Graduating this year?

[Kirbs17]

Who all is graduating from university this year? With what type of degree? Did you enjoy your time in school?

If the last 2 months go well (not expecting any issues), I should graduate with a B.BA in Human Resources. I'm writing my CHRP test in May, so hopefully that goes well.

I enjoyed Kelowna a lot, but I can't wait to get back to Calgary

[Hakkola]

I am, but the school doesn't seem to think so. :rofl: There's this contest you can enter to win money or something, have to be in your last year to enter. I tried and it wouldn't let me. Maybe it is because I need the spring and maybe a summer class to graduate, but I still consider it to be this school year.

My degree is completely useless, I haven't really done anything, and the UofC blows. I could have probably done all the work for this entire degree in 3 months with the amount of work I've put in. I just need it to apply for law school. :banghead:

[mdeluxe]

I finished in Dec 2008. I will be graduating this spring though. I got my degree in Bcomm Marketing. But I will not be at convication because ill be in Thailand.

:nut:

thank god to be done!

[Euro_Trash]

Petroleum Engineering in April for me... thank god. It has been fun but I am ready to start working

[Nusc]

Originally posted by Hakkola
I am, but the school doesn't seem to think so. :rofl: There's this contest you can enter to win money or something, have to be in your last year to enter. I tried and it wouldn't let me. Maybe it is because I need the spring and maybe a summer class to graduate, but I still consider it to be this school year.

My degree is completely useless, I haven't really done anything, and the UofC blows. I could have probably done all the work for this entire degree in 3 months with the amount of work I've put in. I just need it to apply for law school. :banghead:

haha, and what degree is this?

[eblend]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash
Petroleum Engineering in April for me... thank god. It has been fun but I am ready to start working

haha where you plan on working? hope you got something lined up, otherwise..good luck

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by Nusc


haha, and what degree is this?

Comm & Culture, minor in English. I would have gone for something useful/interesting like physics, but math bores me to death.

[ryanallan]

comp eng for me

cant wait to be done with school, but i know ill miss it next september

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by eblend


haha where you plan on working? hope you got something lined up, otherwise..good luck

Signed a contract 8 months ago :thumbsup: This is a great time to start in the oil industry, my hire-on options are basically bottomed out and will only be moving up:clap:

[Kirbs17]

I've been trying to line something up for the last 6 months and it's looking somewhat bleak. No major prospects at this point, it's somewhat disheartening.

[chkolny541]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Signed a contract 8 months ago :thumbsup: This is a great time to start in the oil industry, my hire-on options are basically bottomed out and will only be moving up:clap:

congrats on the contract, but "its a great time to start in the oil industry"...srsly? there are massive layoffs last i heard

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Yeah confused at that line too. Lots of oil companies are shipping out to BC and Sask thanks to Stelmachs ingenius royalty hikes.

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by LUCKYSTRIKE
Yeah confused at that line too. Lots of oil companies are shipping out to BC and Sask thanks to Stelmachs ingenius royalty hikes.

So? For engineers and other office staff, the companies are still headquartered in Calgary, so work being done in BC & SK is being directed out of here. It does hurt the servicing sector in AB for sure though...

Plus, companies are going to be reluctant to let skilled technical staff go so they aren't caught with their pants down and have a difficult time replacing these people when things come back around. It's the "replaceable" peripheral people that are going to be let go. At least that's what I got from a HR manager for an O&G producer I was speaking with last month.

Looking long term, companies are preparing for a demographic "cliff" with the baby boomers poised to retire in droves and are grabbing new graduates now with an eye to the future. This coming from the executive director of the Petroleum Human Resources Council speaking at a luncheon I was at a few weeks ago...

When things recover, there are going to be some big supply constraints.

