Interested in petroleum engineering. (1 Viewer)

[helloyo]

I'm in year 12 at the moment and we just had another talk about petroleum engineering. Of course the talk was making it look really good (travel, very high wage, exciting...), but what is the truth? What are the downsides to it? I am lacking direction right now, but i am good at chem physics and maths. I know not many people do the course, but any information would be great.

Thanks in advance.

 

[laney]

i think the truth is that pay is high and there will be opportunities for travelling. honestly, i don't know much about it, but it sounds like it could be pretty interesting, but not much glamour with it. check the unsw pet eng site, and i'm sure you'll hear more views about the degree there.


btw, can i ask, who came to do your talk to promote pet eng? was it a uni student? or someone from the industry?

 

[helloyo]

i think it was a professor at unsw. either way he was in the petroleum engineering business him self. this time he brought a third year student who just talked about some people in the class already have jobs and the social aspect.

off topic, but how many hours a week (roughly) would i be at uni studying full time?

thanks.

 

[Slidey]

Be aware Petroleum is dying. Logically you'd need to be skilled in other areas such as renewable energy, in the end.

 

[Curry]

Downsides I would say are that it would be hard to get to locations, especially on rigs. Also, this is not to make you feel threatened, but it is dangerous. Just make sure you are aware of that.

Don't worry about job prospects, there will be careers for petroleum well into the future, and it is always possible for Pet/Mining Engineers to work in any other field of engineering such as civil and environmental.

 

[helloyo]

it seems that the course focuses on renewable engergy as well. and from what he said the reserves are going to last a long time. the way i see it i would have an engineering degree and a well paying job for a few years and if i get over it i can move into something else. any thoughts?

 

[Slidey]

You might want to take a look at mining engineering, too:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15244143%5E12332,00.html

 

[helloyo]

yeah, i'll definately look into it. how do to job rates compare? and are the salaries as lucrative? i'm more interested in what i would enjoy though. and with mining eng how much travel is involved?

 

[Li0n]

i hope captain planet kills all you mining/petroleum poofs

 

[laney]

and with mining eng how much travel is involved?

travelling is always an option for mining engineers. there is a huge demand for mining engineers to travel around australia (but often they are to remote locations...places where you have to be flown in and out of the mine) but there are also options to travel overseas a lot. america looks hot but it's very competitive over there.


check this site for some stats. http://www.gradlink.edu.au/content/download/2147/8517/file/The Grad Files 2004.pdf

if you were picking career based on monetary prospects, you'd pick densitry followed by mining pet eng isn't on the list, but i'd say it could be the 3rd or 4th highest.