Case studies: Geophysicist: Jane Shilton

Jane graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2006 with a degree in geophysical sciences. She works as a geophysicist in oil exploration.

I wanted a career that would allow me to use the knowledge I gained at university and also provide opportunities to learn more on the job. During my degree studies, I learned the basics of geophysics and geology, although the majority of my data processing knowledge has been acquired on the job. My subject of study was very relevant in securing my current position. Other subjects such as physics and geology are also common backgrounds for seismic data processors.

I obtained my current job by sending in my CV with a covering letter to my current employer and was invited for an interview. They offered me a job following the interview, and I accepted. 

My role has developed from being the junior member of a project team taking instructions from the project leader and other more senior members of staff to being more involved in production processing and testing and helping more junior members of the team. To progress in this type of role, you need a good understanding of the basic principles of geophysics and the behavior of seismic waves off geological reflectors. It is also useful if you can show that you are an organized person with an analytical mind who can work well in a team.

On a day-to-day basis, I set up jobs to process seismic data and quality control (QC) the output after key processing steps. I also test processing parameters in order to allow a decision to be made on the best parameters to be used for production processing. I present data to clients in order for them to make important decisions regarding the processing sequence and/or parameters.

Eventually, when I have more experience, I would like to be a project leader, solve more problems on my own and share my knowledge and expertise with less experienced members of a processing team.

I enjoy being made to think and exercising my brain every day. I particularly enjoy the problem solving aspects of the job. Some parts of the job can be quite tedious, for example visual quality control of large amounts of data, especially when starting out in your career. As you progress, though, this is something you do less of.