Hey sifus,

I am choosing my elective subjects for next semester. I would like to venture into O&G companies that are majoring in drilling. Can I get advice on which field to focus? My university provides the following offers;

Thermal Engineering
-Power Generation
-Heating,Ventilation & Air Conditioning
-Turbomachinery
-Combustion Engineering
-Environmental Engineering
-Industrial Energy Management
-Computational Fluid Dynamics
-Thermal Systems Design and Optimization
-Internal Combustion Engines
-Introduction to Sustainability Engineering

Applied Mechanics
-Condition Monitoring and Maintenance Engineering
-Engineering Mechanics - Stimulation
-Finite Element Method
-Non Destructive Testing
-Failure Analysis and Design
-Advanced Mechanics of Materials
-Advanced Materials

Manufacturing Systems
-Advanced Manufacturing Processes
-Ergonomics
-Production,Planning and Control
-Industrial Engineering
-Total Quality Management
-Computer Aided Manufacturing
-Process Control & Instrumentation

PS : I have taken Mechanical Vibration and Capstone Design

I would like to say thank you in advanced for the guidance and advice. Have a nice day.

Regards,
Vest

I'm a Petronas scholar and I've been through the same thing as many of us. So I'm in the same boat as those who wants to leave the company because of the relatively low pay and benefits. FYI I already enter the company for 6months+.
I've been anonymously reading O&G threads (not this thread only, I've been reading others like "Working with PETRONAS" etc.) all the while, but this time I guess I have to voice out. I must say that I was upset by some comments, particularly azraeil's comments.


Yes you are. See your comment below:

"better spent on someone" >> This bloody statement is the one that upset me the most. It obviously regard us as someone worse ("worse" = opposite of "better", no?) just because we wish to break the bond. So, yes, you are stereotyping.
I remembered I read somewhere in lowyat forum that this so-called man of word, azraeil, left the company becoz he can't stand the terms and regulations in PETRONAS. Since you can chose to leave the company becoz you're not happy with the company, why can't us? We also not happy with its salary pay because PETRONAS did not pay what we deserve. In fact, I got a better offer out there but when I told them I'm PETRONAS scholars, they pulled back the offer. I believe everyone knows what happened - The companies were warned by PETRONAS not to touch their scholars. This practically kills our opportunities and chances to get better job. So I'm not happy with that, so I wanted to leave. What's wrong with it? Who are you to degrade us? So much BS coming from someone who left the company yet acting as if he's qualified to critics others. 
Even primary students can interpret and nderstand that the original statement is about PETRONAS not paying their fresh employees well. Why do you, azraiel, want to change the topic to focus on "serving the bond"?
OK, since you like to give analogy, lemme give you a simple example. Let's say there's one kid who had been adopted by a guy. He was adopted at 12 years old and when he was 17 he was told to work as a worker in his dad's shop as a labor. He lift heavy stuff, he clean the toilet, he does all kinds of works, and he was paid. He was paid RM300 every month, but compared to the job opportunities outside, he deserve it better. So is it even WRONG to think of the better chance outside? Why would you just throw negative comments such as "The money better spent on someone else than some one like you"? This seriously pissed me off because that's how the others think of us. They didn't even care to bother what's the reason why we wish to earn more money.
Okay, let me tell you my story. To tell you the truth, my parents didn't go through the agreement. In my whole family, I was the only one who can barely read the so-called agreement when I received the letter. My dad did run here and there to get ppl's opinion, but heck, what do you know, those ppl never understand the whole situation but they keep telling my dad "It's good scholarship, once graduated, your son CONFIRMED got a job in PETRONAS". Some of the so-called Dato even told my dad that, if PETRONAS is not good enough, I can just join some companies and tell them to pay off my debt... And we believed that. Btw I even talked to my counseling teacher but she didn't help much.
Now my family is actually facing some financial crisis (I don't want to share on that). I regretted to have stayed here instead of grabbing a better opportunities out there. It's not really that we don't want to appreciate what PETRONAS gave. It's just that sometimes, we cannot afford to stay so noble and mullia like some hypocrites.
So that's my experience. You might think I made up the story, but who knows, similar situations might happened to some of the scholars as well.
Yea I believe we found someone whose mind isn't right 

azraeil, you left PETRONAS because you don't like how the things work inside there. Now there are this bunch of young fresh grads who also wish to leave the company because they realized it earlier, far earlier than  you, that PETRONAS is imposing some unfair treatment to them. Why can you leave the company while when they try to get some advice on this matter, you just categorized the case as "some young bastards who don't know how to be grateful wants to leave PETRONAS"? Don't you throw out all your BS old glory stories, i.e. how you stayed in PETRONAS for 10  years bla bla bla. At the end of the day, you still left PETRONAS.

Oh yea, wanted to tell you this:
PETRONAS invested so much money on your trainings, benefits etc, and yet you left the company. The money could have been better spent on some non-hypocrite who is willing to stay otherwise.

I dont know what's your problem with this b****ing rant. Can't you respond to Azreil's viewpoint objectively instead of venting your frustration? All I get from your reply is Petronas not up to the mark, not paying graduates enough, bla bla bla..

If RM5k a month is considered low for you, I don't know what is a reasonable pay. People would die to get into your position and here you are, behaving like spoilt brat complaining about everything under the sky. Instead of feeling bitter over the 'small' pay cheque, why can't you just bite the bullet and take it as an oppurtunity? Take something positive out of this.  The way you described how Petronas is treating you is like African-American slaves in the Rebel States back in the 1800's in the USA. Geesh kids these days.

