romulus2009
Mechanical
- May 27, 2009
- 19
This topic is directly related to the subject of the forum. I.E. "How to improve myself and get ahead in my work" but related to a very specific Engineering career. Namely, a Mechanical Engineer of an Oil and Gas Contractor in the EPC Industry.
More specifically, the Engineers who are responsible for the engineering of mechanical equipment in Oil and Gas projects. I dont want to make it too specific or likely there will be less people who will be able to respond. But my particular interest is in Rotating Equipment Engineering which deals with the engineering of rotating driven equipment (compressors, pumps, blowers, fans), drivers (steam turbines, gas turbines, diesel engines, electric motors etc) and auxiliaries.
My interest is to know what skills and knowledge would make a Rotating/Mechanical Engineer in the O&G EPC the best out there.
Of course, it's easy to say go learn every API Code, every ASME code, read every Textbook, every O&G Magazine, take every course from Vendors etc.
And the idea is not to become valuable in 25 years (any person with an Engineering degree should be able to make 150 grand after 25 years of experience). The idea is to push oneself and study the right things, gain the most important skills, and develop the best attitude to achieve success within 10 years.
From my personal experience, I have seen people with 2 year of experience be better at their work than people with 12 years of experience. Not every year of experience is created equal. Some people are satisfied with doing the minimum they have to do from 9 to 5 for 10 years and wonder why they are still not being given promotions or raises.
My big question is what's the best career path for a Mech Engineer. To me it seems there are 3 paths.
a) 80% category. Those who become Senior Engineers and Supervisors and do the same thing for 30 years and top out at say 120K.
b) 2% cateogry. Those who become the technical references within large companies, and within the industry in general. The "gurus" who become so invaluable for what they know that they get paid over 150K. These people often times have PhDs.
c) 18% category. Those who move up into Management or become Consultants.
Yes, I made those stats up. It's just to give an idea.
I love technical subjects and the idea of somebody becoming a master at ones profession through many years of experience. However, I believe unless you do radically different things, after the 10 year mark whether you have 10 years, 20 years or 30 years of experience it doesnt make a difference unless you show some sort of progress in titles and responsibilities. Also, with technology advancing exponentially, with age it become harder to keep up with the advancements and people fresh out of college are likely to be ahead of you. The only thing that will give you the edge is the knowledge and experience gained in all those years. But as I said, it's very important to keep up with new tools, new developments and most importantly, to never reach a plateau of knowledge and experience. To do so, you can either try to engage in work in different areas, or deepen the knowledge of the areas you are already familiar with. But more than likely, there is a limit on how much you need to know about a compressor to be a good EPC engineer. You'll probably be more valuable knowing more about say Static Equipment than being a Compressor guru alone.
Looking forward to your thoughts,
Regards,
Romulus
More specifically, the Engineers who are responsible for the engineering of mechanical equipment in Oil and Gas projects. I dont want to make it too specific or likely there will be less people who will be able to respond. But my particular interest is in Rotating Equipment Engineering which deals with the engineering of rotating driven equipment (compressors, pumps, blowers, fans), drivers (steam turbines, gas turbines, diesel engines, electric motors etc) and auxiliaries.
My interest is to know what skills and knowledge would make a Rotating/Mechanical Engineer in the O&G EPC the best out there.
Of course, it's easy to say go learn every API Code, every ASME code, read every Textbook, every O&G Magazine, take every course from Vendors etc.
And the idea is not to become valuable in 25 years (any person with an Engineering degree should be able to make 150 grand after 25 years of experience). The idea is to push oneself and study the right things, gain the most important skills, and develop the best attitude to achieve success within 10 years.
From my personal experience, I have seen people with 2 year of experience be better at their work than people with 12 years of experience. Not every year of experience is created equal. Some people are satisfied with doing the minimum they have to do from 9 to 5 for 10 years and wonder why they are still not being given promotions or raises.
My big question is what's the best career path for a Mech Engineer. To me it seems there are 3 paths.
a) 80% category. Those who become Senior Engineers and Supervisors and do the same thing for 30 years and top out at say 120K.
b) 2% cateogry. Those who become the technical references within large companies, and within the industry in general. The "gurus" who become so invaluable for what they know that they get paid over 150K. These people often times have PhDs.
c) 18% category. Those who move up into Management or become Consultants.
Yes, I made those stats up. It's just to give an idea.
I love technical subjects and the idea of somebody becoming a master at ones profession through many years of experience. However, I believe unless you do radically different things, after the 10 year mark whether you have 10 years, 20 years or 30 years of experience it doesnt make a difference unless you show some sort of progress in titles and responsibilities. Also, with technology advancing exponentially, with age it become harder to keep up with the advancements and people fresh out of college are likely to be ahead of you. The only thing that will give you the edge is the knowledge and experience gained in all those years. But as I said, it's very important to keep up with new tools, new developments and most importantly, to never reach a plateau of knowledge and experience. To do so, you can either try to engage in work in different areas, or deepen the knowledge of the areas you are already familiar with. But more than likely, there is a limit on how much you need to know about a compressor to be a good EPC engineer. You'll probably be more valuable knowing more about say Static Equipment than being a Compressor guru alone.
Looking forward to your thoughts,
Regards,
Romulus
![[wink]](/data/assets/smilies/wink.gif "[wink] [wink]")
- and the whole process just seems so much simpler and the environment is less pressured than the power plant. I'd move back to power in a heartbeat - I miss the urgency, and the smell of steam and hot lube oil - but I'm enjoying what I'm doing too.
