The Student Room Group

Petroleum Engineering or Banking/Finance Career

Hello,

I am a student hoping to study engineering at university, though the two courses I am stuck between are very different and lead to different career choices.

I have an offer to study engineering at Warwick with options to study business management in my third year with economics/finance modules, and could probs do a masters in finance/accounting at Imperial/LSE---->career in banking/finance

I also have an offer to study petroleum engineering at Manchester, probably the best place to study Pet.Eng in europe.
BEng Pet.Eng +Msc Imperial/Heriot Watt----->career in oil&gas

Obviously the above will only happen if I work super hard and get a high 2.1 or 1st class and get lots of work experience/internships during my free time.

I enjoy studying maths/physics and that is why I chose to study engineering at uni, but I have been put off by the pay in the latter years of a career as it is in no way comparable to 20+ years in finance. The only other way to make that much money is in the oil/gas sector though this requires working probably in the UAE (aberdeen at the least distance lol) and a long time away from the UK (though I don't mind America!).

I am not driven by money but it definitely will drive me to work harder and I do want to live a comfortable life when I'm older, I know it sounds like I'm a money grabber but I really am thinking about my future carefully. I was talking to some Loughborough Mech.Eng graduates and some engineers I know locally who graduated many a year ago who clearly are very clever (all A/B grades at A-level, 1st class/2.1 degrees from top 10 unis) who regret not going into another more profitable type of engineering or finance, hence why I'm split between my decision.

Could someone with experience of going from engineering into finance, or anyone who works in oil&gas sector give me any tips on how I should decide and what I should expect.

Thanks

SJ

P.S. Could anyone else apart from Smack reply, as I've heard enough from him!
Reply 1
Original post by Sonnyjimisgod


I have an offer to study engineering at Warwick with options to study business management in my third year with economics/finance modules, and could probs do a masters in finance/accounting at Imperial/LSE---->career in banking/finance

I also have an offer to study petroleum engineering at Manchester, probably the best place to study Pet.Eng in europe.
BEng Pet.Eng +Msc Imperial/Heriot Watt----->career in oil&gas


P.S. Could anyone else apart from Smack reply, as I've heard enough from him!


If you go with the first option, you don't necessarily have to do a master's in order to purse a career in finance or even banking. Warwick is a reputable uni in both fields and an engineering major will have you covered, especially if the curriculum includes econ modules.

A career in the O&G industry is very likely to offer you high income as well, particularly in the long-term. It is probably the highest financially rewarding engineering subject, although currently things do not look bright. As always, the industry will bounce back but the timing is unknown. Don't expect a career in London or England in general, the upstream sector in the UK lies mainly, if not solely, in Aberdeen. The other petroleum hub in Europe is the Stavanger region in Norway. Regarding the US, Texas is another major capital so you could aim for that as well, although I am not sure whether they would show a clear preference towards graduates from American universities, given the fact that there are a few respectable unis there who produce a number of grads every year.
Original post by Sonnyjimisgod
Hello,

I am a student hoping to study engineering at university, though the two courses I am stuck between are very different and lead to different career choices.

I have an offer to study engineering at Warwick with options to study business management in my third year with economics/finance modules, and could probs do a masters in finance/accounting at Imperial/LSE---->career in banking/finance

I also have an offer to study petroleum engineering at Manchester, probably the best place to study Pet.Eng in europe.
BEng Pet.Eng +Msc Imperial/Heriot Watt----->career in oil&gas

Obviously the above will only happen if I work super hard and get a high 2.1 or 1st class and get lots of work experience/internships during my free time.

I enjoy studying maths/physics and that is why I chose to study engineering at uni, but I have been put off by the pay in the latter years of a career as it is in no way comparable to 20+ years in finance. The only other way to make that much money is in the oil/gas sector though this requires working probably in the UAE (aberdeen at the least distance lol) and a long time away from the UK (though I don't mind America!).

I am not driven by money but it definitely will drive me to work harder and I do want to live a comfortable life when I'm older, I know it sounds like I'm a money grabber but I really am thinking about my future carefully. I was talking to some Loughborough Mech.Eng graduates and some engineers I know locally who graduated many a year ago who clearly are very clever (all A/B grades at A-level, 1st class/2.1 degrees from top 10 unis) who regret not going into another more profitable type of engineering or finance, hence why I'm split between my decision.

Could someone with experience of going from engineering into finance, or anyone who works in oil&gas sector give me any tips on how I should decide and what I should expect.

Thanks

SJ

P.S. Could anyone else apart from Smack reply, as I've heard enough from him!


You don't need a masters it's a last resort for if you don't land a penultimate summer internship/grad job.

Engineering degree to finance is a well worn path.

