---
title: "Derrick Operator, Oil and Gas"
description: "Rig derrick equipment and operate pumps to circulate mud or fluid through drill hole."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/derrick-operator-oil-and-gas"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Derrick Operator, Oil and Gas

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-5011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-5011.00

Rig derrick equipment and operate pumps to circulate mud or fluid through drill hole.

Also advertised as: Derrick Hand; Derrick Man; Derrick Operator; Derrick Worker; Derrickhand; Derrickman; Floor Hand; Rig Hand.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $58,620 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.18/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $43,380 to $81,800, with the middle half between $49,880 and $71,610
- **Total US employment:** 10,590
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +1.6% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 78/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 10,590 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $43,380 |
| 25th | $49,880 |
| 50th (median) | $58,620 |
| 75th | $71,610 |
| 90th | $81,800 |
| Mean (average) | $60,210 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LA | $86,980 | $98,609 | 890 |
| AK | $78,050 | $76,251 | 170 |
| WY | $76,750 | $82,802 | 140 |
| ND | $71,850 | $80,768 | 490 |
| FL | $64,950 | $62,806 | 60 |
| CO | $64,730 | $62,813 | 290 |
| PA | $59,720 | $61,206 | 140 |
| NM | $59,570 | $64,601 | 880 |
| OK | $58,270 | $66,334 | 580 |
| UT | $56,980 | $57,635 | 80 |
| TX | $56,100 | $57,801 | 5,810 |
| CA | $55,480 | $50,108 | Not published by BLS |
| OH | $50,650 | $54,595 | 120 |
| WV | $50,640 | $56,583 | 60 |
| AR | $50,070 | $57,593 | 50 |

4 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 19 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/derrick-operator-oil-and-gas/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/derrick-operator-oil-and-gas.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 10,700 in the 2025–2035 base year to 10,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 200 jobs, or +1.6%. Slower than average: 1.6% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 900 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** Less than 5 years.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 68.5% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 22.9% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 4.9% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 3.6% |

## What the work involves

- Supervise crew members, and provide assistance in training them.
- Listen to mud pumps and check regularly for vibration and other problems to ensure that rig pumps and drilling mud systems are working properly.
- Repair pumps, mud tanks, and related equipment.
- String cables through pulleys and blocks.
- Steady pipes during connection to or disconnection from drill or casing strings.
- Control the viscosity and weight of the drilling fluid.
- Inspect derricks, or order their inspection, prior to being raised or lowered.
- Weigh clay, and mix with water and chemicals to make drilling mud, using portable mixers.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Multilimb Coordination — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reaction Time — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 3.64 |
| I — Investigative | 2.54 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.64 |
| S — Social | 1.01 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 88.7 |
| ISTP | 78.6 |
| ESTJ | 72.5 |
| ISFJ | 70.9 |
| INTJ | 67.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Rotary Drill Operator, Oil and Gas](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rotary-drill-operator-oil-and-gas) — median $67,890
- [Oil and Gas Roustabout](https://nuecareer.com/careers/oil-and-gas-roustabout) — median $46,960
- [Helpers--Extraction Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-extraction-worker) — median $47,730
- [Earth Driller, Except Oil and Gas](https://nuecareer.com/careers/earth-driller) — median $60,190
- [Wellhead Pumper](https://nuecareer.com/careers/wellhead-pumper) — median $69,960
- [Service Unit Operator, Oil and Gas](https://nuecareer.com/careers/service-unit-operator-oil-and-gas) — median $58,160
- [Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator) — median $59,850
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Pile Driver Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pile-driver-operator) — median $73,300
- [Dredge Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dredge-operator) — median $49,640

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/derrick-operator-oil-and-gas