Yahoo Finance Tradie warns people wanting to make easy money as a FIFO miner: 'Everything has a price'
Jordan has revealed the brutal reality of working shifts on a mine site.
A tradie who has spent more than half a decade as a FIFO miner has issued a blunt warning to anyone thinking they can give up their day job and make their fortune in the mines.
Social media has been flooded with videos of Aussies talking about how much money they’re pulling in after taking on a FIFO job but Jordan Wilson said it took a lot of hard work to earn decent money. Many of these people - who have left everything behind to take up a job in very remote parts of the country - have called on others to do the same, saying it's a faster and easier way to make money compared to office work.
But Wilson has told Yahoo Finance that, while there are certainly jobs out there with great pay packages, “Everything has a price”.
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“I think a lot of these guys are just showing off on social media,” he said. “Yes, they pocket good coin. A couple [of] grand a week is good for a young single person … that's amazing.
“But it's long, hard days up here. You’re talking 40-degree days and humidity, then you’ve got to climb on a machine that's been running all day. You’ve got to climb in around engine bays, you're getting burned by things, you're getting stuck in places, you're banging your knee and your arm. It's pretty s**t being covered in oil, covered in grease all day long.
“I’ll be getting out of this industry as soon as I can.”
Wilson said you had to not only work hard to stay in the job but also be a “good person”.
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“I've seen probably 100 guys come and go in the last 12 months on the site … because they don't have the right mindset or they're lazy or they're not qualified enough or they're not up to the standard,” the father-of-two told Yahoo Finance.
He posted a video, hitting out at the FIFO miners bragging about their salaries, and said they were “talking s**t”.
The 38-year-old explained that tradies talking on social media about how much they get per week neglect to mention they don’t get paid during their time off, so they have to make sure their pay supports them through that.
The drill fitter also opened up about the reality of being in the industry.
Wilson works two weeks on and has one week off. He said it was tough because he had a wife and two young kids at home in Perth.
While he said the week off was amazing to see friends and family, it meant he was never really in a routine, adding that managing the push and pull of FIFO life could be difficult.
He had a blunt message for anyone thinking of quitting their job to make it big in the mines.
“I know it is all about money these days, but I wouldn't just follow the money,” he said. “There's a lot of other things that come into play. Everything has a price, basically … one way or another.”
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