Tired of Being an Engineer...

Hello all,

I stumbled upon this site seeking career advice. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

For the past 5 years, I've been working at a supermajor oil company as a process engineer. The oil and gas industry is fascinating, and until a few months ago, I've really enjoyed my job. But for a variety of reasons -- boredom with my current job function, frequent travel to unsavory locations, figuring out my probable salary ceiling -- I've been thinking about getting an MBA for a chance to open up other opportunities: energy trading, energy banking, corporate strategy/development. I think that I want to stay within the energy industry and in Texas, just doing something else.

My friends within the company who have done part time MBAs did not receive many job offers or change functions within the company, which seems like a waste. So, if I go back to school, I'm going full time. Because it's such a huge investment for tuition and lost salary, I need to be sure I have a clear idea of what I want to do afterward.

So my question is: can you give me some ideas of jobs I can get with an MBA that leverage my engineering experience in oil and gas? And do you think 2 years of lost revenue is worth it?

 

A female engineer from a supermajor? Business schools will love you as long as you've got a reasonably impressive pedigree and can do well on the GMAT.

There are pleeeenty of energy jobs (finance, consulting, management, cleantech, trading, etc.) available for graduates of top MBA programs and UT/Rice.

 

You should absolutely pull the trigger and apply, it is 100% worth it.

You are spot on in your analysis... don't waste your time with a part time MBA, especially this early in your career. I know too many people who didn't get their MBA the "right way" (leave company, full time program, M7) who ended up back as engineers and have nothing to show for it.

As for jobs, the O&G industry is literally blowing up right now and you would definitely have a shoe in for any position in the space (Energy banking, consulting, etc.). People are killing for former engineers who understand what actually happens beyond the Excel spreadsheets in the real world.

One piece of advice I would give is don't sell yourself short, like I said O&G is blowing up and top schools are playing Where's Waldo with petroleum engineers, process engineers, drilling engineers... They want anyone and everyone from the oilfield. Take a chance and apply to the very best schools, even if you feel they are a stretch.

Hell, take a look at the HBS Class of 2014 profile and they now even have an entire "Pre-MBA" industry dedicated to the oilfield... granted they define it a little more eloquently "Energy/Extractive Minerals" but... http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/admission-requirements/Pages/class-pr…

Happy to answer any other questions.

 
Best Response

Pretty much what BT says.

Assuming you can crack a top 15 or even top 20 school, or in your case something like McCombs at UT you will be able to legitimately think about entering finance.

Roles would be in Investment Banking, mostly. Either as an Energy Banker helping Oil & Gas companies raise capital. Or as a trader specializing in that space. Or in Research issuing the buy / sell / hold ratings on the companies in the sector. There of course are all manner of variations on the theme across equities and fixed income.

Being a career switcher you would face very tough challenges getting an internship imbetween your two years. As a career switcher your internship is essential to getting a full time job offer in this economic environment. The higher up you go in ranking, the less this rule applies but competition is off the charts and you will be competing for internships with a lot of guys with great finance experience. Hiring is way lower than in past years, so both my recent banks just pluck the top performing interns and give them job offers, to start the following summer.

Of the Wall Street jobs, Investment Banking is most welcome to career switchers. Hedge funds or Private Equity would almost certainly be off the table for your background, although you never know.

This of course is predicated on getting into a top busines school, which would require a good GMAT score. If you are female and interested in Energy, that will be an appealing profile for both bschools and banks. You will of course also need a very high undergraduate gpa from a top undergraduate program.

 
gamenumbers:
Pretty much what BT says.

Assuming you can crack a top 15 or even top 20 school, or in your case something like McCombs at UT you will be able to legitimately think about entering finance.

Roles would be in Investment Banking, mostly. Either as an Energy Banker helping Oil & Gas companies raise capital. Or as a trader specializing in that space. Or in Research issuing the buy / sell / hold ratings on the companies in the sector. There of course are all manner of variations on the theme across equities and fixed income.

Being a career switcher you would face very tough challenges getting an internship imbetween your two years. As a career switcher your internship is essential to getting a full time job offer in this economic environment. The higher up you go in ranking, the less this rule applies but competition is off the charts and you will be competing for internships with a lot of guys with great finance experience. Hiring is way lower than in past years, so both my recent banks just pluck the top performing interns and give them job offers, to start the following summer.

Of the Wall Street jobs, Investment Banking is most welcome to career switchers. Hedge funds or Private Equity would almost certainly be off the table for your background, although you never know.

This of course is predicated on getting into a top busines school, which would require a good GMAT score. If you are female and interested in Energy, that will be an appealing profile for both bschools and banks. You will of course also need a very high undergraduate gpa from a top undergraduate program.

