Editorial Comment
Solving the personnel shortage. The lack of skilled personnel is one of the largest issues facing the industry, and consequently, generates much discussion. Solutions generally presented are, "we must actively recruit new graduates and encourage staff to stay within the industry," or "we must change the perception of what professional engineering is all about." These are good words, but according to Lorne Gifford, who works as an offshore field development manager, interest in engineering as a profession continues its unfortunate downward spiral. "Its public perception is still plagued by association with photocopier repairmen and auto mechanics, and young people see the oil business as a dirty, sunset industry that is destroying our planet." Gifford, who was prompted to express his opinion after reading an earlier version of this column, says the current skills shortage is not a lack of skilled personnel, but a lack of personnel at traditional salary levels. He says that it is still possible to fill the gaps in a company or project with freelance staff; however, an actual shortage is fast approaching and requires action now. Jurassic Park featured a completely unbelievable story line, but it actually made paleontology exciting. Natural History museums are typically packed with kids positively salivating over dinosaur fossils. Many will lose interest between childhood and the real world, but Gifford fully expects to see a surge in the number of "fossil diggers" in the coming years. The point is, that children want to grow up to do things that they perceive as exciting, and their source of information is overwhelmingly film and TV. Few 12-year olds want to become engineers, because the occupation is repeatedly shown to be boring and menial. While helping at a school-sponsored careers gathering, Gifford says that, initially, the only pupils paying any interest to his stand were the sort that were poor at math but good at woodwork and had been encouraged to find an occupation that didn’t require too much brain power. However, when presented the opportunity to address the entire group, only 10 minutes were required to highlight the importance of an engineer’s work, and to relate how much a young engineer can make and where his career can take him. After that, Gifford reports being inundated with "bright sparks" for the remainder of the evening. "Like it or not," Gifford admits, "earning potentials are tremendously influential in the choice of a career for today’s youth. So to reverse the fall in future engineers, all we need to do is let younger children know it’s more exciting than digging up old bones and convince teenagers that it pays more than being a manager at Wal-Mart." Action plan. Gifford feels that operating companies must take the lead in investing in the future, and suggests that they coordinate and fund the following:
Conversions factors. Engineers are always coming up with new ways to express relationships between common physical properties. Here are some new ones:
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- Applying ultra-deep LWD resistivity technology successfully in a SAGD operation (May 2019)
- Adoption of wireless intelligent completions advances (May 2019)
- Majors double down as takeaway crunch eases (April 2019)
- What’s new in well logging and formation evaluation (April 2019)
- Qualification of a 20,000-psi subsea BOP: A collaborative approach (February 2019)
- ConocoPhillips’ Greg Leveille sees rapid trajectory of technical advancement continuing (February 2019)