Uber or Economist at Shell
Hi guys,
I've recently got a position as a Economist at Shell. Pays good, benefits great.
I also have a final round coming up for Uber Logistics and Ops Manager. What would you think is the better option?
Shell would be safe, and look great on my CV. Uber would be fun and exciting, but is it risky (I live in an emerging market)? and the pay is a little disappointing.
What would you think about long term prospects in either company? I suppose I could move from Shell to a bank or consultancy after a few years, but I don't quite know what the exit options are for a company like Uber.
Perhaps WSO isn't the best place for this sort of question, but I'm trying to look at this from an objective perspective and I don't trust the objectivity of the people who have replied so far, haha.
Hmmm that's tough.
What is your background, I assume PhD in Economics/Finance? Do you like the traditional work in your realm of economics or would you mind doing the more logistical/operations work. I think IMHO I would side with economist with Shell because of the opportunities you will have in the future based on it, but those opportunities are going to include the words: economist, economic consultant, economist.
Whereas Uber will open up business roles, and even further probably heavily quantitative roles, but you can work up the business side better (Operations/Strategy maybe).
If I were you though I'd take the Shell economist position but that's because I think it'll be a more laid back role hours wise which would allow you do some econ consulting and teaching on the side (which would be what I love to do) so you can see my bias.
I spent a year at Shell in the UK in more of an accounting capacity, and thought that if I ever go back there, it'll be for an Economist/Trading/M&A type of position. In my time there, I've met people who worked in Economics, including some of the senior economists in the office, and went to a course where they described their activities. As far as I understand, they look at big projects (this was an Upstream office) and do a lot of investment appraisal, sensitivity analysis with regard to different factors including simply the price of a barrel of oil, their analysis goes into one of the sections of a project proposal, which hopefully gets approved later on. But if you have a position there then you probably know all about it already.
A good part of working for supermajor is that they are nuts about safety, which also means they will almost force you to have work-life balance. Pay is above average, great benefits as you say, chance to relocate to one of their many offices globally.
Shell's probably a better fit for the finance industry, and considering Uber is being challenged in the courts somewhere at all times, probably a safer bet, then again I understand the appeal of working for this kind of company. Also you can connect with some of the guys in trading/M&A and maybe migrate there.
Hope this was of help.
Though Uber sounds like the more interesting job, I would go with Shell, for the better pay, job security, and advancement opportunities. With competition among cab hailing apps in emerging markets, there's no guarantee that Uber will be able to maintain a strong foothold in whatever country you're working in.
I'd go with Shell for job security.
Another negative about Uber is that I'm not quite sure how much room there is for the valuation to rise so if the salary is lower, the options may not turn out to be all that valuable when there's a liquidity event on Ubers part. Not getting into a unicorn valuation conversation but you'd be getting involved at a pretty late stage. I'd also think about the skills you'll gain at Uber and what you can transfer them to if/when you leave. Shell-lots of internal and external options. I just don't know about Uber.
Plus in my opinion having a big solid name (where people know you get career development and training) on your resume at the beginning of your career is almost always a good thing (unless you were the 10th employee at Uber).
I'd do Shell... Good luck!
Thanks a lot for the input guys. Really helped with my decision making process. I was leaning towards Shell initially for the obvious reasons. Just needed to get a few objective opinions on the subject matter. Much appreciated.
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