Columnist John Schmitt has served the water supply industry for decades, first and with rig and hoist and later as president of the National Ground Water Association. He has written a regular column for The Driller for many years, sharing his expertise on cable-tool drilling, pumps, well construction and many other topics. Hosts Jeremy Verdusco and Brock Yordy paid a visit to Schmitt recently to hear wisdom from his years in the industry. It’s a special in-person Drilling In-Site, episode 36.

“The biggest thing I see is that, when I was a young man at 18 drilling that first well by myself, the industry had a lot of what you might call mom-and-pop operations,” Schmitt says. “In other words, a man, or two men — maybe a father and son, maybe a man and his nephew — that ran a drilling business. That’s just about gone now.”

Our talk ranges from well development to professional networking to — Schmitt’s specialty — cable-tool drilling.

“I’ve got some knowledge that a lot of folks don’t have due to the changing times, and I feel I have an obligation to exchange that knowledge with other people because when guys my age are gone, the technology is going with us, sadly.”

This episode covers topics like:

• Farming families as the “farm” teams for the drilling industry.
• Cable-tool drilling.
• Cable-tool drill strings.
• How drillers can benefit from formal education.
• Cable-tool versus mud rotary development.
• Making the most of professional networking.
• How the drilling industry have evolved over decades.
• Advice for drillers just starting their careers.

Check out today’s episode to hear more. Watch the video here or listen to the audio version of our conversation at www.thedriller.com/insite-podcast. You can also find our show on Apple Podcasts. Search for Drilling In-Site, then hit Subscribe.