I came from non-Energy sector before I joined one of the Big 4 and the disparity in terms of pay is HUGE. I am seriously flabbergasted. what you are complaining about? Try working in some other sector and you will know.

I am on Azreil's side on this. You KNEW what you are getting into the moment you accepted the offer. Don't plead ignorance on the contractual side of things. Quit your spoilt child attitude and serve the bond. Else pay up and go wherever shithole that you want to be in. Enough said.

And by the way, I don't think Azreil left Petronas while still serving the bond. So stop your name calling and grow up, would you?

Wow some strong opinion there young padawan.

So what I can understand from your rant is that, you despise Petronas for giving you the opportunity to study in UTP (I assume) and for allowing your parents to not worry about paying the tuition fees and your living allowances and in the end when you realised that the industry you're getting into is such a competitive industry where some companies are willing to pay such good salary for fresh grad, you felt entrapped by the bond that you signed. You despise Petronas for giving you the opportunity to be in the industry but not paying you what you "deserved".

So tell me, what makes you so "special" that Petronas (a company of 50 thousand staff) must bend backwards for you? Did you discover the Kikeh field (a colleague of mine did when he was in Murphy) when you were in University? Did you come up with a process in your final year thesis that saved the industry billion of ringgits that you term yourself deserving of a higher salary to justify why you think the bond that you committed to when you passed your SPM with flying colors are nothing more than toilet paper?

So a Dato' told your family that don't worry, if Petronas gives you a scholarship/loan, that means you will get a job with them (and from what I read in your rant, that's exactly what happened), and that's Petronas fault for giving you a job in the end?

And finally because you're pissed with Petronas and pissed with me for pointing this out that a contract is a contract is a contract, you signed up with LYN and took a handle supposedly to spit me in the eye saying that hey, I left Petronas so I shouldn't be a hypocrite and tell others to stay ....

Open up a dictionary first and look up the definition of hypocrisy before taking that kind of handle. It's beyond pathetic. The issue or the principle I was talking about is that you signed a contract with Petronas whereby you will be bonded with the company for an X amount of years and in return, Petronas will pay for your tuition, your living allowance and book fees thus giving you the opportunity to study in one of the top university.

It is a simple contract, so if you are not willing to pay back the amount that Petronas has spent on you, then serve the bond. You are given a job with Petronas, where you are paid RM4,000 a month (ask myhug or preakzz how much they are getting after close to 18 months trying to get into this industry) and you say that this RM4000 (increasing to RM5,000, a 25% increment after the first year) is not what you deserved? Read back your rant and see why I cannot see the feeble justification you're giving me about why you're being treated like a forced labor/slave.

If you think you deserved (that is your word, not mine) to be paid higher for some other reason you're telling us, then by all means break the bond BUT what I am saying is, pay up the amount that Petronas has spent on you. It is that simple. But of course you are not willing to pay the amount, because at the end of the day, you all this while believed that you "deserved" that scholarship/loan and you deserved to be able to work with the highest bidder and you couldn't care less about the amount that Petronas has spent on you.

The definition of hypocrisy is telling others to do what you yourself didn't do. Serving the bond and leaving the company are 2 different  things. I was bonded for 10 years eventhough I finished my degree a semester early (so in simple math it should have been a 9 year bond), I was NOT given a position in Petronas within the first 5 months of my return and managed to secure a position with ExxonMobil which at the time was paying almost 40% higher than what Petronas was paying at the time. 2 weeks before I can request for a released from my Scholarship, Petronas got wind of my job offer with ExxonMobil and immediately offered me a position. A contract is a contract is a contract.

I spent the next 10 years working in Petronas and I SERVED MY BOND. I left after my 10 years is up. I left the company having SERVED MY BOND.

There is no contract saying that if Petronas trained me, sent me to attend courses, then they have a right to hold me to a bond. So don't play that game with me.

I never said that you or any of the scholars should stay in Petronas, my main argument is that you have a bond to served, either serve it or pay the amount Petronas has spent on you. Simple.

Hi everyone. I just want to share some insight from people in 0&G here..

Last week I consulted my uncle who works for Newfield. Among the points that he told me is;

1. Staying in one company for long period is not very good in terms of monetary aspect. He used to work for Fortune 100 Company. During that time he enjoyed around more or less a hundred increment per year. At the early stage of his career, he hesitated to jump company. But when he started to jump companies, he enjoyed more or less a double of his last salary slip.

2. Working in O&G has its disadvantages too. Most people only talk about the challenges, good money that can be received from O&G. He pointed out to me that in O&G, besides the extra pressure (every jobs has its pressure, but sure in O&G you must expect much more), working in this field also expose us to hazards and dangers. For example, in his first two platforms, the production starts to produce along dangerous material such as cyanides and others. He observed that as the production run, the more dangerous the working environment become. At one stage, they were only required to wear protection clothes Level 1, and it increased to Level 2, Level 3 and so on..

He remembered one occasion where he met one of the chemist in his platform. He noticed that he has wall eye (mata juling). The chemist did not even notice that he has it. He claimed that he is normal.. 15 years ago.

and lastly, for fresh graduates like me .. he said that, try your luck with reputable and big companies first as they usually have proper procedures to recruiting. For small and some medium, large companies, they rely heavily on connection - in other words, cables.

One of the challenges in o&G is.. securing an interview. Good luck to me. LOL.