Realization of a field engineer

Salam w.b.t and hello all,

This time, I will write about the reality of working in the Oil and Gas (O&G) industry as a field engineer.

I find that, it is time to write about it as I am field engineer, working in this upstream business for nearly 5 years. For senior professional will think 5 years is nothing when you are in this business. It is nothing, and I agree with them. However, I am not here to discuss about seniority in the oilfield. I will write down based on my experience as a field engineer.

Salary is high, life is low

When I was recruited, and started in UK back in 2016, the starting salary as a trainee was approximately USD5000 per month, before tax. So, after tax with other reductions, it was closed to USD4000, exact number I don’t remember. Still, looking at this figure, it was still higher than starting salary in Malaysia. After conversion, can range between RM15,000 to RM19,000.

My first salary, I paid off my student loan, my mother's credit card, debt, and family expenditure that was backlogged for  months.

It was a relieve 💓

On the low-side, I gave up my life since then. Living away from my family, disconnected from my friends, missing all the important events back at home. I was not there when my grandmother passed away. I was not there when my sister went through operation. I was not at home when my mother had to deal with hardship.

I was not there.

Upskilling, I should have started it earlier

Schlumberger offered excellent training program and career progression. None denied it, great in teaching you how to do your job properly and professionally. Over time, it is no longer relevant and I should have known this back then. It did not click in my head until last year when I was over it, thinking of switching my job. (I am still looking for another job 😄 )

You know, when you want to put your resume to the recruiter, what skills you can bring to the table? Soft skills - good team player, leading, perform well under pressure, etc. This is fine.

Then, come the questions, what are the technical skills that can fit you to the job profile? I reflected all the training I attended at Schlumberger and jobs I have done.

• Drilling the well from top section to TD without failure or NPT
• Fastest and best ROP
• Logging while drilling
• Programming tools - TeleScope, EcoScope, adnVISION, etc..

And many more jargon words that recruiter + outside SLB + different sectors, they don’t understand any of the bit I talked about. Looks like "Wow", then so what?

Thus, I am struggling in this part. I should have not rely solely on the in-house training provided by the company. When you joined the company, the training they gave you is how to fit into the company, do your specific job as you are hired for it, and it was very specific to your job. During the first 2-3 years, you will not get any formal skills that you can sell it to other employers. I should have broaden by knowledge and skills, so my resume can fit anywhere required in any industry.

Yes, after Grade 11 (G11), you can probably sell your resume to other employers as G11 is now considered as employee in the Management/Office group, no longer Field population.

I should have positioned myself where I can get the best from each part of the job - field, technical, management, soft skills.

Save money and invest it wisely

It is easier to forget yourself when you have a lot of money in hand. Imagine, you have let say USD10,000 untouched in your account. I said untouched because you are busy working, don’t have time to spend the money right….

And at one point, you will have your vacations or days off, that’s when your desire to spend so much money come. Without calculation, you will buy this, that, spending on things that you don’t actually need, but you buy it because, of course, why not? Who have been working your ass off so you deserved it, right?

That’s true and not true as well. Yes, you are deserved to get the benefit from your money after you worked so hard for it, but be wise. Have some saving as well.

If you want to invest, you can do it as well however make sure you do it with knowledge and aware of the risks coming with it.

Look, right now the world is going to recession period and unemployment rate is unbelievable. From US reports, the US employment is closed to 1930 Great Depression period and 2.6 million people has seek for state unemployment aid. The future is full of uncertainties. The oil price dove down to negative, never seen in history and yet it happened.

Yes, O&G sector offered you a lot of money when things are all wine and roses. However, you can lose everything when things gone sour. This is especially true for these groups;

• Not spending the money wisely
• Tied to unnecessary commitments
• Investments with high risks
• No backup plan or saving
• No side hustle or additional side income
• Many more..

I am not saying, don’t invest, not spend your money, etc. No! I don’t mean that, I mean be wise, things can go haywire in this industry. O&G sector is no longer a gold mining industry, it is easily affected by external and internal factors.

