Welcome back to another episode! This week’s episode is our First Friday Q&A for April. You ask the questions and we answer them. Big thanks to everyone who wrote in. If you want to get a question answered for next month’s FFQA, click the link below. Enjoy! Have a question? Click here to ask

Show Notes & Links:

Questions:

My name is Jake and I’m a finance student at BYU. I recently started to listen to your podcast and have found it extremely helpful, especially as someone who is just getting into the oil and gas industry.  

I’m a sophomore at my school and am going to recruit for oil and gas investment banking in Houston in just a few months. I’m reaching out to see if you have any suggestions as to firms that are still hiring interns in the Houston area. I’d be more than happy to send you my resume or talk if you have a few minutes. 

 Hello Jake and Mark, 

I am currently a hydraulic fracturing field engineer working for an oil services company in Wyoming. I have a BS in Petroleum Engineering and my ultimate goal is to start my own company as an oil and gas operator. I feel that learning the business from an E&P standpoint is a vital step towards my goal, moreover I would also like to get out of the field and work a more traditional schedule. My wife and I would like to move to Houston, and for some time I have been applying to many operator jobs in that area with no success. It seems that most companies do not want to hire me for positions requiring no experience, however they do not want hire me for experienced positions as they do not view my experience as relevant to an E&P. Any advice you have on how to move from services to operator side would be much appreciated.   

Love the show; you guys keep me entertained during many long drives to location. 

Greetings Mark and Jake, 

I started listening to your podcast last week because I am seeking a career change into the oil and gas and want to learn as much as I can about the industry. I heard you request write in questions so here’s mine: What advice can you give me in regards to finding a sales position if I have no prior experience in the industry? 

I am 40 years old, smart, diligent, & charismatic. I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. For the past 10 years I have been employed at a single research firm in the Denver area. The closest I have come to oil and gas is working on refrigerator sized petrol-processing rigs testing new catalysts and the like. I have hit a career ceiling with my current employer. Regardless of how much overtime I work and how much I commit to my position I am unable to increase my salary substantially. I even drive for Uber on the weekend and rent a room in my house for additional income. I’m no slouch when it comes to work ethic. However I am now convinced my career is a dead end and I want to pursue a sales position where the harder I work the more money I make. I am absolutely impressed with the culture of those I have met employed on the business side of the oil and gas industry. Everyone seems to work very hard and thus provide for their families. After 10 years in my current field working lonely long hours in a lab I am galvanized to pursue a career where I can be of service to others applying my interpersonal and technical skills to build relationships and solve problems under pressure.   

Ideally I envision working from my home city of Denver and traveling within a surroundin…