Thinking about getting a p-tech degree from LIT.

What do these guys make starting out and how much do they make say 5 years down the line?

Depends on the plant. Roses? Cotton? Tobacco? Cannabis? Shrooms? Ayahuasca?

gabehcoud said:

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Depends on the plant. Roses? Cotton? Tobacco? Cannabis? Shrooms? Ayahuasca?

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Don't use bat guano to fertilize your cannabis.

https://www.wsaz.com/2024/12/18/2-men-die-after-growing-cannabis-with-bat-feces-fertilizer-study-says/?outputType=amp

Think those kinds of jobs can include lots of (paid) OT so total comp may vary quite a bit I bet. Base may only be a starting point, OT could be significant addition.

Plant operators in the panhandle 28 to start mid to upper 30s after qualified. Maybe 45-50 5 years in?

Knaack said:

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Thinking about getting a p-tech degree from LIT.

What do these guys make starting out and how much do they make say 5 years down the line?

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Top pay at the big boy employers is $63 - $66/hr

You'll make ~$35/hr initially. Then up to ~$50/hr after ~5 years. You'll work 25-45% OT once you're trained and qualified. And most places work rotating 12 hour shifts swapping between days and nights.

And after ~15 years you can get a day job where your base pay will jump up, your OT will go down, your total pay will come out about even, and you will rarely work nights.

If you don't have any connections, get the degree and apply to all the big guys. Will help to have other work experience too, the more relevant the better. Make sure whoever you hire on with actually cares about safety and doesn't just talk about it. Carelessness or unnecessary risk can get you killed out there.

Also easy to move to Houston or Louisiana if you'd rather be there.

Plenty of opportunity. Valero, Exxon, Motiva, are all there. Lots of overtime available. Cost of living way less than Houston. I think I saw an ad up to $50/hr starting pay.

Several of the dad's at my kids private school work in the refineries. Not sure of positions, but doing well enough for private school . Property is also super cheap in SETX which is a huge bonus. We moved to the area about a year and a half ago and really love it.

My son has been working air separation outfits for 5 or 6 years. He is at $57 or $58 an hour currently. He makes $130k to $140k per year, depending on the overtime. Works 12 hour shifts like most of them do now.

Do these guys work week on week off?

maroon barchetta said:

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In the end, you are still in Beaumont/Port Arthur.

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...where you can ride the mechanical bull at Gilly's and marry yourself a honkytonk hooer...

About tree fiddy.

What the hell is wrong with this place nowadays?

YokelRidesAgain said:

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About tree fiddy.

What the hell is wrong with this place nowadays?

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Staff.

Duh.

Whatever the hourly rate, remember you are going to pay half to your ex wife.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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Whatever the hourly rate, remember you are going to pay half to your ex wife.

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I've got a cousin that was a plant operator that can vouch for that statement.

enjoy your asthma…kidding of course

Enviroag02 said:

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enjoy your asthma…kidding of course

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You mean cancer. Not kidding.

Sea Speed said:

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Do these guys work week on week off?

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My guys work Dupont schedule. Work 3 or 4 days of days or nights. Off 2 to 4 days. Swapping days to nights each rotation.

Some places do 7 days, off 7, 7 nights, off 7.

Ah yea I forgot about the Dupont schedule. Couple of guys I know work that.

My cousin worked it at BASF. Four on, four off, alternate days and nights.

Spend two of your four days off turning around your sleep schedule.

Seven on/seven off seems better to me. You take seven days of vacation and you're off for three weeks in a row.

You get 7 days off in a row per month on the Dupont schedule. They call it "long weekend". My operators switched from Dupont to 7 on/7 off temporarily during Covid. Half of them liked it… half hated it.

7 12s is a long week

It's not bad, but I've only done it when living on site. No way I'd want to do it with a commute.

Ogre09 said:

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7 12s is a long week

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You only work half the year.

It's been a long time since I've lived in the 409, but wasn't it 4-12's?

Ogre09 said:

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7 12s is a long week

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Try doing it for 5 months straight without a day off. Sometimes those 12's would turn into 14-15 hour days. I was 20, I have no idea how some of the 40-50 year olds did it. This was power plant construction, so in the heat all day. I was making $10.50/hr and thought I was on top of the world.

JB!98 said:

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Ogre09 said:

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7 12s is a long week

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Try doing it for 5 months straight without a day off. Sometimes those 12's would turn into 14-15 hour days. I was 20, I have no idea how some of the 40-50 year olds did it. This was power plant construction, so in the heat all day. I was making $10.50/hr and thought I was on top of the world.

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You were making $15.75 on the OT! And if you had a good company, double time on the 7th day in a row!

maroon barchetta said:

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My cousin worked it at BASF. Four on, four off, alternate days and nights.

Spend two of your four days off turning around your sleep schedule.

Seven on/seven off seems better to me. You take seven days of vacation and you're off for three weeks in a row.

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One of my brothers was working 12 hour shifts, but not the DuPont schedule, when companies started going to 12 hour shifts. He had been there long enough he had 5 or 6 weeks vacation. He loved to come by my office around the middle of October and say "well, I work 6 more days this year." I'd think damn, we that close to the end of the year, then would realize nope, still October. But he would tell me he was about to start his long change, vacation, regular days off, then back for a day, some personal time off, regular days off, back for two days, long change, then vacation, etc.

If I had that kind of time off back then, I'd be so far behind I'd never catch up. But he was a dispatcher and monitored several pipelines. Someone was always sitting in that chair, so when he came back after time off, all he was behind on was reading his emails.

Longest I ever did of 7 12s was a little over 3 months. Glad I'm not doing that any more.

Get on the pipeline - straight days and not trapped inside a fence!

If I could wish anything for my kids, it's working a minimum wage job, working an internship, traveling for work, and working some kind of shift work or extended hours work.

I feel like I learned so much from each of those experiences. And unlike school, it doesn't take 9 years to finish!

Decay said:

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If I could wish anything for my kids, it's working a minimum wage job, working an internship, traveling for work, and working some kind of shift work or extended hours work.

I feel like I learned so much from each of those experiences. And unlike school, it doesn't take 9 years to finish!

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One of my best work experiences was working on the wheat harvest. We started in north Texas and moved north as the winter wheat matured. Start in May in Seymour, Texas, then Texhoma on the Texas-Oklahoma state line, Tribune, KS, Oglalla, NE, Martin, SD, then back to school in the fall. Worked a lot of 12-14 hour days with good people. Did that three summers while in college.

Current plant operator here at a major refinery in Texas City. (Live in Pearland). I didn't have PTECH. Just military experience. I'd say just apply and see what happens. It seems our hiring classes are about 50/50 PTECH v nonPTECH. I'd also be in the boat to try your luck around Houston or Texas City as there are so many more (and nicer) places to live. It's not a bad gig. Pays very very well, and if you're not an idiot and don't shirk responsibility, and with some luck, you can move up quickly. I'm on my 7 days off but stuck working this week to cover an overtime spot for Christmas and then back to my normal schedule Friday night. Still……3 double time days this week and two days of holiday pay. Can't complain.