[Euro_Trash]

EDIT: I was too slow ^^

Look at the age demographic of production and exploration companies at the moment... the majority of engineers are in the 40+ range, looking to retire. Even if companies are hurting, they are still going to need to replace these positions. The position I was hired into is a pretty low risk position in terms of job security... even when drilling has stopped, production and reservoir engineers are needed. Drilling has obviously slowed down for the next year (the area I am working is seeing a drop from the normal ~50 wells being drilled down to ~30), but I still don't know any drilling engineers who have been layed off either.

By "shipping out to BC and Sask" I am guessing you mean shifting budgets to those provinces, which obviously means more action in those areas (again, mostly on the drilling side) but it doesn't mean elliminating conventional oil jobs in Alberta completely.

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash
The position I was hired into is a pretty low risk position in terms of job security... even when drilling has stopped, production and reservoir engineers are needed.

Yeah I just signed on for a 16 month reservoir/production internship starting in May. Exploration and drilling might slow, but companies still need to manage their existing production. There's also value in seeing where you can squeeze more value out of existing assets as well.

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by badatusrnames


There's also value in seeing where you can squeeze more value out of existing assets as well.

Exactly. 90% of the people I talk to only think about the oil sands and the drilling side of the industry.

[Nusc]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Signed a contract 8 months ago :thumbsup: This is a great time to start in the oil industry, my hire-on options are basically bottomed out and will only be moving up:clap:

What will you be doing?

For those who work in petro, how often do you do reservoir simulation?

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Exactly. 90% of the people I talk to only think about the oil sands and the drilling side of the industry.

Meh, when I tell people I'm going to be working on reservoirs in Zama 90% think that I'm going to be building dams in some third world country...

[5fivespeed]

Aircraft Engineering for me. Already working in Industry - stepped into SAIT from High School. I'm assuming I want a break and go on Vacation!

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by Nusc


What will you be doing?

For those who work in petro, how often do you do reservoir simulation?

Production for me

An engineer working for an E&P company will rarely or never do reservoir simulations. If a reservoir simulation is needed, you would likely contract the job out to a third party. We take simulating in school but 99% of the students taking it will never see the programs again

[Dr_Funk]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Production for me

An engineer working for an E&P company will rarely or never do reservoir simulations. If a reservoir simulation is needed, you would likely contract the job out to a third party. We take simulating in school but 99% of the students taking it will never see the programs again

This is not really true. I work for a company that develops some of these simulation software (I am in the engineering/consulting side) and most of larger companies have their own licenses and do their own reservoir simulation in-house. They rely on us mainly for support and trouble shooting.

If anything, in this slow period, companies will do more and more planning. They may slow down actually drilling and such, but they will do more and more simulation.

[mo_money2supe]

Graduating this April from Civil Engineering at the U of S...finally! Been in University for 8 years now (switched programs twice and been to 3 different institutions) and can't wait 'till my hard-earned dollars will earn me that coveted piece of paper with my name on it. Have a job lined up as well in Municipal Land Development - somewhat hard to come by in a time like this where land development isn't exactly highly desired. Early-congrats to all the upcoming graduates!

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by Dr_Funk


This is not really true. I work for a company that develops some of these simulation software (I am in the engineering/consulting side) and most of larger companies have their own licenses and do their own reservoir simulation in-house. They rely on us mainly for support and trouble shooting.

If anything, in this slow period, companies will do more and more planning. They may slow down actually drilling and such, but they will do more and more simulation.

Are you yalking simulating as in Eclipse or CMG? Or simulating/modelling as in Fekete software?

I have worked with 50-60 engineers now, and only 1 has ever actually simulated a reservoir using a fullblown simulation program. On the other hand, every engineer knows how to use the Fekete modelling software.

[Nusc]

Originally posted by Dr_Funk


This is not really true. I work for a company that develops some of these simulation software (I am in the engineering/consulting side) and most of larger companies have their own licenses and do their own reservoir simulation in-house. They rely on us mainly for support and trouble shooting.

If anything, in this slow period, companies will do more and more planning. They may slow down actually drilling and such, but they will do more and more simulation.

