How To Become A Derrick Hand: What It Is and Career Path

What is a derrick hand and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a derrick hand. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.32 an hour? That's $38,109 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDerrick HandUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,109

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.24%

Asian 1.21%

Black or African American 9.16%

Hispanic or Latino 20.03%

Unknown 4.20%

White 63.15%

Gender

female 2.29%

male 97.71%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a derrick hand

Explore derrick hand education requirements

Most common derrick hand degrees

High School Diploma

62.2 %

Diploma

11.8 %

Associate

11.6 %

Start to develop specific derrick hand skills

Skills	Percentages
Flow Lines	15.42%
Tongs	9.28%
Fall Protection	9.05%
Drilling Fluid	7.00%
Derricks	4.70%

Complete relevant derrick hand training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New derrick hands learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a derrick hand based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real derrick hand resumes.

Research derrick hand duties and responsibilities

Provide leadership and guidance to direct reports, and manage their efforts to maximize their contribution to operational effectiveness and performance.
strip on bop, go into the derrick, come out of hole with tubing.
Complete first aid and H2S awareness.
Watch H2S levels when on gas locations.

Prepare your derrick hand resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your derrick hand resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a derrick hand resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable derrick hand resume templates

Build a professional derrick hand resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your derrick hand resume.