4Ia7Za-1vvt, That's a nice success story. Was it based on someone that you know, or is that typical recruitment information that you found online?
Yes, that would be me. Based on my experience in the oil field, the high salary comes from working the international rotational assignments.
As an employee I was in the +$425,000 range not including the pension, 401K matching and health care so I guess my effective pay would be maybe 15% higher than that. But it gets better, I was making that based on a ‘28 days on and 28 days off’ schedule PLUS five weeks of vacation. That equates to working a little under 5 months per year at +$425,000/yr. BUT... it gets better; having every other month off plus vacation allowed me to develop a parallel second career (note related to the oil field). After +3 decades of working the oil field, on a 28/28 basis, I retired and immediately increased the hours associated with my second career.
Yes, based on a 28/28 schedule, the money, the time off and the opportunity to develop a parallel second career was good for me and my family, very good indeed. We retired financial independent. Thank you ...very much!
BUT, if you work a 28/28 schedule you better be prepared to miss all holidays, Christmas, New Years, anniversaries, weddings, births, graduations, etc., etc. Not all .. not every year, but just be prepared because it will happen more often than not. Also, for some it can be hard on the wife and kids; some of the guys that rotated 28/28 ended up divorced. (I’m lucky, we have been married 45 years, she is a true oil field surviving wife). Also, you need to be prepared to accept every international location they toss at you; and, some of these places won’t be nice. I’ve worked a lot of bad places. Too many. Finally, during your days on you better have the stamina and strength to withstand the operational pressure, it can, at times, be very significant. I’ve witnessed several guys fold-up due to the pressure (including two suicides: one shot himself and one hung himself, And, an attempted suicide - hanging.
Also, keep in mind that just because you are working an international assignment there is no assurance that you will reach that level of salary (especially in today’s market). In my case, as an engineer with supervisory skills working the coal face, I developed a set of core skills that could, and often did, save the company millions of dollars. Developing that level of skill takes years of working world-class oil field projects.
Yes, +$425,00 was possible for me but took work and some luck to position myself to receive that salary.
Good luck to you in all your efforts! (I wish I was a young student again :)
I couldn't agree with you more, 1njb. What you said is Pure Gold. Another excellent post for the Chevron Layoff Site Hall of Fame.
The last post about Chevron's mind-numbing "process" is spot on. All of this chokes considerable profit from the company while stifling employee morale.
Word of advice: 1. Do what you enjoy doing, don't do what pays good (and spend your life being miserable when you have a job, when you are about to lose your job, and when you lose your job), 2. Avoid the oil and gas business, 3. If you can't do #2, avoid Chevron LOL, or you will definitely spend your life being miserable, reporting to a bunch of dumb asses who can't count to three without complicated processes, involving the right (wrong) people, vetting with different people companywide, and countless meetings which include 10-15 minutes safety moments each, the three headed monster, the sodomizing CPDP and the DRB meetings with a bunch of clueless morons....but I digress.
Don't put your hope in money. This guy had just finished a four-year expat assignment and died in a plane crash along with his whole family while returning home.
https://thimblerigsark.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/a-memorial-to-the-family-of-tambii-jee-lost-on-mh17/
What a flogger do your time like every one else.
Most countries require 10 years of professional experience in a field to obtain a work visa.
My advice, don't read a layoff forum for career advice.
Yes what is on the W2 and your disposable income are very different things. Worse location equals better compensation as well. I believe this is a dying industry although not completely dead yet. I also believe expatriation is a dying industry and on a faster decline than oil. If you can manage it, land a job in one of the "erias" or the "stans" and save everything you can.
You have to be pretty high on the totem pole to earn that kind of salary or work in a place that no one wants to go to (a "hell hole" as @qhe put it) and what kind of life would that be. They aren't giving out free money.
Stay away from this industry, make a professional license in Mech or chemical and target more stable industries that you can mature in and make a solid income in a clean vision on where your heading.......this is my advice to you.
Not going to be many rotational expat assignments for the next couple years. Especially positions for a Horizon's engineer.
Someone with a base of $90k with a 50% uplift and getting vacation paid out will have a W2 income of over $200k after considering tax protection/equalization.
Only those with very high pay grades may make $300-$400k per year, but you mentioned "as a student looking for advise" makes me think you may be interested in information for yourself (as a young graduate). Younger engineers working overseas for Chevron will not get paid but half that amount, as a maximum, and you better be damn good too. We typically send experienced engineers and specialized technicians overseas, so be prepared to put your time in Stateside before dreaming of a lush paying job in Fiji or other paradise (or even a hell hole somewhere).
That's about right, depending on assignment location and PSG.