Good to know. Do such companies care that you have a degree in petro eng or would a math degree suffice so long as you're able to do research in reservoir simulation?

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by Nusc


Good to know. Do such companies care that you have a degree in petro eng or would a math degree suffice so long as you're able to do research in reservoir simulation?

O&G can be a tough industry to break into. You'll likely need previous industry experience. It won't be enough to say "O hai, here's my degree, hire me."

There also seems to be a bias towards engineering grads versus science grads in O&G... I saw a lot of that when I worked in a materials lab, even if in many instances, the science grad would have been a better choice to do the work.

Just my $0.02.

[r0g3r]

Originally posted by mo_money2supe
Graduating this April from Civil Engineering at the U of S...finally! Been in University for 8 years now (switched programs twice and been to 3 different institutions) and can't wait 'till my hard-earned dollars will earn me that coveted piece of paper with my name on it. Have a job lined up as well in Municipal Land Development - somewhat hard to come by in a time like this where land development isn't exactly highly desired. Early-congrats to all the upcoming graduates!

hey if you don't mind, what company are you with? (government?)

I just got an 16month internship position with the sask. government there and was wondering if you have any first hand experience with them?

[mo_money2supe]

Originally posted by r0g3r
hey if you don't mind, what company are you with? (government?)

I just got an 16month internship position with the sask. government there and was wondering if you have any first hand experience with them?

Will be working for Scheffer Andrew Ltd, Planners and Engineers - a private Alberta based company actually. They're better known in Edmonton though, but I'll be working in the Calgary office. Been with them for the past 3 summers already (albeit at each of the different offices in Alberta), so am rather glad to be back where I've already made a connection.

Which gov't job did you get? If also in Municipal Development, I'm assuming it's with the City of Saskatoon? They're hiring like crazy right now, especially for interns. I do know of many people who've worked for the city or other gov't jobs, don't have direct experience myself, but feel free to fire me a pm with questions and I'll ask around for answers/advice for ya.

[Nusc]

Originally posted by badatusrnames


O&G can be a tough industry to break into. You'll likely need previous industry experience. It won't be enough to say "O hai, here's my degree, hire me."

There also seems to be a bias towards engineering grads versus science grads in O&G... I saw a lot of that when I worked in a materials lab, even if in many instances, the science grad would have been a better choice to do the work.

Just my $0.02.

I had a similar discussions with someone about bias towards science majors. I want to know your take on the matter.
The person I spoke said they're afraid of new ideas/change, the only one to keep with their methods and profit in that manner.

You said "a lot of that" what did you mean by that?

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by Nusc
I had a similar discussions with someone about bias towards science majors.

You mean a bias towards science majors in O&G? It seems to be an industry dominated by engineers to me.


Originally posted by Nusc
The person I spoke said they're afraid of new ideas/change, the only one to keep with their methods and profit in that manner.

Do you mean science grads are afraid of new ideas, or that the O&G industry is?


Originally posted by Nusc
You said "a lot of that" what did you mean by that?

When I worked in a materials lab, there was a bias towards hiring engineers to perform some work, although in many instances a science grad would have either been just as acceptable (and cheaper) or better suited to performing the work.

[Nusc]

Originally posted by badatusrnames


You mean a bias towards science majors in O&G? It seems to be an industry dominated by engineers to me.


Yes.


Originally posted by badatusrnames

Do you mean science grads are afraid of new ideas, or that the O&G industry is?



O&G industry

[oilerfan4lyfe]

Graduating with a B. Sc in Biology...some parts of Uni were fun, but all in all I was very unimpressed - high tuition that rises most years for what is, compared to many other universities, a shitty education.

[DTTB_36]

chem engineering (u of C), hate this semester with a passion

[DUBBED]

Graduating from St. Mary's in Halifax with a B.Comm in Accounting, starting with a Big 4 firm this fall. Having serious motivation issues right now...