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45 comments on The Big Crew Change: Turnover in the Oil Workforce
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45 comments on The Big Crew Change: Turnover in the Oil Workforce
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Any suggestions for getting in on the industry?
Do you need a graduate degree, or will an BS in a technical field do?
Any internship or introduction programs out there?
I believe that an undgraduate degree in chemical engineering will be a valuable degree for a long time to come. The degree is challenging to earn, but once you have it you can do many different things. In the oil industry, I had think of at least half a dozen broad areas that a chemical engineering degree can get you into. It can also get you into a broad range of different industries. Starting salaries are $55K. Ten years of experience can have you in 6 figures.
So, if I was young, smart, interested in a challenge, and wanted to make good money, I would go that route. I put myself through school, and as a result of having to work full time it took longer. Looking back I should have taken out student loans and gone to school full time.
I have an undergrad in mechanical engineering, a masters in remote sensing applied to forestry, and a dozen or so years experience in biol/natural resource management research.
I have been thinking about how to transition to energy related work (not biofuels, which is talked about a lot as a forestry product but which I think is a horrible idea) but am unsure of where I would fit and whether I would need additional education. Any thoughts?
Mechanical engineers are always in demand in the oil industry. It's a similar situation to chemical engineering: Lots of equipment that needs mechanical engineers to look after.
electrical too though most EE's are too smart to work for big oil where they'll never make the A team.
The comp levels you mention are unfortunately not very exciting. I'm not trying to be difficult, but people with the IQ and drive to get a degree in chemical engineering from a reputable institution can currently make as much or more elsewhere in our economy.
The investment industry (banks, hedge funds, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.) has sucked a considerable amount of IQ out of the marketplace the last 10+ years: math PhDs, physics PhDs, computer Sci people, and several tenured professors. The IQ simply followed the money. I'm not saying that this has been the best use of this IQ, just that it happened.
Perhaps the upcoming oil market labor shortage will drive the compensation levels high enough to draw the necessary IQ away from other careers. If oil hits $100-$150 a bbl as Jim Rodgers forecasts, then there should be plenty of cash around to draw in the talent, and to lift the wages of the existing talent in place.
- Sonic
The comp levels you mention are unfortunately not very exciting. I'm not trying to be difficult, but people with the IQ and drive to get a degree in chemical engineering from a reputable institution can currently make as much or more elsewhere in our economy.
That all depends on location. If they want to live in New York or California, where the cost of living is incredibly high,then that's right. But starting salaries for chemical engineers are also much higher in those locations. If they want to live in Montana or Texas or many other places with an oil and gas industry, you aren't going to beat it.
I could have gone to California and made probably 5 times what I make now. But I don't want to live in California. A lot of people don't. So if you want to live anywhere around the Midwest, Gulf Coast, etc. you are going to have a tough time beating a chemical engineering degree. Of course there are exceptions. But it is a fact that chemical engineering starting salaries are ranked #1 on the salary surveys for BS degrees year after year.
RR -
Yes, most of the finance industry is centered in big cities: places like NY, London, SF, HK, etc. I know, I spent time working in some of those places and I didn't like it: I'm not a big city guy. I am more comfortable in a College Station than I am a place like NYC. Thankfully, not all finance industry jobs are in those places.
What's odd to me is that the overwhelming majority of people in the finance industry actually want to live in those locations. This is partly due to many of the people in the industry being "foreign nationals" (NY, for example, has large numbers of almost every ethnic group on the planet. Perhaps this makes it more comfortable place for foreign nationals). That said, it's hard to even get US citizens to consider finance jobs in places like Chicago or Dallas or Charlotte even though some of the largest banks & hedge funds in the world reside there. (SF, however, is an easy sell: demand for finance jobs in CA outweighs the supply).
During my days in London, my wife & I got to know several people in the oil industry. What I wonder is how many people are attracted to jobs that relocate them all over the world? One of our London friends (a former Alaska resident) was later transferred to Russia and has been there for several years. Russia is not everyone's ideal location in which to raise children. Our friend is attempting to get back to Alaska, but only time will tell.
My basic point is that I think comp levels in the oil industry need to go up -- way up -- in order to attract & keep the talent that the world needs in this industry to deal with the coming energy crunch. Thankfully, the demographic issues raised above should combine with Peak Oil/Peak Exports to make demand for oil talent exceed the supply. So, don't be shy about asking for a raise! LOL.
- Sonic