Case studies: Petroleum engineer: Jeff Parsons

Jeff graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 2006 with a degree in petroleum engineering. Since then he has joined a large company and is an operations manager and petroleum engineer.

I first chose petroleum engineering because it touches on so many different technologies that interest me, and that means that I now get to work with people from a very wide range of disciplines (chemical engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, civil engineers and geologists). I also liked the guarantee of international travel and big responsibility early in my career.

So far I've worked in Italy, the UK and Canada, and I've got friends who've been to Tunisia and Kazakhstan, so you've got to be pretty independent and adventurous. I've been responsible for supervising a well test, reservoir surveillance (monitoring the reservoir behaviour to ensure that operations are running smoothly and safely, e.g. pressure evolution) and well production optimisation (keeping the wells flowing and working out how best to maximise production).

I'm now in charge of managing operations for a cluster consisting of three different fields. At 24 years old I'm in charge of millions of pounds of assets, responsible for the health and safety of multiple sites and producing something that affects the quality of life of millions. Obviously I can get help from senior engineers if needed, but day-to-day I'm on the managerial front line, leading from the front with no one telling me what to do.

Conditions can obviously be pretty extreme. I've worked in temperatures as low as minus 20 and as high as plus 30. You can be drilling in the arctic, the desert or more than five miles beneath the ocean floor. And you have to be prepared to relocate at short notice to strange places where you know no one. You're either someone who likes that or you're not. Wherever I've been, there's always been a great team spirit though. It's a job that seems to attract like-minded people.

The training is really thorough - it has to be with the level of responsibility that comes with it. I get a mixture of field experience and theoretical courses, coaching from senior colleagues and projects and self-study. There are lots of internal courses that I can choose, plus regular on-the-job coaching. I use the company's skills networks to learn from and exchange ideas with, experienced senior colleagues. Most of the company's learning and development resources are available online and there's even an online competency tool that allows me to compare my knowledge and skills with those that I'll need for the jobs I’d like to develop into.

I'm undecided about which way I want my career to progress. I could either stay in a technical, field-based management role or move onshore into a more office-based environment, perhaps managing the coordination of multi-disciplinary teams or preparing field development proposals. Either way, the field experience in my early years will have been invaluable preparation.