It is very vulnerable, please bear this in your mind.

Slowly losing control of my life management

As an employee, we have a lot of benefits offered by the company and I am grateful for that. Different employee groups, have different benefits. Therefore, all of us are not the same. Let me share with you some of the benefits I received as my current seniority working at the company.

• Housing
• As I am based in Qatar, it is part of government rule to have housing provided by the employer. Yes, so accommodation are provided by the company. Accommodation, utility bills, internet bills, housekeeping, transportation are all taken care of by the company and provider. You must think, "That’s really great! You are lucky". Yes, it is great and yes I am lucky.
• However, over time, I realised I have lost control some part of my life. I am no longer taking care of management of my life. This way has make me too dependent on the external party, in this case the company. I can no longer make decision on what kind of house I want to live in, why? Simple reason - company has arranged it.
• Vacation allowance
• Even we got the vacation travel allowance and we are not worried about how we can save money to travel. We have allowance for travel! So, when the company reduce it for the cost saving it, people are losing their mind. Why does people losing their mind? Because we are depending on it for travel.
• Health insurance
• This is good actually for everyone who is working. As it is provide protection. For this part, I am happy. At the start I was very comfortable and I thought no need to get another insurance protection. Slowly I realised, my family is depending on me and I have many responsibilities pending. If something happen to me, it will be tough for each of us. Therefore, with this realization I started having the insurance coverage for myself as for now.

Female at the rig

95% of the time, I am grateful I am female working in the field because it has many advantages.

However the other 5%, sometimes I wished I am a male. So, I don’t have to worry of changing the clothes, praying room, using the bathroom because all the facilities are completed - for male employee.

For female, 9 out 10 rigs I have been to, no facilities for female employees. So, I would consider myself lucky if I can get my own room, without sharing with any female personnel on the rig. This is because, you can enter your room, get change, use bathroom, relax at any time you want. If you are sharing with another female, you cannot disturb them as they are off shift. If I got a roommate who is understanding and willing to tolerate, I am lucky. So we will make each other life easier.

Sometimes, when the bed spaces are limited, I will need to share with a male. So for the last 4.5 years since I am here in Qatar, I am lucky I just shared twice and it was really awkward. It was my colleague, but still I don’t feel free.

Working as a field engineer, not everything is bad. It has both pros and cons, similar as other profession. I think I will share it in another entry, more about the positive side.

That’s enough for now. Thank you for reading and take care people. Stay safe and Ramadhan Kareem.

Salam w.b.t

P/S - I am doing day shift, still at Lovanda Rig. Day #3 of fasting.

Ramadhan ya Ramadhan

Salam w.b.t and hi all,

How are you doing? Things are going well with you? I hope you are doing fine.

I am doing alright. Currently working on the rig called Rig Lovanda, I would say it is quite close to Iran border. I have been here since 15th April, relieving my colleague. This rig is brand spanking new, it is good. Internet provided, and I got my own room. Initially when I arrived I was assigned to a room share with the female trainee. However, after some discussions with the person in charge, I managed to get a room without sharing. The reasons were;

• I will be doing 6-6, and the other will do 12-12. We will disturb each other
• There is no changing room and bathroom designated for female crew, again, we will bother each other when we enter the room
• Easier for me to enter and pray in the room, rather than sharing the musolla with the rig crew

Overall, I am glad I got the room for myself.

I don’t have anything particular to write about now. It is quite random time I wrote this entry. I am on my shift now, working and not too busy now.

I called my mother last week, a day before I departed to the rig. Also, texted her from time to time. So it was alright.

Maybe I should address that I am grateful because I still have a job, and actually working. In this tough situation in this Oil and Gas industry, too many variables have affecting the workforces. The Covid19 has created the Domino effect around the world.

Therefore, I am grateful for that. Though, I am struggling with the motivation to keep myself up.

I will be Ramadhan soon, approximately 3 days left before entering Ramadhan. Time flies really fast.

