[Ferretlover]

Shannymara, please feel free to move this if it's in the wrong forum. Thank you!

U.S. oil engineers in short supply. Growing energy demand sends industry scrambling to cultivate talents
… Bustling oilfield activity and retiring baby boomers, among other factors, have petroleum outfits large and small trying to hire thousands of engineers, and experts say the trend is expected to extend into the next decade as worldwide energy demand grows. …

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20514495/from/RS.2/

[mekrob]

The head of Geology at my U said that 10 years ago, average starting salaries were about $40k for a Master's. Now they are $80k (this was 2 years ago so it could be higher) for a B.S. This was when their base price was still $40/barrel. Expect that salary to rise rapidly as the floor price starts to hit $70, 80, 100/barrel.

There's going to be an oil company recruitment at my school in 2 or 3 weeks supposedly. I'll try to go to see about the situation. I'd like to get in for the money so that I can have enough for myself, but I'm not sure if I'd feel good about that type of work.

[TreebeardsUncle]

This is just another example of underinvestment in the 80's and 90's when prices were low. Short-sided corporation are consistently reactive in their decisions and deserve the consequences derived there-of.
g

[Terran]

I guess for the younger folks on this board, it's a good time to go out to get a geology degree if your going to college. If not oil in the next few decades we're going to burn natural gas for a few more decades after oil. For those with a science degree in geology they are pretty much set.

[Blacksmith]

I've been in the petroleum business for over forty years and my advice is get a good job like a lawyer, doctor, stock broker, realtor, accountant, minister, etc. As a geologist or a petroleum engineer you are subject to price swings and decreasing economics.

For instance oil in the ground is presently worth about $50 which really hurts the economics of a vast range of plays. Or simply look at the price of natural gas, most companies are simply shelving prospects until the price increases.

Simply put in the petroleum industry you are subject to price swings, cutbacks, downsizing, as well as incredible demand and increasing salaries.

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'I')'d like to get in for the money ... but I'm not sure if I'd feel good about that type of work.

[mekrob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'I')'d like to get in for the money ... but I'm not sure if I'd feel good about that type of work.

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'Y')ou seem to criticize me at first and then encourage me?

[mekrob]

Ah, ok. So are you in the energy industry as well?

[Twilight]

Yes, it beats building a bunker.

[shakespear1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'This is just another example of underinvestment in the 80's and 90's when prices were low. Short-sided corporation are consistently reactive in their decisions and deserve the consequences derived there-of. ')

Layoffs and short term horizon on profits drove a lot of people out of the business resulting in age gap in those working in the oil business. many are retiring an nonce are their to take their place with equivalent experience. Sound familiar !!!

[rockdoc123]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ayoffs and short term horizon on profits drove a lot of people out of the business resulting in age gap in those working in the oil business. many are retiring an nonce are their to take their place with equivalent experience. Sound familiar !!!

[joe1347]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rockdoc123', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ayoffs and short term horizon on profits drove a lot of people out of the business resulting in age gap in those working in the oil business. many are retiring an nonce are their to take their place with equivalent experience. Sound familiar !!!

[oilluber]

and US lawyers in oversupply

[TommyJefferson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rockdoc123', 'O')ne of the issues here was the fallout from the first major set of industry wide layoffs that happened in the early and middle eighties.

[shakespear1]

The Lay Offs. ---> That is when I took on a "mercenary" attitude to my job position. I learned all I could, learned as many languages as I could, and always looked for a better position. Loyalty to the firm went out the window as the "firm" was always ready to drop someone at a second's notice whether one did a great job or not. Profits always dictate the game. It was also called Management Decision.

Tough to imagine how anyone in any industry TODAY can work in any other way. Unless it is their own business

[Blacksmith]

I remember in the eighties a man who had been a promotor, pilot, government advisor, and smuggler told me the secret to working in the mining or oil industry or indeed any flux industry was to do something nobody else wanted to do. His theory was you would be the last they layed off because they didn't want to do it themselves and they would pay you well to get it done.

[Jupidu]

@ mekrob

What about studying agriculture or forestry? Biomass is the future along with renewable energies.
And more specifical in agriculture would be the branch ecological agriculture and in forestry the agroforestry (combination of conventional farming and tree nursery):

In the comming years ecological agriculture will show it's inherent advantages opposite to conventional farming (heavily dependent on cheap oil or cheap energy). Agroforestry not even enhances and protects the soil (heavy rain, too much sun, too much wind as a windbreaker) with the stems and the leaves but it also serves as your private banking account, when e.g. you plant poplars and acacias. You can sell every year the crops and in 15-20 years (poplars) you get a lot of money for the wood (price is rising since about two years enormously, especially for trees which are brought up to sell as raw material for furnitures or for building stable houses).

About using bacteria instead of articial fertilizers:
"Ammonia and Biofuels"
http://www.theoildrum.com/comments/2006 ... 45/5999/89

Infos about a agroforestry project in Europe (SAFE-project = Silvoarable Agroforestry For Europe):
http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/safe/english/index.htm

Oil seeds do have a quite high yield in the southern US states (e.g. jatropha or oil palm).

The most important i think in choosing the best profession is to recognize what are my strengths and what are my weaknesses. That's really quite difficult. I didn't manage it. It has to do with selfconsciousness, you really has to know what do you like or what do you hate.
Once you find it out: the rest is easy
Money is in the long run not that important. If you follow your talents/abilitys money - but even better a satisfied life - will surely follow shortly afterwards.
Perhaps in the beginning or in the first two or three years you are looking at your friends which drive the better cars etc. You don't know really exactly what they are feeling.
If you earn a lot of money but you are every day frustrated by your job the risk that you one day has to do with cancer is great.

[mekrob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')What about studying agriculture or forestry?