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re: Engineering Career Advice - Mechanical, Chemical, Petroleum
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:10 pm to Tigeralum2008
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:10 pm to Tigeralum2008
quote:Subtlebrag.
I married a ChemE who is 10yrs younger than me.
0
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:13 pm to WildManGoose
Making $75k as a civil grad a year removed from college in the construction management business. First job was $68k, jumped shipped after 8 months for the $7k bump plus a 40 hour max. I'm happy.
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:15 pm to WildManGoose
quote:
Good decision. Much like the medical school/dentist joke, those that can't get hired by operators go into PM.
It would have been a great job, but not mid 30s had enough of the traveling and turnarounds. Plus I would have been maxed out again with very very little chance of advancement unless I moved to corporate office which is in the NE. frick moving around like all that for possibly moving up a Max of one level.
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:19 pm to lsu777
Anyone have experience/info on Aerospace engineering? My son is starting at Auburn next week.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 12:20 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:23 pm to erb415
quote:
Anyone have experience/info on Aerospace engineering?
Pointy end goes up or you aren't going to space today.
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:27 pm to WildManGoose
quote:
He's probably right. I know a few years ago that cementing and production enhancement at Halliburton started at 60K. You got signing/training bonuses and per diems but base was 60. Some of the other divisions were higher but basically proportional to how shitty the work environment was going to be. And all field engineering is in shitty work environments. Some divisions worked on a job percentage basis rather than per diem which amounted to nice chunks of change though.
So the “80% work for $12 an hour the first few years” is complete bullshite. You also glossed pretty hard over the bonuses this type of work gets.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 12:28 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:30 pm to erb415
quote:
Anyone have experience/info on Aerospace engineering? My son is starting at Auburn next week.
Good fricking luck, that is a field overfilled with engineers from what I know. Lots of my friends went that route, only one that didn't go back or stay and get a ME degree to go along with it got his PHD in aero.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 12:32 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:44 pm to jcliv
quote:
Mechanical engineering is a possibility but he also keeps talking about Petroleum or Chemical engineering. I'm ignorant of the long term prospects in PE versus ME or CE.
Just an FYI, “CE” typically refers to civil engineering, while “ChE” is used for chemical.
As far as long-term prospects.. any engineering degree will open a ton of doors in the long run. The base curriculum you learn in engineering programs (basic sciences, calculus, statistics, etc.) gives you a strong foundation to go into many different fields. Your career is what you make of it.
That being said, there are big differences early in a career. As others have noted, PETE is the most limited of the degrees you listed. The list of companies recruiting PETE majors out of college just isn’t as big.
Mechanical engineering is the most flexible, IMO, with ChE being slightly behind. If he has no idea what field he wants to work in, mechanical is probably a safer bet. If he knows he wants to work in oil & gas or chemical manufacturing then ChE offers equal or greater opportunity.
Also depends on what his strengths are. Not sure about Clemson, but at LSU the math curriculum is more difficult for ME’s (much more focus on calculus, even in the engineering classes) while the chemistry curriculum is more difficult for ChE’s.
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:51 pm to erb415
Currently work in aerospace.
Business is pretty good on the DoD side of things. All aspects of aerospace are buying right now; rotorcraft, UAV, fixed wing, weapons vehicles, etc.
Not sure how commercial is doing...
Business is pretty good on the DoD side of things. All aspects of aerospace are buying right now; rotorcraft, UAV, fixed wing, weapons vehicles, etc.
Not sure how commercial is doing...
Posted on 8/15/19 at 12:58 pm to CFDoc
I work in the paper industry and EE's are in high demand ESPECIALLY if they have a heavy process/dcs/plc background. Engineering firm type are a dime a dozen but process is where the bucks are now.
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:01 pm to lostinbr
quote:
Just an FYI, “CE” typically refers to civil engineering, while “ChE” is used for chemical.
Thanks for the heads up!
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:10 pm to Sun God
quote:
So the “80% work for $12 an hour the first few years” is complete bull shite. You also glossed pretty hard over the bonuses this type of work gets.
