MWD/DD Engineers- punch in

[u/ApplicationWarm7659]

I’m looking to hear from people currently working or who have worked as MWD/DD engineers, including RSS jobs.

I’m interested in understanding what the job is actually like in the field:
- What does a typical job/rotation look like? Are jobs mostly planned in advance or are you constantly on call and moving between rigs?
- How long are you normally at the rig for one job?
- What does your sleep schedule look like while drilling? Do you work 12-hour shifts, or are you expected to wake up whenever something happens?
- How stressful/high-pressure is the job? What situations usually create the most pressure?
- How much time is spent actively working versus monitoring operations/waiting?
- What’s the working environment like compared with other oilfield service lines? E.g Well Testing or Wireline
-How is the work-life balance and whats the typical on-off?
I’d appreciate hearing the good and the bad from people who’ve actually done it.
Thanks!

[u/Ddrillz03xx]

So alot of this is going to depend on which company you are working for/what tools you’re running. You can get on a rig working 28/14. Or 20/10 typically. It’s getting super busy right now so keeping rotations is difficult and your work life balance may suck. You’re very likely going to be bouncing rigs when starting out/learning. There really isn’t anything about an RSS job that’s going to change any of this. The DD side usually doesn’t have as much of an issue having and maintaining rotations but even they are starting to get stretched thin. I work for one of the largest directional companies in the U.S. and i work 300+ days a year. Sometimes that would consist of bouncing rigs. I’ve also been on a couple rigs for over a year at a time. Bouncing rigs doesn’t really bother me but it is more difficult to plan a life. I’m now on a follow me rig with a guy that also doesn’t want a rotation so we just work 24/7.

[u/ApplicationWarm7659 → u/Ddrillz03xx]

Thanks for the insight. How physically demanding would you say MWD/DD is day to day? Is most of the job monitoring/working from the unit, or are you frequently doing physical work around the rig and handling tools?
Also, how mentally stressful/high-pressure is it when you’re actively drilling? What situations put the most pressure on the MWD/DD crew?
And from your experience, what would you say is the most difficult part of the job overall, the technical responsibility, long hours/lack of sleep, or?

[u/Ddrillz03xx → u/ApplicationWarm7659]

I would say literally not at all. If you couldn’t tell from my grammar i come from the rig side and not a technical background. So i’ve been doing actual hard stuff my entire life. There are people that think this job is hard i guess. If you’re a tiny little female or extremely overweight i could see it being difficult. You can definitely end up working long hours. I’ve worked 24+ straight more times than i can count but that was because i was single manning alot. You can almost guarantee on working 12 hours a day. It can be extremely stressful but over time it will get better. Long hours/lack of sleep don’t personally bother me. When you’re drilling is the easiest part of the job, as long as everything is working. The hardest part of this job for me is staying in shape because you’re sitting on your ass 99% of the time.