(Could you shorten your PM/be more concise with your questions; I can't answer them all)

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Princepieman
You don't need a masters it's a last resort for if you don't land a penultimate summer internship/grad job.

Engineering degree to finance is a well worn path.

(Could you shorten your PM/be more concise with your questions; I can't answer them all)

Posted from TSR Mobile


Haha thanks man.

Will sure do that for you buddy :smile:
Reply 4
I've been working as a geophysicist in the oil and gas industry for the past two years and oil prices have been falling for the past 1.5 years!!

Oil prices are not currently expected to make a recovery to a profitable level until the end of 2017 and many believe they will stay "lower for longer".

I would expect that there will be plenty of hiring when you graduate but bear in mind the current situation and that there are cycles in the industry. I believe that the senior geophysicists for oil and gas companies earn in the region of 80-100k, however the salary for the service companies such as mine is on the low side at around 30-40k (we have MSc graduates in petroleum engineering from Imperial).
Working in my role, the use of physics and maths is actually pretty limited, I don't know how it is for reservoir engineers etc. but a lot of the work is just software manipulation.
Also location can be an issue, there are certainly many oil and gas sector jobs also based in London but the main destinations are Aberdeen, Norway, Houston, Singapore/KL, Gulf states

Personally, I've been considering going into Finance in recent months but my opportunities are somewhat limited. If you are gifted enough in mathematics you could pursue Quantitative finance roles which are perhaps the most lucrative in finance (Quants with ~5 yrs experience earn around 100k) via the route of a masters in quantitative finance/computational finance/financial engineering or a PhD in Physics/Statistics/Finance/Engineering (any hardcore mathematical subject). With finance your career could be more stable and flexible, there are finance jobs everywhere.
Reply 5
Out of interest, why would you want to work in two of the most immoral industries known to humanity?
Reply 6
hahaha good point!

I'm actually likely to jump ship from the oil industry (a slowly sinking ship) altogether and go into the tech industry after studying a computer vision/machine learning MSc.

Before the dramatic collapse in the oil price, investors such as the Rockefellers were already divesting from the oil and gas industry due to climate change.
Original post by loko
Out of interest, why would you want to work in two of the most immoral industries known to humanity?


i'd say the meat and textiles industries are vastly more immoral than petroleum and financial industries.
Original post by Oilfreak1
i'd say the meat and textiles industries are vastly more immoral than petroleum and financial industries.


Very doubtful, the way certain parts of the financial industry monopolises the world's money, and hence the world's economy is not comparable.
Original post by chemting
Very doubtful, the way certain parts of the financial industry monopolises the world's money, and hence the world's economy is not comparable.


Not sure you understand what the financial services industry does. Exploiting people in the third world to the point where the individuals are considered subhuman. Or forcing animals into small cages growing to the point that legs become obsolete, to then massacre them is far more immoral than analyzing a company for acquisition.

Professionals in finance don't "monopolize" the worlds economy, the worlds economy is intrinsically linked to external factors like petroleum prices, how is an MD from JPM/GS going to control the price of BRENT crude or phosphates? What certain high level groups can do is influence decisions made by governments or hoard commodities to increase value, this is reflective of the wealth they have accumulated and not the fact that they're bankers (although with the latter you probably would have to be a banker to be ballsy/smart enough to do that).
Original post by Oilfreak1
Not sure you understand what the financial services industry does. Exploiting people in the third world to the point where the individuals are considered subhuman. Or forcing animals into small cages growing to the point that legs become obsolete, to then massacre them is far more immoral than analyzing a company for acquisition.
Yes I understand what the textiles industry does in Bangladesh, I'm not saying they aren't immoral


Original post by Oilfreak1
Professionals in finance don't "monopolize" the worlds economy, the worlds economy is intrinsically linked to external factors like petroleum prices, how is an MD from JPM/GS going to control the price of BRENT crude or phosphates? What certain high level groups can do is influence decisions made by governments or hoard commodities to increase value, this is reflective of the wealth they have accumulated and not the fact that they're bankers (although with the latter you probably would have to be a banker to be ballsy/smart enough to do that).


That is basically a form of monopolisation. The same thing why governments are told to ignore bad deeds done in other countries.
So Goldman Sachs controlling and influencing investments and selling off "bad investments" to "clients" and playing with nation's finances to potentially destroy
an entire country's (if not world's economy) for short-term profit is okay.
Oil market speculation driving prices up and down for profit has something to do with this "controlling the price". Having a whole system of trading oil on the dollar ("petrodollar") instead of gold, creating an artificial demand for the US dollar and strengthening the US/KSA's hegemony is not a form of "monopolisation"?
Original post by chemting
Yes I understand what the textiles industry does in Bangladesh, I'm not saying they aren't immoral




That is basically a form of monopolisation. The same thing why governments are told to ignore bad deeds done in other countries.
So Goldman Sachs controlling and influencing investments and selling off "bad investments" to "clients" and playing with nation's finances to potentially destroy
an entire country's (if not world's economy) for short-term profit is okay.
Oil market speculation driving prices up and down for profit has something to do with this "controlling the price". Having a whole system of trading oil on the dollar ("petrodollar":wink: instead of gold, creating an artificial demand for the US dollar and strengthening the US/KSA's hegemony is not a form of "monopolisation"?


