I have another question to add onto my previous one regarding career ladders. If I can go straight to being a project engineer without the need to go through the technical consulting phase, would that be inferior? How difficult is it to get a project engineer role without any technical experience but with some foundational knowledge?

A lot of times in O&G, it's the experience that counts. A lot of the companies (not all but a lot) put the emphasis on expereinece as this will reduce their training cost. I'll be frank, a lot of the graduates nowadays requires at least 5 years of training before they can be deemed to be able to handle the work independently. Only majors are willing to spend time and money to develop fresh grads, a lot of other companies do not have the time to do the capability development. They mostly are on project basis and requires people who can immediately do the work. That is why even those without a degree but have experienced doing the job for 5-10 years are valued higher than the fresh grads.

There are scales in the O&G industry where your value gets a step jump every 5 years (that is why there is a different ad for those with 5 years, for those with 10 years and for those with 15 years). I have 15 years experience and my market value just shot up. Just got an offer (from my network ... another thing that I keep stressing about in this industry) for a 2 year contract in Malaysia paying me RM70K a month .... now need to persuade the other half that this is a good offer ....

another question is...why do these companies(not all but a lot) willing to spend $ to train people without suitable qualifications? all im saying is,O&G requires both technical and theoretical knowledge. Technical experience can be obtained while working but theoretical knowledge is something different which graduates have advantage in. If i were to work from bottom,i'll gain knowledge too. Did i miss anything here? or maybe it's all about insecurity. since non-execs wont have(small chances) the possibilities to climb up the ladder,that's why those BIG people prefer non-graduates to secure their positions.

key word being experience.the so called theoretical knowledge you speak of is not amiss from those who dont have a degree.

just similair as youve said that we can learn from scratch, the theories are more easily and readily available compared the day to day problems/solutions wch they have faced/applied and learned from the years doing the job.

so thats why the man who knows how/done the job has the edge then graduates whom have been thought but not tested.

Overqualified ?

This post has been edited by feekle: Sep 17 2011, 11:22 PM

If fresh grad is not favoured then who is going to replace the seniors? Until when? If we we're not given the chance and get trained, how could we get into this industry? If I don't start my career in o&g now, then when should I? After 5 years gaining experience in other field? How can we become experienced when no chances given at the first place?

some spent years working in other industries before getting into O&G

This post has been edited by feekle: Sep 18 2011, 08:01 AM

Can we(malaysia citizenship) work legally in brunei? Or do we take some sort of exam first?
I was asked through email whether i am legally able to work in brunei or not..

I was asked the same question and I thought legal right to work means you own a working permit/visa so I said no I dont have any.

I encountered such email before. Obviously they are looking for local candidates prior to international candidate, if you are really excellent in terms of academic (if u apply for fresh grad) and ur personality is suitable . i dun think they dun mind hire international candidates, provided they hire local candidates also. My junior who wents to baker hughes final assessment in labuan told me that there's a brunei candidates in his group. so it is possible.

i have the same thought as u too bro!!!


is there possibility to join o&g after few years working in other field?? thats what im doing now, working in wood industry because unable to join o&g field. quite frustrated coz i'm a mechanical engineering student from oil town..

Certain companies (usually the small O&G players really live by hiring experience personnel. The reason being is that if you go for a tender, almost all of the tender requires the company to provide experience personnel.

When you go to a medium sized company, then you will see that they are hiring fresh grads as they are comfortable with their long term prospect and they know the importance of having fresh blood in the company

When you go to the MNCs and major oil companies, then you will definitely see them hiring fresh grads, the thing is, it's all a cycle. Once they hire let's say 200 fresh grads (like PETRONAS for example) then the next year they will not need to hire so many. The last hiring boom for Petronas I believe was 2006-2007 (I remembered having assigned 20 new staff under my watch and all freshies). I suspect the next wave is coming soon as a lot of the old timers are retiring and those new grads that was taken in 2006, have their 5 years experience and they will start itching to leave for greener pastures .... that is how it is in the O&G company, you just need to catch the right window of opportunity.

Which means, i shouldn't have taken a degree in anything related to o&g at the first place. Zzz....

I'm not shortlisted. Guess I'm not that good. Hmmhh

Kuala baram ka sis? I even apply fr technician position. That's how desperate I am. I just want to work so bad.

This post has been edited by preakzz: Sep 18 2011, 06:01 PM

Yup i told them that im only holding malaysian citizenship. probably no chance ever getting hired now

Im not sure how 'excellent' i am in academic but i guess im ok. But im guessing there would rather hire locals than outsider couz it may incur cost to hire outsiders..

anymore vacancies? im an electrical grad.

they say contractors pay more? i wonder hows the benefits?

Companies, especially with localization policy in place would not be stupid to hire a foreigner, with an expatriate pay package, when they can get someone equal or better locally.

Candidates, on the other hand (except for rare cases), would not be stupid to work out of country without being paid expatriate package.

Not all contractors pay more. Depending on the size of the company, and whether they have managed to secure a large contract with a client. And of course, your experience plays a factor as well. For graduates, operators still pay better than contractors, unless you manage to get into SLB, Halli, BH, etc.

Well no harm trying. Who knows? Change of wind maybe.


Can anyone explain what is upstream, downstream etc? Ive been looking for the overall process in o&g (like the example explaining how electricity delivered to ur home) Cant seem to find it..

same boat we are on.....and even technicians post pun susah mau dpt these days....at this pt of my life i would gladly take a lower wage compared to not having an engineering job.

anyone went to the career fair over the weekend?so many young faces mcm mana la nak compete wif them.......

lol, im a guy btw. ya its in kuala baram...i think u should also know whick company as only a few dealing with woodworking. i guess its better to know someone in o&g to ease the job application, haha!! now just work 1st while searching for opportunities in o&g. applied alot even in brunei but no news.

bro, u can try contractors which have projects in MCOT i.e. SBL, magna etc. also..consider a good start also since its in petronas plant.

I'm also looking for an opportunity to get GREASY.as all gurus in this thread agreed, networking is important. Maybe this is something can work on.