Entry Route:
I trained as a Chemical Engineer at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and graduated in 2005. I worked as an R&D Engineer via internships and my first job after graduation was as a Research Assistant in a plastics and polymers company called Tyco Plastics and Adhesives (now known as Covalence Plastics) where I stayed till 2007 when I moved to Nigeria. I first heard of Schlumberger at a career fair in my senior year of college, although I had absolutely no experience in the oil and gas industry. When I made the decision to move back to Nigeria in 2007, one of the first companies I researched was Schlumberger. I realized I was tired of working in a lab and wanted a real hands-on approach to engineering, working in the field, and practicalizing every theory learnt at school. Schlumberger was the forefront leader in that aspect of training and exposure to the field so with my limited experience and a dash of courage, I applied as soon as I had been enrolled in the NYSC program. This gave me about a year to decide and narrow down the exact field I wanted to apply to (Schlumberger provides almost every service you can imagine). I spent my NYSC year in the Drilling Engineering Center in Lagos, and once I was employed fully, moved to Port Harcourt to start my training as a field engineer. It was very challenging, and I must say the rig experience is not for everyone, but I soon learned that there is absolutely no other way to immerse yourself in the oil and gas service industry. I spent one year NYSC as a drilling technician (sort of an assistant to a drilling engineer), two years as a field engineer; first as a measurements engineer, then as a directional driller, and Finally in my fourth year as a Drilling Engineer handling one of the major deepwater and offshore operators in Nigeria. In all these years I have received extensive training in classrooms and on the job and have followed a perfectly laid-out fixed step program since my 1st day in the company.