Bonuses are no more than $5k. That’s why with the bonus and $40 per diem, you push into the low 70ks. But you are working 90+ hours a week and it’s not like a roughneck job where you get your 2 weeks on and 2 week off. It’s a field engineer so more like 3 weeks on and 5 days off. If someone at Walmart worked as many hours as a field engineer, the Walmart guy would make more money.
Edit:
MWD and Mud Engineers only get days off when rig is on casing break. So it’s around 25 days of work per month and 5 off.
Fracking engineers is 14 days on and 7 off because of government regulations since you are dealing with chemicals.
Wireline engineers work about 100 hours straight with few hours of nap time and get 2 days off.
Cement = 10 days on and 3 days off.
As you can see for that low 70k ballpark, it’s a lot of work with minimum time off.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 1:16 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:16 pm to Gray12
I was an FE for Big Blue for years. You get salary + a day rate + hourly pay. Second year you’re easily clearing six digits. Yep the schedule sucks but it’s a lot more than “$12 an hour” 
quote:
If someone at Walmart worked as many hours as a field engineer, the Walmart guy would make more money.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 1:18 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:17 pm to jcliv
Depends on what you want to do. If you want to do plant work, go chemical
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 1:18 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:19 pm to Sun God
Big Blue stopped giving a day rate. They give around $2700 per paycheck with $40 per diem. Day rate bonus disappeared after 2016. It was usually $50-$100 for just being on location that usually came from the operator.
Big Blue still gives 3-5k bonus every year.
Pay in the entire industry went down after the oil crash.
Only my third year buddies are clearing 6 figs for Big Blue right now. Most of them don’t even make it past 2 years. A lot of them quit to go work for sales, go to med school, get a masters in something else like an MBA.
Big Blue still gives 3-5k bonus every year.
Pay in the entire industry went down after the oil crash.
Only my third year buddies are clearing 6 figs for Big Blue right now. Most of them don’t even make it past 2 years. A lot of them quit to go work for sales, go to med school, get a masters in something else like an MBA.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 1:21 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:20 pm to jcliv
Electrical
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:25 pm to jbgleason
quote:
LSU has one of the best Engineering programs in the country
What???...two engineers I work with from Purdue think LSU engineers are terrible...their opinion not mine
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:25 pm to Gray12
quote:
Most of them don’t even make it past 2 years
Eh I still got a day rate through 2017 when I quit. I had a lot of experience though.
This that quote is certainly true. But as soon as you breakout to G9 you should be averaging ~$25 an hour unless things have massively changed in the last six months.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 1:27 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:36 pm to lepdagod
Tulane ‘Purdue’ or actual Purdue? NO college or university can make you a good scientist or engineer, you bring that to the table yourself. If you’re inspired by more competitive classrooms then that’s something you should seek. Obviously the worst engineer in the Purdue class will likely be better than the worst from LSU, simply by admission standards...but the best, LSU may take that every blue moon. I studied with a genius kid at LSU that was EE/physics. He went on to PhD at Cornell and smoked those kids on his way to IBM in Burlington. I don’t use genius lightly either.
In EE, digital signal processing is up there with the hardest engineering topics.
In EE, digital signal processing is up there with the hardest engineering topics.
This post was edited on 8/15/19 at 1:38 pm
Posted on 8/15/19 at 1:41 pm to Gray12
I was cement for 2 years. 60K base, 5K signing, 10K training completion. After training, there were no bonuses except for promotion. Day rates were 0 for ATP, 45 for TP, and 75 for STP. I don't know if the job titles are the same for slum burger. 2.5% raises across the board, every year. A guy that had been there for 4 years was catching every job he could to crack 100K and didn't clear it. This was in the GOM, which is cush compared to other regions, but the rates were much less.
I'm pretty sure MWD/LWD, wireline, perf, and PE got paid more though.
It really is working for peanuts though compared to the potential of any other engineering path.
I'm pretty sure MWD/LWD, wireline, perf, and PE got paid more though.
It really is working for peanuts though compared to the potential of any other engineering path.
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