nosoupforyou said:
If your son or daughter was in the engineering program at Texas A&M… Would you recommend they go into petroleum engineering?
Sure everyone wants to suggest mechanical but if you don't get into it, do you think that's a safe degree anymore?
If you aren't going to go into upstream O&G then definitely do not do Petroleum Engineering.
What the oilfield needs isn't always what they are hiring for.
I work in upstream O&G. Most of my time is working in plants and facilities doing projects for upgrades and solving facilities equipment problems, primarily rotating equipment. I've done a few long rotations in production operations as well.
I originally wanted to go into the auto industry. I found a niche role in the O&G industry that fit nicely, paid better, and didn't have to live in Detroit.
From my perspective what the industry needs is to be hiring more electrical and controls engineering talent. But they are still hiring Mechanical, Chemical, Petroleum engineers in a 10:1 ratio.
80% of the problems I face daily, weekly, monthly, yearly are automation and controls issues. 20% are true mechanical issues related to design, operation, or maintenance, and most of those are operation and maintenance. This is just on a specific machine or skid. The process control is a whole other issue.
Between mechanical engineers and chemical engineers we can get the problems solved but it is more cumbersome than it should be.
A set of controls and/or electrical engineers that knew the process and how the machines worked could write their own check.
And also the electrical distribution side of things is a growing role also. 3 phase electrical systems that are in the megawatt range are way short on serious technical talent.
I also think industrial distribution is or could be a tremendous opportunity. They way O&G operations run their business (in the upstream side at least) would make McDonalds look like an F1 pit crew.
Hiring managers aren't thinking about these issues. So they are hiring the same three typical disciplines of engineering typically used in O&G.
One last suggestion. I'd encourage this person to consider going into the field for a considerable amount of time (more than just a year or two). A frustrating trend I've seen with newer hires is an expectation that they are getting CEO level office in a downtown Houston tower. A way to differentiate yourself is to expect and even request to be in the field closest to the operations as possible. You will learn more, way more, about 1) where the company is struggling, 2) how everything fits together, and 3) how you can be a contributor to solutions instead of a source of problems.