Oil Comp Engr
38 Years Experience
Houston, TX
Female, 60
I recently retired from a major integrated oil company after 38 years. I have degrees in Civil and Petroleum Engineering. I worked with safety, health and environmental management systems and operations in the upstream (finding and producing oil and gas) and downstream (refining, chemicals and distributions) areas. I travelled all over world, enduring good & bad business cycles and good and bad managers.
During the summer break, many students get internships and it is highly recommended. During shorter breaks, like Christmas breaks, internships are a bit more difficult unless you already have established a relationship with the company.
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1. I chose engineering as a career mostly by default. I was good in math and science and LOVED solving practical problems relatively quickly. I did not like medicine, law or business school. I was lucky to have high school teachers that steered me towards engineering. I did not know excactly what I wanted to do within the field of engineering when I first entered colled.
2. Career wise, I figured out during my early college career that I wanted to work with things that I could touch, feel and see (i.e. civil engineering). Electrical engineering was too abstract for me, though I loved the math & computer engineering aspects. Chemical engineering was just a bit too complex for me (too many variables all at once). Civil engineering also had that "people" orientation that seemed to be less present in the other disciplines. Mechanical engineering was my second option if civil did not work out. When I graduated, there was a HUGE demand for engineers to do petroleum work and a degree in civil was a relatively good fit for drilling, where I started (cement design, casing design, working with geologists, doing project management / scheduling work). I started in drilling with the hope that it would work out and it did, but there was a bit of "fingers crossed" on my part at the beginning. I had several job offers and went with the company that seemed to suit my personality most closely. Over time, I moved into environmental work (which was a part of our Civil Engineering department at universtiy) as opportunity presented itself.
3) Re. the positive and negative aspects, I think I have covered this in previous posts.
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Although I have a BS in Civil and did start as a drilling engineer, your chances are better with a BS in Mechanical. When I graduated (30+ years ago), petroleum engineers were in very, very short supply. Also, I had some significant summer internship experience, graduated top of my class and am female. Women engineers, while not exactly abundant these days, were very scarce 30 years ago.
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I can only address this with respect to career advancement for engineers and not other professions within oil and gas. The potential is very good, especially for those who want to pursue the management track. I pursued the technical path for most of my career so that I could have a better work / life balance. I started over 30 years ago when dual career couples had a bit harder time. My spouse and I made the conscious choice that only one of us would pursue a management track. That said, I feel that I progressed well in my career and was often a team lead or a group lead, though not a supervisor/manager. I spent the first 10 years in operations and then took advantage of an opportunity to get into an environmental group. I used my operations background to gain credibiiity with the field people that I was helping with environmental issues. I also accepted a broadening assignment to work in a refinery on environmental issues as well as a broadening assignment in a safety group that allowed me to travel extensively to get overseas experience wihtout having to move overseas. As with any industry, if you want to make it to the top ranks of management, you're going to have to work very hard and make some personal sacrifices.
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Someone asked a very similar question previously, please go to the beginning of theses posts and you will find it around the 20th question or so.
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To answer your question, I need more information on what the courses of study are and the country in which you would be studying. I will admit that I am most familiar with USA programs, so am not sure if I can help, but with more information, I will try.
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Choose Mechanical. It is more versatile and less dependent on the price of oil and gas. The price of oil has collapsed in the last 6 months and many, many companies aee laying people off. There's no guarantee the market will recover by the time you finish your degree. If it does not, you will have a tough time getting a job. If it DOES recover, companies will be hiring petroleum and mechanical and chemical engineers.
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