I was thinking that if I got made redundant, I'd stump up the ~12K to do the ROV pilot/tech training and try to get into O&G or something similar. The shift rotations they do would suit me in all honesty as it'd give me plenty of long periods in which to do stuff I want to do. I did BTEC Electrical & Electronic Engineering at college some years back now so I don't think I'd struggle with grasping the maintenance stuff.
Oil&Gas Career Advice?
- Thread starter Elixir
- Start date
Unless you knew someone high up in the company the likelyhood of getting one of the well paid (relatively) low skilled jobs is not good!
Just so you know.
KaHn
What would a rookie ROV pilot expect to start on if you were to get in there by the way? I take it you're expected to muck in and do other stuff as well...
Not surprised it's "who you know" - it's been like that for pretty much every job I've done so far.
You're sig looks great!
What would a rookie ROV pilot expect to start on if you were to get in there by the way? I take it you're expected to muck in and do other stuff as well...
Not surprised it's "who you know" - it's been like that for pretty much every job I've done so far.
As KaHn has said, it's who you know. Do you think you're the only one thinking of doing this and there arn't a shed loads of others who have already done the courses and have tried for a long time without any success?
You need to know someone or be good enough and lucky enough to find a company willing to give you a chance if you're coming from outsdie the industry.
Yeah not sure what is eating all of my photobucket bandwidth
As for starting salaries, no idea.
KaHn
Except in the Oil industry where a proper masters is king...
I'm guessing the role is with a large service company like Schlum or Haliburton?
Do you want to work in the field or in the office? Office work will generally pay more and you will have more sociable hours but it'll be a very different experience. I think (and I'm sure there are some field engineers here) that with the service companies you will start in the field but move into the office. To get into an oil company you'll probably need a Masters so the petroleum engineering degree will help with that.
Whats wrong with the industry at the moment? Headhunters are everywhere trying to fill jobs there aren't enough people to fill. It's a great time to start in the industry at the moment as there are so many jobs that need filling.
Permabanned
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What are you on about?
What will he learn doing this masters? Probably nothing.
University is a waste of time, take the job.
No, no, we just tell them where to drill and what they will (hopefully) find.
Drillers and engineers just drill and engineer stuff for us.
Just don't turn into a reservoir engineer, they are such pessimists!
Do you work in the industry?
Essentially if you don't have a (fairly specific) masters or a PhD you'll find it very difficult to get into an oil company in a technical role, same with most larger service companies. Even to be a mudlogger you need a geology degree now...
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Oh dear.
I see what a lot of people are saying here, in 9/10 cases I would say go down the education route. That said, oil and gas is a completely different beast and the day to day knowledge will come with hands on experience.
I landed my role as an instrument tech purely because of my experience in gas detection and my ability to work with 4-20ma devices. I have NO qualifications to back this up, though that isn't to say im less capable of doing the job than someone educated to a degree level. I work with 4 others, all of whom have gone through the apprenticeship/college route and all of them say what a complete waste of time it was.
The main problem they highlight is that the courses and material is so outdated that they spend years learning about things they will never see. If you are dead set on further education then take the job and mention it to your employers. a lot of companies will put you through any relevant courses that you want to do.
To answer another posters question regarding the appeal of working in the industry. Well its a real work hard play hard game. You do long hours, shifts and possibly months without days off but in return you also get rewarded handsomely. An example shift pattern would be 28 days on, 28 days off or 3 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
a lot of companies operating on rigs will pay for your travel, digs and food. If your staff and not a contractor, you will be offered shares, bonuses and a pension. In my local area there is nothing that comes even close to paying what I'm on now, its life changing for my fiance and I.
If you have the slightest interest in the oil and gas industry I say go at it like a bull at the gates, because once your in, you'll never look back.
I landed my role as an instrument tech purely because of my experience in gas detection and my ability to work with 4-20ma devices. I have NO qualifications to back this up, though that isn't to say im less capable of doing the job than someone educated to a degree level. I work with 4 others, all of whom have gone through the apprenticeship/college route and all of them say what a complete waste of time it was.
The main problem they highlight is that the courses and material is so outdated that they spend years learning about things they will never see. If you are dead set on further education then take the job and mention it to your employers. a lot of companies will put you through any relevant courses that you want to do.
To answer another posters question regarding the appeal of working in the industry. Well its a real work hard play hard game. You do long hours, shifts and possibly months without days off but in return you also get rewarded handsomely. An example shift pattern would be 28 days on, 28 days off or 3 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
a lot of companies operating on rigs will pay for your travel, digs and food. If your staff and not a contractor, you will be offered shares, bonuses and a pension. In my local area there is nothing that comes even close to paying what I'm on now, its life changing for my fiance and I.
If you have the slightest interest in the oil and gas industry I say go at it like a bull at the gates, because once your in, you'll never look back.
It depends on what sort of salary he expects once qualified and how long it'd take him to get there.
Then he would have to compare that to the salary offered in the trainee position and taking into account where he could be in the same amount of time it'd take him to complete the degree.
On average petroleum engineers earn 30-40k in the uk. Just to put it into perspective I am on more than that, before I do any overtime.
Then he would have to compare that to the salary offered in the trainee position and taking into account where he could be in the same amount of time it'd take him to complete the degree.
On average petroleum engineers earn 30-40k in the uk. Just to put it into perspective I am on more than that, before I do any overtime.
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Soldato
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My friend (who I worked with for 16 years) recently completed "her" degree in Renewable Energy.
Within a month of completing it she had an offer of a job maintaining a windfarm, as well as 3 other Interviews. She was actually head-hunted after signing up to an agency - which she found pretty strange.
She has just taken one of the offers and is on £8,000 more than she was - with 10 weeks training in California.
Within a month of completing it she had an offer of a job maintaining a windfarm, as well as 3 other Interviews. She was actually head-hunted after signing up to an agency - which she found pretty strange.
She has just taken one of the offers and is on £8,000 more than she was - with 10 weeks training in California.
Offshore and office based work is very different, but I agree, once you get into the oil and gas way it'll be difficult to get out as it is very different to other industries (not to mention small... don't **** anyone off, you'll probably meet them again when you least expect it...). I also think someone looking to do petroleum engineering/ using their chemical engineering skills is not looking for the type of job you have. It's also why it's fairly important to work out what he wants to do because a role as a field engineer will likely end up being in a very different to a production/petroleum engineer.
30-40k starting salary... So I guess you could say on £40k after 4 years (3 at undergrad and 1 at Masters). After another 5 years they will probably be on about £70K+ and 15 years £130k+
As for the mention that their course were outdated and they didn't do most of what they learned. Maybe in the HND they did but on a good Masters course you will use most of what you learn almost straight away at the level and higher than you were taught. Industry MSc courses are designed with specific jobs in mind and have a LOT of input from the industry (for example about a third of my course was taught by people coming in from industry to teach what they do for a week or lecturers who teach the same thing on industry courses). That's pretty standard on most MSc courses in this industry.
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Fair enough, thanks for explaining that. Its given me a better understanding.