1) Anyone in big business can monopolize anything, I think your problem is with capitalism. To "control prices" you just need money, not be an investment banker which was my principle point.

2) "playing with a nations finance", without bankers the nation would find it immensely difficult to raise the finances needed to run day-to-day never mind expanding. In summary the world needs bankers to "play" with the finances of nations, no one else is qualified to.

3) the transition to an oil-based economy was totally organic as the global economy became more reliant on petroleum (made more sense to base the economy on a commodity with actual uses rather than a redundant shiny stone), would the banks be any less evil if we still had a gold based economy?

Financial professionals allow the market to be sufficiently liquid for local companies and governments to raise funds needed, are instrumental in the deals that improve efficiency of said institutions providing jobs and consequently surges in the economy. A nation without a strong financial sector will always fall flat on its face.

We can also ignore the regional development banks who are making huge strides in improving the lives of those in the third world, one bank coming to mind is the ISDB which is currently doing intensive work in Bangladesh (where the textiles industry is exploiting the population), dem evil bankers trying to provide villagers with solar energy.

But yeah I guess this is totally immoral when compared to the textiles and meat industries which don't value the lives of their slaves to provide you cheap clothes and burgers.

Not saying the financial sector is totally moral and a shining example for everyone to follow, no industry is. I'm saying it's far from the most immoral industry and love it or hate it is an industry which is crucial for any nation.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 12
I've been working as a geophysicist in the oil and gas industry for the past two years and oil prices have been falling for the past 1.5 years!!

Oil prices are not currently expected to make a recovery to a profitable level until the end of 2017 and many believe they will stay "lower for longer".

I would expect that there will be plenty of hiring when you graduate but bear in mind the current situation and that there are cycles in the industry. I believe that the senior geophysicists for oil and gas companies earn in the region of 80-100k, however the salary for the service companies such as mine is on the low side at around 30-40k (we have MSc graduates in petroleum engineering at Imperial).
Working in my role, the use of physics and maths is actually pretty limited, I don't know how it is for reservoir engineers etc. but a lot of the work is just software manipulation.

Personally, I've been considering going into Finance in recent months but my opportunities are somewhat limited. If you are gifted enough in mathematics and physics you could pursue Quantitative finance roles which are perhaps the most lucrative in finance (Quants with ~5 yrs experience earn around 100k) via the route of a masters in quantitative finance/computational finance/financial engineering or a PhD in Physics/Statistics/Finance/Engineering (any hardcore mathematical subject). I would suggest developing your programming skills throughout your time at university no matter which career you choose.
Reply 13
Original post by Sonnyjimisgod
Hello,

I am a student hoping to study engineering at university, though the two courses I am stuck between are very different and lead to different career choices.

I have an offer to study engineering at Warwick with options to study business management in my third year with economics/finance modules, and could probs do a masters in finance/accounting at Imperial/LSE---->career in banking/finance

I also have an offer to study petroleum engineering at Manchester, probably the best place to study Pet.Eng in europe.
BEng Pet.Eng +Msc Imperial/Heriot Watt----->career in oil&gas

Obviously the above will only happen if I work super hard and get a high 2.1 or 1st class and get lots of work experience/internships during my free time.

I enjoy studying maths/physics and that is why I chose to study engineering at uni, but I have been put off by the pay in the latter years of a career as it is in no way comparable to 20+ years in finance. The only other way to make that much money is in the oil/gas sector though this requires working probably in the UAE (aberdeen at the least distance lol) and a long time away from the UK (though I don't mind America!).

I am not driven by money but it definitely will drive me to work harder and I do want to live a comfortable life when I'm older, I know it sounds like I'm a money grabber but I really am thinking about my future carefully. I was talking to some Loughborough Mech.Eng graduates and some engineers I know locally who graduated many a year ago who clearly are very clever (all A/B grades at A-level, 1st class/2.1 degrees from top 10 unis) who regret not going into another more profitable type of engineering or finance, hence why I'm split between my decision.

Could someone with experience of going from engineering into finance, or anyone who works in oil&gas sector give me any tips on how I should decide and what I should expect.

Thanks

SJ

P.S. Could anyone else apart from Smack reply, as I've heard enough from him!


Extreme money thirst. You should be focusing on doing what you love, not based on pay.

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