Why do you say that she would face "very tough challenges" getting a summer internship? A very significant percentage of people doing banking, especially from top schools, are career changers without any real prior finance experience.

 

Hiring levels are down across the board on Wall Street. There are layoffs in the Analyst classes now yet demand for these openings remains strong. People are graduating without jobs. It goes without saying in this economy there are many who do not get what they want. This was my experience at both my MBA and now working for several banks.

I certainly don't assume I am talking to someone with a 3.9 from Princeton, so we are most likely looking at someone who could crack a top 15 schol, assuming the expected undergrad background. She has an attractive profile but it is anything but a certainty.

 

There are also a ton of corporate development jobs in oil & gas available right now (and likely for the next few years) for anyone with the right mix of o&g/finance background. If you wanted to go back into industry, that would probably be a solid option that is more finance oriented.

 

bmwright: Your post strikes a chord with me. I am a reservoir engineer at an oil supermajor. I love being a reservoir engineer but I agree with you that at some point, we have to transition to other roles to broaden skill set and hence our prospects. I am still a year away from applying to an MBA but that is what I plan to do to transition to general management at a supermajor.

However, can I know what made you bored of your function for the past few months?

ReservoirEng: Your a reservoir engineer too? Did you or are you gonna go for a MBA?

 

YGH: Thanks for your comment; glad to know I'm not the only one. To answer your question, I recently transitioned from a job with a lot of visibility and responsibility to one with a lot less. Also, I believe my learning curve has flattened out -- not gaining nearly as many new skills/knowledge as I was initially.

 

Coming up on the 5-year mark myself. It's hard to leave when the opportunity cost is so ridiculous (~500K). I'd only do it for a few exit opps (PE/HF). IB pay+benefits is horrendous compared to any job in upstream right now.

 
DonVon:
PetEng:
Coming up on the 5-year mark myself. It's hard to leave when the opportunity cost is so ridiculous (~500K). I'd only do it for a few exit opps (PE/HF). IB pay+benefits is horrendous compared to any job in upstream right now.
$500K?!?!?!?!?!?!
2 years no salary/field allowance/bonus/401k/pension/health care + the cost of school (post tax 100K-150K).

Hell, its probably closer to 600k pre-tax.

 

@PetEng -- I'm in upstream/midstream, but I would prefer to be closer to the wellhead. The trouble is that chemical engineering majors have a hard time moving out of facilities or process functions when in upstream, at least in my company.

@TexasMacaque -- I haven't looked because the independents in the area are based in a place that I'm not interested in staying much longer.

 

bmwright: If you want to be near a wellhead, have you tried converting to be a Production Technologist? In my company, I've seen people convert to PTs from process engineers although it's not the norm. It normally for higher potentials to expand their skillset to groom them for management. However, if you want it bad enough, I think you can change.

 

One of your initial sentences:

I've been thinking about getting an MBA for a chance to open up other opportunities: energy trading, energy banking, corporate strategy/development. I think that I want to stay within the energy industry and in Texas, just doing something else.

1) Trading. No. 2) Banking. Maybe, but you'll be at a disadvantage to proper Petroleum Engineers. 3) Corp strat/dev. You're pre-existing skillset is of virtually no use in these functions (whereas a Reservoir Engineer inserts directly into 'Analyst' positions at my company).

I would just be wary. Leverage your current work experience to get an MBA admission - I think your work experience will give you a marginal advantage during the job hunt. Certainly it helps when compared to a process engineer at a power plant - but your facilities skills won't help on reserve evaluations, etc.

Another thing to think about - if you are doing an MBA, do it now. There is going to be a tidal wave of 5-year girls/guys applying to business school from O&G in the next few years (when hiring kicked off).

 

Try to focus on a good GMAT score.

If you ain't gettin money dat mean you done somethin wrong. " If you have built castles in the air , your work need not be lost; that is where they should be . Now put the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
 
QueenB:
Why won't an MBA help me get a job in energy trading? Are you saying it would be easier for me to transition to an entry level to trading job (scheduler/market analyst) without going back to school?
The situation you are describing is getting an MBA and from that MBA going into energy trading. As has been stated already - you are going against finance professionals that have skillsets far more suited to trading. Just seems unlikely.

If your company has an internal trading division I would try my damnedest to get in there first (and fail at that) before attempting to get an MBA.

 
Obi2012:
Someone mentioned corporate strat/dev.. What kind of corp strat jobs are we talking?

There is a ton of financing and M&A activity going on in this space. Also, there are a bunch of startup o&g companies that already have significant cash flow and are looking for modeling guys to help the senior management with strategy. Those are the types of roles I was referring to.

 

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Raring to beat the GMAT!
 

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