Roughneck
Also called chainhand
Roughnecks make or break connections when the drill pipe is tripped in or out of the drilling hole. They assemble and disassemble pipes and drills, and collect core samples. They maintain and repair the equipment on the drilling floor.
What you'd do
Well drillers and borers and related workers · ILO- Dismantling, moving and assembling drilling rigs and auxiliary equipment
- Assembling and dismantling pipes, casings and drill heads, and replacing dysfunctional equipment
- Operating controls to lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells, regulate pressure in the well and control the speed of tools
- Preparing drilling fluid and checking the operation of pumps to ensure adequate circulation of fluid in drill pipe and well
- Monitoring gauges and other indicators and listening to equipment to detect malfunctions and unusual well conditions, and determining the need to change drilling or equipment
- Maintaining, adjusting, repairing and cleaning drilling rigs, hoisting and other machinery
- Maintaining records of drilling and servicing operations
- Operating machines and tools to extract dust, cuttings and lost and broken drilling equipment from holes and wells
- Closing and sealing wells no longer in use
- Supervising and training crew members
- Mostly outdoors
- A mix of sitting and standing
- Lots of contact with people
- Some freedom to decide
- Often more than 40 hours a week
- Deadlines most weeks
- Some repetitive tasks
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,000 a month (Bulgaria) to €5,500 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among plant and machine operators, and assemblers in the EU, women earn 21% less per hour than men. Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could take on part of some tasks, but none fully.
Average task score 0.19 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 10 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for well drillers and borers and related workers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).