Case studies : Data processing geophysicist: Holly Latham

Holly works as a data processing geophysicist for Petroleum Geo-Services. She studied geophysical sciences at the University of Leeds.

I decided upon a career as a geophysical data processor as I saw it as a good opportunity to use the skills and knowledge acquired during my undergraduate degree. Data processing is full of problem solving and project work - two aspects of the jobs I like the most.

PGS visited my university and requested CVs. I submitted mine and was offered an informal interview. I had a second interview at the London office during the summer. It was a technical interview where I had to describe a stack seismic section. I was offered a job a few days later.

When looking for a job and progressing in this field, it is important to show an interest in problem solving and exploration as well as a willingness to learn. PGS look for intelligent people from a range of backgrounds who can apply their skills to processing. Once in the job, I would recommend you show enthusiasm for trying more advanced work and try to be innovative. If you work hard and thoroughly, you can do very well.

There were several seismic courses on my degree course, which I found extremely useful. I completed a data processing project on PROMAX. Programming courses in Linux were invaluable. Soft skills like presentations and report writing were extremely useful too.

My degree subject was certainly a big advantage in securing my position, but there are plenty of people who work in the same department at the same level with mathematics, physics and geology degrees. I have been given quite a lot of responsibility at PGS. I was promoted to geophysicist after nine months in my initial junior geophysicist role. I have just started my fourth project where I will be leading a project team of five. As well as doing projects, I have also been working on developing new innovative software where I have had to trial a new program, give feedback, write a common workflow and present the results to colleagues in the London and Oslo offices.

I am currently organizing a team of people working on a North Sea megasurvey where each team member has a survey they are responsible for. The team has to manage the data, ensuring it completes each stage properly. I test key parameters for each geophysical process (e.g. denoise, demultiple) and perform all production and data quality checks. In addition to these points, my main role is to work with and develop my team members so they can complete the processing of their survey area.

I like working with intelligent and innovative people, problem solving, and organising data. I especially like to develop new ideas and work with those in research. I enjoy most of the job really! Working in an office can be a bit monotonous, but there are opportunities to go offshore or into land acquisition. I hope to progress by continuing to work hard and increasing my geophysical knowledge and experiences.