Being a Female Drilling Engineer : How I got into it
Good morning everyone!
So, my name is Rachmi and I am a drilling engineer. I
studied Petroleum Engineering in Institut Teknologi Bandung and graduated on
July 2016. After that I joined national oil company for internship in drilling
department for 10 months, then moved to multinational oil company, as a
drilling engineer.
So, how do I get here?
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| Source : Epaabuse.com |
Back when I was in senior high school, I was that nerdy kid
that no one knew about. Like literally, I was such a nerd that even my class
leader didn’t know who I was until 12th grade. We happened to be in
one class and he innocently asked my friend who I was, he thought I was a new
kid. That was kinda painful and embarrassing.
Then, I wanted to be different. I didn’t want to take any mainstream
major. And I wanted it to be a difficult major, I wanted to prove myself that I
was worth knowing for. Well, I was so naïve. But there I was, so determined to
prove to the world I was something. I decided to take a faculty of mining and
petroleum engineering in one of the best technical institute in Indonesia.
Well, I failed the first attempt. I cried hard and loud. But
I needed to get up. Who else would help me if I give up? I took extra classes
seriously and took the second test. I made it. I made it. I MADE IT. Finally Alhamdulillah.
And I became the only female from my school to join the faculty.
I passed the first year with several hiccups, especially on
my calculus and (perhaps) physics grade. Those aren’t my cuppa tea. After the
first year we will be put into four different majors; mining, petroleum,
metallurgy, and geophysic. I was determined to take the petroleum engineering
major, which was the best at the time amongst other majors so my bad grades
were concerning. But alhamdulillah, I was blessed and I got the seat.
There were three sub-majors in my faculty : reservoir
engineering, production engineering and drilling engineering. We studied all
those three. But the funny thing is, of all sub-majors, I used to hate drilling
engineering, It’s my least favourite subject at school. I was more of a
reservoir and production person. Why you asked? It’s mainly because drilling is
a whole different world to the rest sub-majors. It’s not very petroleum
engineering-ish, more of a mechanic thing. It involved a lot of mechanic and
physics formula that are not as complicated as reservoir and production
calculation but really isn’t my thing. Considering I had bad grade on calculus
and physics, this wasn’t helpful at all. And on top of that, drilling world,
due to what I thought was really field-based, is really dominated by male
population, while reservoir and production, not so much.
But it’s like a curse you know. What you hated becomes what
you have to do now. The world really is mocking me. By the time I graduated,
the oil price had been falling down, and I mean really hitting the bottom for 2
years. It was such a bad time for my class overall. And somehow, I got accepted
in the biggest drilling service company in the world, which was very field
based. But I hated it. The whole assessment process only took a day. Next day
when I got accepted, I even cried due to me hating being away so much. And
despite of the big offer, I declined it. I was not ready and prepared.
Then my CV was empty for one solid month. I was frustrated. I
felt really ungrateful for the turned down offer. A lot of what ifs scenario
were playing in my head. What if I took the job. What if I didn’t turn it down.
What’s the worst could happen with me being on the field. Those were all very intoxicating
and unhealthy for me. I looked for so many jobs. I even applied to other jobs
other than in oil and gas industry. Honestly, I was only looking for hope. To keep
my spirit up. I went to so many interviews and get declined countless times.
However I stick to one belief : God was testing me, whether my effort was big
enough to get the job I dreamed of. I wanted to prove to Him that I really
meant it. I really was determined. And I really wanted a job. I was so hopeless
until one day I got email from national oil company and they said I got the
internship position in drilling department.
Drilling… well again, life was mocking me. But this time I
was really happy. I was excited. There was no field job whatsoever. Everything seemed
really great. But one thing. They said this was not their way to employ people
permanently. So literally there was NO chance for me being employed. And, I was
only an intern, there was no responsibility whatsoever and the money wasn’t that
great. It was below standard minimum paycheck for Jakarta. And instead of
paycheck, they even called it “allowance”. But I took it anyway, I needed hope
and there He answered.
Oh, for your note, I lived with my parents, and still am. It’s
a pretty safe and economic condition for me. First day, first week, first month
passed by. Literally, I asked my mentor the same thing everyday “What can I
help with today, sir?” and the answer was always “Take your time, there’s
nothing much to do here, just enjoy!”. I was confused on what I had to do every
single day. There were only really little amount of jobs given to me. So what
did I do everyday? I looked for another job. I applied to so many jobs I lost
my counting. I went to so many interviews. And hey, I never hide anything from
my mentor. He knew all the process. He even encouraged me to look for another
job.
Until one day, I registered myself to one of the
multinational oil company as a completion engineer. There were two positions
available : completion and drilling. I didn’t choose the drilling because I
still prefer production – reservoir thing. And completion was production-ish. After
registering myself, I actually didn’t really think about it. I made it the
first assessment which was online. Then I went through the second which was
screening interview by phone. There were only about 20 people made it to this
stage. By this time I was just noticing that hey, I might actually secure the
job. But I wasn’t that confident due to countless job application failures. And
then I made it to next stage which was technical and HR interview. I was so
nervous but Alhamdulillah I managed to answer some questions pretty
confidently. Thanks to the internship, so I didn’t forget about drilling stuff.
Then I got the call again. They wanted
me to do the final assessment day. So I went through FGD, presentation and
interview. I felt really intimidated during the HR interview. I felt so
hopeless and I thought that was it. There was no way I got accepted. But… God
said differently. I got a call a week
later and they said I got the job. I was soooooooo thankful, grateful and
excited. I cried due to the fact it was my last months from the end of contract
as an intern.
Couple of weeks later, they told me :
“Hey, by the way, you are gonna be a drilling engineer ya. Not
a completion engineer”
Now that’s amusing.
Regards,
Rach
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