I have been complaining a lot, but I did not do anything to change it. That’s the problem actually.

Why don’t I do something about it? That’s a good question.

Till then.

Salam w.b.t and stay safe everyone.

P/S - Ramadhan ya Ramadhan

Keep marching on!

Salam w.b.t and hi all,

How are things going so far? I would like to make a quick update.

I am aware, it is a tough time for everybody especially for the fresh graduates. In this challenging time, please don’t give up in looking for a job. You will not get your dream job straight away, but now it is about survival - get a job to continue living.

I, myself has started updating my resume, LinkedIn, profiles on company pages, in fact start sending out job applications. At the start, no reply from any of the company. However, I managed to get a hang on several recruiters via phone calls and emails. I would not say recruiters, but they are personnel who sort out resume in early stage of job application.

What are these personnel doing? For example, they have 200 applicants for a particular job, then from 200 applications, they will narrow it down to 100 applicants. When they resume the recruitment process, they will take from 100 applications they screened earlier.

In my opinion, the personnel involved with HR, recruiters are quite active now since they are working from home. In normal office environment, maybe they don’t have time and space to sort out and reach out to applicants.

The conclusions are;

• Don’t give up.
• Update your resume.
• If you haven't done this, sign up on LinkedIn and update it.
• There are free learning materials in LinkedIn as well, utilize it.

Keep fighting! Aja aja fighting! Hahaha..

Salam w.b.t and take care all.

P/S - I read a book about Ronda Rousey last year, and recently watched documentary about her on Netflix. It is a great motivation to keep fire in yourself lit.

First entry of 2020.

Salam w.b.t and hi guys.

Wowowowo…look at this. Last entry was back in July 2019, nearly 9 months ago!

How are you doing?

As we are well aware, world has been overwhelmed with Covid-19 pandemic. I don’t want to discuss about it this time, but I would like to highlight that now we have plenty of time. I came across this recently, and it hits me hard.

As one of a start, I am writing this entry. Let's consider this as a warm up, shall we? Hehehe :)

First, I am still in Doha, Qatar. I returned from an offshore rig on Thursday, 26th March. Since then, I have been standby in Doha.

The Corniche, Doha

Second, I am staying in a tower in Doha known as Fourty Four Tower, Westbay with my three housemates. I have been living here for nearly 1 year and 3 months. I moved here sometimes in December 2018. However, I hardly recognised this place, let alone Doha as Home. It is been a long time since I arrived in Doha, will be 4 years by end of 2020. To me, it is like a temporary place or a transit. I identified the main reason is, I don’t have any emotional connection to this country.

Unlike Australia, a tiny bit of my heart always remained there in Perth. It always feel good when in Perth.

Kings Park, Perth shot before my graduation day. 

Third, similar in Malaysia, Qatar also implementing the Restrict Movement Order. Since my returned from rig on Thursday, I have been filling up my time since then with some activities.

• Finished fasting to cover for days I missed last Ramadhan.
• Managed to finish the book written by Michelle Obama, Becoming. I have been dragging since Jan, Feb, and finished it on 30th March. Really inspiring. From time to time, watched the speech of both Barack and Michelle Obama on the Youtube.

  

  "For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn't end" - Michelle Obama.

• LinkedIn has been offer free learning course for one month. So, I finished several courses and one of it is the Cert Prep: Project Management Professional. I am interested to advance as a project engineer, so I took this course to understand what is it about as well as a way to enhance my knowledge on project management. The link is here if you are interested to learn it: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/cert-prep-project-management-professional-pmp/welcome
• Watched the Self Made on Netflix. Based on the real life story of Madam CJ Walker.
• Watched Dilwale. To me, the storyline is nothing extraordinary. The only thing standout was the songs, Gerua and Janam Janam. Of course, the scenery of Gerua video shot in Iceland made it famous. Breathtaking view.
• This is the latest one, just finished it last night. Crash Landing On You. Oh My…., as always, Korean dramas always make the heart of the audience fluttered, romance in the air, the imagination of love way too perfect. And I am not excluded. While watching the series, I have been reminding myself to hold myself together. This is drama, not reality. Hahaha…well, still cannot get over it.

