roughneck

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.

The most in-demand skills for this role include mechanics, maintain drilling equipment, create solutions to problems, cooperate with colleagues, collect samples, assemble metal parts. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.

Our AI-durability model gives roughneck a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.