Petroleum Engineer Podcast

Daniel Grunwald, geologist and well control instructor at the University of Alaska Mining and Petroleum Training Service, chats with me today about mudlogging, the most successful geologist in Colorado (it’s not who you think it is!), and mopping floors on a drilling rig. We also talk about some well control events, and touch briefly on Piper Alpha. How do you take those opportunities to learn? How do you use the WOW (waiting on weather) or WOC (waiting on cement) time and other downtime on a rig when you’re out there? Find out on today’s podcast. Explicit warning. Yes we do swear. Daniel Grunwald at University of Alaska MAPTS W.C. Goins and Riley Sheffield. Blowout Prevention: Practical Drilling Technology

Jenny Blake, author of the #1 Bestseller, Pivot: the Only Move That Matters is Your Next One (Portfolio Penguin), chats with me about her years at Google, and how she co-created the Career Guru Program. She was there when Google scaled from 6,000 to 33,000 employees. She answers the burning career question that we are often confronted with: “What’s next?” What was the point of 20% time at Google? Was it more like 10% time? Or was it really 110% time? What is the leapfrog approach to pivoting? What does grad school have to do with any of it? Plateaus are not horrible. Find out why. Oh my gosh, Jenny cheated on a test--in high school. What does she do next, and how has this helped align her values and her integrity? We talk about making mistakes, conflict management and life at work. Yes, I just said making mistakes at work. Because it happens. How does this have anything to with petroleum engineering? Listen, learn, and find the self-awareness on today’s episode.   Jenny’s Mastermind Group: Momentum   Amazon: Pivot: the Only Move that Matters is Your Next One   Amazon: Invisibles: Celebrating the Unsung Heroes of the Workplace   We’ll See Parable   Submit your question or would you like to be a guest?

Raffik Lazar, Founder, Lead Geologist, and Managing Director of the startup GeoModl chats me today about how to get into a company with less than a year of experience.  Even when the posting calls for 10 years of experience. We talk about starting with Shell, gaining field experience with Schlumberger, and the give and take of the technical world. He says that you if you ascend into management too quickly, you have nothing to give the younger geologists. In the first five to ten years of a career, you are just taking, you are just learning your craft--which is geology in this case. We talk about “right-modeling”, and thinking about what are the questions we are trying to answer with a static, geological model, which is in his LinkedIn post and will be presented at EAGE in winter 2016. ...And why is field experience so important (for geologists and engineers)? Geomodl The concept of right-modeling, towards a more efficient use of the static model Submit your question or would you like to be a guest?

Kristin Mianecki, a Certified Federal Career Coach and Certified Resume Writer, sits down with me to talk about getting into working for the United States Federal government. There are definitely petroleum engineering roles within the Federal government (just depends on whether or not they're hiring!). Personally, it’s always been the nut I couldn’t crack. I’ve been able to get into roles within private industry and local state governments with the standard one-page resume. Today, we talk about the highly-coveted GS-15 government executive positions, the 10-page resume, and how to land those roles. Yes, I just upped the resume page count by a magnitude.  What are KSAs, assessment questionnaires and the all-important keywords (and getting kicked out of the system even before your application reaches human eyes)? Submit your question or would you like to be a guest?

I talk with John Burdick, a petroleum reservoir engineer for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. We talk about how John grew up in Alaska, went to work for Schlumberger after graduating from University of Alaska Fairbanks, and why working in the government is great! When John first started at UAF, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in--but then he took PETE 103 and he found his match. We talk about the Schlumberger interview process briefly as well, and the joys of working a double shift.  Why are presentation and interview skills so darn important?  Submit your question or would you like to be a guest? 

The secret I will tell you on the podcast about my first three years on the job (that no one knows about except for my dad!). Why I started this podcast - The basic data isn’t there to understand what a petroleum engineering career looks and what we do day-to-day. Multidisciplinary field - geologists, petrophysicists, geologists, geophysicists, HSE (health, safety environment), regulatory, procurement and supply chain, so on so forth. All those folks that we work with. All the things that you need to open the doors: Understanding appreciating the value of forming connections and relationships with folks before you need it. Understanding how big our industry is. We provide roughly 85% of the world’s energy consumption (including oil, gas, and coal). Understanding that you can create your own opportunities. You can face your own fears, and learn to work around them. Submit your question or would you like to be a guest?