<p>What are some of the pros and cons of being a Petro E?</p>
<p>I've heard the demand is too good in the field...</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<p>*Right now, excellent pay and demand. And not just salary, but also including rig day bonuses, such that total compensation can sometimes exceed 150k in your first year, especially if you're willing to work international and/or offshore. </p>
<ul>
<li>A very cool and exciting lifestyle, again, especially if you're willing to go international. Becoming an international PetE is akin to joining the military and being sent off to exotic locations that practically nobody else ever gets to see. For example, you might literally be sent to Siberia (Western Siberia is where a lot of the Russian oilfields are).</li>
</ul>
<p>Cons</p>
<ul>
<li>Demand is highly cyclical. Right now is a great time to be in the industry, in fact, one of the best times in the history of the industry. But who knows what will happen in 5-10 years? In 1998, the price of oil dropped to $10 a barrel and the industry was laying people off left and right. Lafayette, Tulsa, and other oil cities were basically ghost towns.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>*Quality of life is rather low, especially if you're gunning for the most money. To make the most money, you will often times have to spend weeks on end on offshore rigs and platforms, which are not exactly the most enjoyable places to be. Far from it, in fact. There's nothing to do except work. You can't leave until your work is done. You can't cut off work to go to a local bar to have a drink and unwind or go see a movie, because you can't leave. It's basically like going to jail. </p>
<p>*Job can be dangerous. Yes, major safety improvements have been made. Yet the fact is, accidents still happen. Offshore rigs still do, on occasion, blow up and sink. Less tragically, there still are instances where you can get hit by swinging or falling objects. </p>
<p>*Locations are usually not exactly the most desirable of places. Granted, there is the chance that you could be stationed in Los Angeles, where there is still quite a bit of oil. But more likely, you will end up being shipped off to rural West Texas or North Alaska or Saudi Arabia or other such places that aren't exactly the most interesting places in the world. It's cool to be in those places for a few weeks, but after awhile, you'll probably want to leave. But you can't, at least not easily, because it all depends on where your employer wants to deploy you.</p>
<p>My final conclusion about the PetE is that it's a very cool job to do when you're young. Make a lot of money, get to go to exotic locations, get to meet very interesting cultures. And some people find that they want to do it for the rest of their lives. But most people will eventually tire of the lifestyle and want to settle down and get a regular office job where you usually make less money (yes, petroleum managers often times make * less * money than the field engineers, mostly because the managers don't get paid rig-day bonuses), but you enjoy a far higher quality of life. It's a lot better to be in Houston, or even Lafayette, than to be offshore somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<p>I'm extremely interested in Petroleum though I'm EE undergraduate student now.
I agree with most of the points sakky made.
I've considered double majors,EE and Petro E.Unfortunately,it doesn't seem feasible.</p>