What do you have to do, college wise, to do clerical work?

Need Advice: Getting a CDL to work the Bakken, but what about college?

• Alright, so, I know yahoo answers is the best place on earth to get advice, but I don't really know how to get in contact with anyone who has any experience to offer advice. I am a 23 year old college student, recently divorced. I am 7 classes away from the completion of my associates degree in Hospitality Management, I plan to get a BA in Hospitality Management, if possible. Currently I am about $10,500.00 in college debt, which isn't that bad since I'm just two semesters away from completing my associates, my total debt at that time should be $13,500.00. I'm hoping to be able to finish with a BA about $30-$35k in debt, which is much less than most of my friends, I'd be happy with that. My father is 49 years old, also recently divorced. He is the hardest working person I've ever met. He works about 60 hours a week between Wal Mart (Tire and Lube Express manager, making about $16/hr) and running his own plowing/odd jobs business. After child support and taxes he is clearing about $28,000 a year. I have been doing a lot of research about the oil boom going on in North Dakota, being from Maine, it's almost hard to imagine a need for workers as bad as they make it seem online. The jobs seem to pay a ridiculous amount of money for laborers. I have looked around at housing, it seems $4000/mo for a two bedroom is about the norm, which is pretty crazy, but I'm sure there are other ways to get by, including stay an hour or two away from Williston. I have been tossing around the idea of both my father and I going to get CDL class A licenses (maybe try to get Hazmat and Tanker endorsements as well.) and going to North Dakota for a few years. I would like to try and pay off what college debt I currently have, and save up a good amount of money for when I do graduate college, so that I can buy a house, etc. This seems like a lot of hard work, but worth it if I can go from working part time and going to college, making under $1000 a month, to making $3000-$4000/month. It would be good for my father as well, it could be his only chance to ever get anything, since his house was foreclosed on a few years ago his credit is terrible. But if he could save up 20-30k in a few years he could buy a piece of land and build his own house probably for around that and own it outright. Real estate is extremely cheap where we live. The cost of a class A cdl is $3,450.00 at school nearby. The extra endorsements, tanker and hazmet cost $10 each to test on. So the total cost of $3,470.00 per person would be the cost. So here is my list of questions, 1. Is this oil boom legit? IE: do they make it sound like there are tons of jobs, but in reality I would be wasting my time or end up taking a job that pays $1500-$2000/mo which is not much more than I could get here if I wasn't in college. 2. Is driving the best thing to get into out there? Would it be easier to get into a job on the fields themselves? 3. Can an average person get a CDL license and be somewhat successful? I've never really driven anything that big. I've driven a big U-Haul and nobody died, but I'm sure an 18-wheeler is a little different than that. 4. If you were in my situation what would you recommend? My current GPA in college is 3.42 Let me know if I missed anything. Thanks.

• Answer:

  1) The boom is absolutely legit. There are far more jobs than people in the oil patch, and more being added all the time. One estimate projects 10,000 more new jobs out there by the end of the year -- in a state that up until three or four years ago had a declining population (never more than 640,000 in the last few decades). We just surpassed Alaska as #2 in production, trailing only Texas. What we don't have is HOUSING. They're building thousands more homes and apartments this year but many of them are already spoken for and the rents and prices will be fairly outrageous (by our standards). If two of you are sharing the costs, it would be easier. People are making six figures, easy, but it comes at a cost -- expect double shifts and mandatory overtime. Lots of folks put in 12-15 hour days for two weeks straight, then are off for a week or two... that can really take a toll on you. Our infrastructure is playing major catchup, too, and it's not New York out here, so you have to keep that in mind. Winters are pretty brutal, but I love it. 2) Keep your mind open on what kind of job you'd be looking at. LOTS of positions in and around oil, not just the fields themselves. Support services of all kinds are hurting just as much. Check out the PDF from the employment office I'm sourcing below. Also pay close attention to the link (in the PDF) for The Shopper to get a better idea of other kinds of jobs needed. EDIT: here's that link, it's not in the PDF, sorry. http://www.theshopperinc.net/ 3) If you haven't driven a rig, you won't want to do it here first; I'm not exaggerating. The roads are incredibly dangerous because of people who just don't give a damn and have a schedule to keep. And again, we're working on infrastructure but it's just not there yet. And I've heard the trucking companies are being a little more selective in their employees -- but not much. There are other kinds of driving jobs needed, though,. If you are able to get in with the rigs, there may be housing for you in mancamps, depending on the company that hires you. 4) Here's what you need to decide: you're still *early* in your college degree, if you were 7 courses away from your BA, I'd suggest sticking it out and finishing. I never went back five courses away from mine. But this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only experience a boom but to pay off your existing debt and save up enough to pay for college entirely, easy. That would put you in an absolutely remarkable position compared to your peers. College debt is now more than CREDIT CARD debt in this country. Putting hundreds of dollars per month into your pocket after graduation by NOT carrying debt will enable you to do so much more than other graduates -- and for decades afterward. I have a neighbor who is working out there, one week on, one week off, to pay off his house and land in two years. You're young enough to make this work, with foresight, and I congratulate you for being thorough in your research and not just dropping everything with $$ in your eyes. And you might just find something interesting in the work and go back to school for that. Good luck to you and your father. Just remember, have a place to stay/thing to stay in before you come up! PS, keep in mind if your father is making more, his child support could go up too, depending on the court.