I’m 30, I’ve worked for OXY since I graduated and I am currently 1 year into my MBA. I am debating leaving the industry due to a combination of industry instability, climate change talk (look at BPs recent announcement to reduce their production 40% by 2030) and since the pay isn’t as great as it once was when compared to new industries such as tech. It’s disheartening to see a company like Tesla worth more than Ford, Toyota and GM combined due to all of the electric vehicle rage and anti emissions. Does anyone with a decent amount of experience have any advice on what you would do given the outlook for the industry.
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I’m the same age as you and left Oxy a few months ago after almost 8 years at the company. It was an incredible burden lifted & I promised myself to never go back to oil and gas. I’ve never been happier.
LAPC, and I left the industry. Oxy paid me double what I'll probably ever make in a single year, just to leave, so that was awesome. I landed a higher paying and better job outside O and G, and couldn't be happier. I saw the catastrophe that was Oxy, and I'm sorry for those of you stuck there. Good luck to you as you look to reshape your career. There is plenty of good outside the industry and outside of Oxy!
Worked in the industry for over 20 years, mad it through an enormous number of price cycles, mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, etc. and my number finally came up in 2019. Got reemployed right way in a different sector and couldn't be happier. It's just a really tough industry with little or no stability. So much easier to read the news and experience the industry from a new vantage point.
Good luck with your decision making.
And I hope the individual that called Gen Z babies and drama queens that need to grow up isn't representative of an entire older generation.
That is a terrible attitude that I hope is not representative of the entire generation. If so then our future productivity is in serious trouble.
Hey Boomer, I'll bet you walked to school, uphill both ways, in the snow, when you were a kid as well. Well look at you. La tee friggin da! Get over yourself. The job you had many moons ago has no relevance to the jobs we have today. The most relevant thing is to compare the job here at Oxy with the jobs down the street somewhere else. And when things turn around and those jobs are more prevalent, you can bet your cane that many of us will move on. That may make you happy to see us go, but Oxy will just bring in more Gen Z'ers as replacements, because they sure aren't going to backfill us with dinosaurs like you.
If you have technical skills then seek another industry to work. If you have math, computer, or real engineering skills then you should be able to find another industry where you will be appreciated.
I'll be turning 40 this year and have been in O&G since my early 20's. The industry is just not a fun place to work anymore. The shale boom was a blessing and a curse, and we overproduced and racked up debt. After 2015 things turned for the worst. Not to mention the political climate and older co workers harassing non whites and immigrants. Also it's getting harder to work with id–ts that think COVID is some govt hoax so its definitely time to leave.
I wish I had a dollar for every time over the last 40 years someone said the o&g industry was dead. Tell me, do you drive car? It's a tough industry with more than its share of ups and downs, but the news of its death has been greatly exaggerated.
If I were 30 I would do everything possible to find a new career. Unless you want 35 more years of this sh**! This is not a viable industry anymore... for me I’m near the end so I’ll stick it out as long as possible. To old to start over. If you’re young get out!
I retired from O&G at 52 y/o in 2016. A direct report of mine, an environmental engineer with about eight years in O&G, resigned in 2015, went back to school at School of Mines and got a degree in robotics. He's now happily employed in aerospace. It was a wise decision, and he did it when he was in his 30s. If I were early or mid career in O&G I'd probably be thinking about other industries. Jobs in refining will be stable for some years...but one can't make the "big money" downstream like we used to be able to upstream.
Leave. Oxy is a dead-end.
If you are going to change industries, I would do it sooner than later.
You said that oil and gas salaries aren’t great compared to tech. Bloomberg did a study last year that found that for all the talk about Big Tech jobs, oil is still the highest paying industry in the US. Of course that may change. Remember that the big tech companies use H1B visa recipients to depress the wages they pay US workers. Trump has curtailed that severely, but expect the floodgates to open again when he leaves office. The grass is always greener...
If you have a STEM background, take the Patent Bar exam and add patent agent to your resume. All you need is a STEM background to take the test and get the cert. Get out of O&G and expand into the larger world of IP (intellectual property).
Combined with your MBA you could be well position to help generate, guide, and grow new intellectual property coming out of any field.
I am 10 years older than you. I would leave the industry. Big oil is dying. I would look into another industry. Like your statement, Bp is changing their business. That is your hint where an oil dependent company is heading. VH k–led oxy. That debt is going to anchor til death.
I would agree with @mbj and say to do what you love to do, as that's what you're going to be best at. Most of the Geos and Engineers and Accountants and Techies and Landmen I know, are doing just that. But by all means, look outside of the Oil & Gas Industry. For Geos, there are many other industries which require the geologic expertise. I know several who have found good jobs in other industries. For engineers, there are many other engineering industries out there as well, although it may take a bit of effort to make the switch. But follow your passion, and hopefully you've found that.
As for switching careers, while I think that's a great idea for someone who doesn't love their chosen career, just be aware that it may take considerable time and effort to do so. I know people who left Oil & Gas for the medical industry, as nurses and doctors, and that obviously took a ton of time and effort. I know people who have switched to the tech industry as well, in software engineering and data sciences, but that also took tons of schooling and effort, and it's not like they've yet developed the skills to be hired by the big tech firms. Make the career switch if that's where your passion lies, but just be aware that it will take a lot of effort to do so, and you may never catch up to those who pursued that field with passion from the start. Just like you can't expect a nurse to pick up petroleum engineering in night classes and easily compete against those of us who have cut our teeth here for years. By all means pursue whatever your passion is, but do your research and don't go in to that path lightly or blind. Best of luck.
I was laid off in April and I had been working in this industry for almost ten years after I graduated. In July, I was admitted by data science program from some university and I will start the 2020 fall cohort at the end of this month.
I'm not experienced in this field but my general advice is to do what you enjoy. I think it's almost impossible to guess what is a good field to get into because things are changing fast. It used to be that healthcare jobs were a great field, but lots of people in the healthcare field were laid off in the shutdown. I wish you the best of luck.
go hug a tree, hippie