I posted a while back about getting turned down for a few jobs that I'd interviewed for after being told I was the top interviewer. Well after a six month wait I was hired as a well tender for a local company. No more rotating shifts, constantly being not able to plan things on weekends due to the company not telling us till Thursday at 4pm if we had to work the weekend, better 401k, more time off, and more $ per hour. Best thing overall I get to be home with the boys more, no more missed sporting events, and or birthdays. Funniest thing is I actually turned this very same job down, with this same company 15 years ago because the mine offered me a job first. It's weird how things come full circle. Guess I have to change my handle now. Lol!

Sounds like a win all around. Good luck with your new job.

Good fellers need a break. Family time is the best time there is and the hardest time to find. Congratulations buddy!

good luck and best wishes

i also left factory life at age 42 and went into business for myself though.probably the number 1 best descision i have made in my 51 yrs on earth.

Good for you. It's too bad when people have a career they hate to go to everyday. I actually enjoy what I do. Something to be said for that for sure no matter what the monetary gain.

Best wishes Changing jobs due to a lay off can be hard to deal with Hope it turns out that you are much better off . More family time would sure be part of that

Good for you , i work for a mine to. But in area it's the best gig around. I don't hate my job, but i sure don't love it either. Its all ive done the last 25 years. Best of luck to you

Good for you. I have many friends who are well tenders. Most seem to like their jobs(except on chart days) but don't make near what they'd make mining coal.

If that is on gas well, how stable is the job. Lots of the young fella around here took gas jobs and sooner or later had to travel to North Dakota or Oklahoma or where ever. Glad you have time to be with the kids now good luck......jk

Congrats to you and your family.

Hard workers always have jobs so have at it! Good luck

Congrats! Enjoy all your new found time with your family! I worked nights for 13 years and feel like i missed so much of my boys’ lives. Best thing i ever did was take a set shift day job.

Score !

Sounds great for you. Change is good and more time with your family is priceless.

I wish you luck.

Pete

I look at as 24 hrs in a day,sleep 8. I would rather work 6 hours a day and have 10 to myself than work 10 and only have 6 hours to myself. Besides, you only get one shot at raising kids. I know guys that have worked at the same job for 30 years, 6 to 7 days a week. Retire then die, what kind of life is that.

Hardest and scariest decision I've ever made was walking away from a good job of 11 years to finish college and hope to become a wildlife officer. Cashed out my little bit of retirement, paid several house payments ahead, paid truck off, finished college. Hired as a Georgia game warden a couple months later. Was a single parent of two young sons. Worked part time for Ga Dept. of Ag boll weevil eradication program for a few months that got me by.

Thank God for my blessings. And my Mom for helping me with my boys. This was 24 years ago. My sons are 32 and 34 now. Best move I've ever made.

f that is on gas well, how stable is the job. Lots of the young fella around here took gas jobs and sooner or later had to travel to North Dakota or Oklahoma or where ever. Glad you have time to be with the kids now good luck......jk

It's actually for a gas transmission company that's been in business around here for as long as I can remember.


Good for you. I have many friends who are well tenders. Most seem to like their jobs(except on chart days) but don't make near what they'd make mining coal.
It's actually better money than I was making in the mine, believe it or not.

I have real doubts the coal business is going to continue for any length of time. I think it is a crying shame for all the folks put out of work, and the large areas of the country that depend entirely on that work. But it sure seems as though Obama's effort to crush the industry has continued to succeed.
Better to change jobs now, than five or ten years from now.

My dad was a coal miner nearly all his adult life. There were always ups and downs in the industry. He, and all the guys he worked with, were fired when the mine he worked went non-union. He found himself an unemployed coal miner just before his 60th birthday.
He earned enough to raise seven of us with the help of a couple big gardens and our mother canning enough to fill a big section of our basement with what was grown. He was smart enough to save money during the good times so that the layoffs weren't as bad for us as most other, smaller families.
Seeing how most of the young miners spend their money, I doubt they'll be ready for the next downturn in the coal business.

He always said there were some good jobs in the mines, but he didn't want any of his 4 sons working in them.

The fact that we are drowning in natural gas will probably be the biggest factor in the down fall of coal mining.

OP, I'm doing the same, somewhat. Starting RN school in Jan. Gonna be a long road, but the last few years in the field, I've learned to enjoy 3 day work weeks, and more OT than I ever wanted.