Job Network
Sponsored by

Time to finally throw the towel on Oil and Gas ? Petroleum to Computer Science ?

2,607 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Deputy Travis Junior
AGustisGloop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Graduated with a Petroleum degree in 2014 and been primarily working in production since then. My company is one of the many effected by all of the M&A in the industry and really debating taking the package and using it to change career paths. Wanted to reach out to see if any other PEs or really anyone in general has changed careers. A few ideas I am debating.

I am thinking on going back to school for computer science. Big Data has always interested me and feel it is a valuable tool to have in any industry. If you search "Data Engineer" in Austin, TX for example on LinkedIn search results pull up nearly 1600 jobs. Salary seems competitive to the industry I am currently in and seems healthy and sustainable. Obviously this would require going back to school for a bachelors in CS, maybe doing free classes and applying to masters program in BS or even just a coding boot camp. Now the concern is it seems this is a very common route right now for a lot of Engineers and even other majors changing careers. Does this mean it is oversaturated or heading that way ? LinkedIn seems to say different but I have my doubts.

Is anyone in this Industry or have experience/comments in general ?
FancyKetchup14
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Evidently UT has an online program that cost about $5k and last 8 months and is basically a grad certificate. Comes with job placement support/advice. They do offer an MS in it, but that's longer and more expensive.

A friend is doing the online 8 month program and really likes it. He was an analyst for an oil and gas firm and was let go when the company dissolved. Going towards a new career direction.
one MEEN Ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
From my friend who finished a finance degree in 2012, taught himself coding, and then become a coder - you're going to have to start at the bottom and bounce around. He's established now, but it took him a few years for the big names to give him an interview. Your bootcamp resume is going to be overlooked compared to someone with a comp sci bachelors + masters degree in analytics.

So if you're going to spend 2-3 years just jumping around companies getting experience, you might be interested in going to a master program that teaches big data. You might have to take some undergrad leveling courses, but I think masters analytics are geared for people who don't have much experience in the field but want to pivot.

Another thing to consider is how companies hire. Most large corporations only have inroads for post graduating new hires and then specific postings for very experienced roles. It might be easy to leverage a bootcamp to a job in the field, but it might be hard to move from a small company up to a big corporation if you want that.

Best of luck. At the very least, big data doesn't look down on oil/gas thinking 'he'll just jump back into oil when prices return.' Big data pays just as good.
Ogre09
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
What do you like about your current job?

What do you not like about your current job?
chico
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
You're young - now's the time to give yourself options; take the package and do the 8 month thing.
Marauder Blue 6
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Contact Amanda Rico, PhD on Linkedin. She's a technical writer/resume consultant who's posted several times recently about making the jump out of petro/energy that you're talking about. She's an Aggie too.
AGustisGloop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Love the people I work with in this industry and to be truthful the pay. The uncertainty and the moving has been fine while I was young but watching some of the people who are older with 2-3 kids go through this and what seems like a global and political push to end the industry is the worst part.
jh0400
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
You should check out Lambda School. It is a very well regarded program that is delivered remotely for a reasonable cost that you only have to pay after you find a job.

https://lambdaschool.com/
Deputy Travis Junior
How long do you want to ignore this user?
EDIT: I'm assuming you got a petroleum engineering degree.

Given your strong math background and your interest in data science, you should do a no-nonsense machine learning and analytics master's (possibly knock out a few statistics classes and linear algebra at the local community college if you didn't take them in undergrad). A straight computer science degree - you meant a second bachelor's, right? - would take 2-3 years longer, waste a lot of time on subjects not relevant to your interests, and lead to a lower paying job at graduation. Data science is in much higher demand than undergrad level programming + software development skills.

My sister in law did a PhD in bio engineering and then worked in the field for 4-5 years before deciding in her early 30s to pivot to data science. I think it took her a year-ish to knock out an intense, math-heavy bootcamp and now she's crushing it as a lead data scientist on a couple important projects at some biotech multinational.
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.