Petroleum engineers.

[okiedoke]

How hard is it to get a petroleum engineering degree? What is actual work of an petro engineer like?

[txfireguy2003]

I went to A&M right out of HS for petroleum engineering. I didn't finish for a couple of reasons, partying late and sleeping/skipping classes not the least of them. On the other hand, I did an internship during one summer and was basically doing what a PE does. My job, and those of virtually every engineer in my office consisted of sitting in front of a computer 8-9 hours a day running numbers. I was evaluating the cost effectiveness of opening up existing wells and redrilling them 1000 feet deeper with the hopes of producing additional barrels per day. I made it to the production field exactly 3 times all summer, spent the rest of my time in a 8'X8' cubicle and had human contact during lunch time and breaks only. That said, this was an internship and not a "real job" but most of the engineers were doing the same thing. I didn't care for it, so I changed majors, left A&M and went to the local community college and got my degree in criminial justice instead, now I'm a fireman. Take that with a grain of salt though, there is a lot to be said for the salary I could have earned had I finished. It's a challenging educational program, but not on par with medical school or anything like that. The actual work was just not for me, lots of PE's are quite happy with their work.

[Bily Lovec]

payscale isnt too bad, plus options for overseas travel are good, thats where the true big $$ is.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Petroleum_Engineer/Salary

I have a buddy at Shell, shes 20 years in and has done her overseas time, she makes about $180k + $50k in bonuses this past year.

[okiedoke]

Anyone else on here have any experiences or know anyone?

[dieter]

I'm a petroleum engineer and worked in the business for over thirty years. Its been a great career with varied job assignments. Some assignments were spent mostly in the field while others were spent behind a computer screen. Petroleum engineering has many different facets. PM me if you would like more information. I would be glad to talk to you and share my experiences with you.

[Swooshski]

Family member graduated 2 years ago from A&M as PE with a 4.0. Prior to graduation did internship with Houston based company. Had job locked up before he graduated, along with a great salary, benefits, options and a heck of a sign-on bonus ... plus company paid for his last year tuition. Spends about 50% of time in office, the other 50 he's in the field or in classes. He's a go getter, so he wants to learn as much as he can about the field and eventually do the overseas gig.

[RJK70]

I don't have any first hand knowledge but can tell you what a family member has done with his PE degree. Now his path will be different from most because he has a PHd in PE from Caltech.

He started off working over in Saudi for many years and then worked the majority of his career with Anadarko. He is now retired and gets paid big money to travel the world and teach classes to other engineers...

[30-30]

Very tough major but they're one of the highest paid if I'm not mistaken.