  

  The main actors are too perfect to be real. Also, Switzerland, now is in my must visit country list. 

• Well now, adding to the list is writing this entry.

Fourth, I have been trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle slowly.

I have started running since February 2020. What drives me this time? It was thebody weight. Before going to offshore rig, at the check in counter, we will take the body weight as well as the bag weight. For body weight, there is no limit but this time, when I checked-in in early of January, it was 60kg. At the screen, it was 132lb, at that time it did not register in my head. Normally was 126-127lb and I did not bother too much. After seeing 132lb, I immediately made a conversion and it was 60kg!

What! Where is this extra weight coming from?!

Then I made self-reflection of my lifestyle in the last 6-7 months. Several points I realized were;

Rig with the sunrise background

• I have been working offshore half of the time last year, to be specific from June 2019 until February 2020. In offshore, less physical demanding unlike land rigs. There is a gym provided, but I was not interested to go there. I finished my working shift, straight go to sleep.
• I also realised, I hardly sweat at any given time when doing any physical works. At the same time, I kinda have short breathing, and one rig personnel asked me if I am a smoker. As he said, it is normal for a smoker. These alarmed me.
• Apart from that, food provided in offshore facilities are marvelous. If you have a poor self-control, you can eat anything at any time, which I did.
• Reward to myself in terms of food. This is a major flaw. Every single time, once I completed any jobs, achieved something, I always treat myself a good food. For example, came back to Doha after finish my hitches, I will go for good food. I will eat as much as I can, don’t care the price. Indirectly, I treated it similar to revenge of not having decent food at the rigs. Buy expensive drinks, normally from Starbucks. Hot chocolate, Frappuccino of various flavours, various sizes, cakes and cookies. I convinced myself, "Well, I deserved this after long hitches". 
• My housemate, Claudia has created a Netflix account for me. So I can watch the TV at any time. I have spent nearly 50% of my days being sedentary in the couch watching Netflix while eating food ordered online.

All these combined together has made me heavier than I should. I used to maintain around 55kg without any exercise or physical activities. At the same time without I realised, my blouses, jeans also started to become tight at certain areas like shoulder, back, hips and they were no longer comfortable. I stopped wearing those for some times unconsciously. In the meantime it was winter, I wore shirts and big pants covered with winter jackets. That’s why I did not pay much attention.

My colleagues in Dukhan where we had pizza, McDonald last March. We walked nearly 2km from the rig to the Dukhan local shopping place.

This self-reflections, led me to change my lifestyle slowly. First, I started with slow jog in Westbay. It was tough and my body, muscles, legs all were in pain after I managed to intermittently ran for 6km. The day after, I did not want to run in open area as my body was so much in pain. Otherwise, it will look like I am hopping on the road instead of jogging. So I decided to go to gym. It was great, alternately cycling and running on treadmill. I went home in Feb for 4 weeks, I have been running every day for ~6km with 6-7km/hr. pace. My body, muscles, legs are now get used to it.

I really enjoyed the sweat came out from the exercise.

Now due to movement restriction, I decided to work out in my room for at least one hour. I did the dance workout following the Youtube. Again, I want to keep my body moving and sweating. Try to keep this going and once the situation back to normal, I am planning to hit back to the gym. I bought the body weigh scale recently, and weigh my body from time to time. I managed to maintain between 55-56kg. It will be 56.5 kg if I ate too much. I am planning to reduce a bit more at least 52-53kg, at least my BMI will fall within a good range.

Yep, I think that’s pretty much of what's going on with me now.

I have a lot of things going on in my mind which I would like to share with the readers. I will try to keep this blog alive.

Thank you for reading and be safe all.

P/S - Feel free to let me know if you have any questions related to anything, UWA, Perth, Doha, Schlumberger, Drilling, anything.