Careers in Geophysics by Institute For Career Research

Author:Institute For Career Research [Institute for Career Research]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Institute For Career Research
Published: 2018-02-01T06:00:00+00:00

The Professionals Speak

I Work in the Oil and Gas Industry

"I have a bachelor’s degree in geology and a master’s degree in geophysics. I’m a fairly recent graduate.

My job is to help search for oil and gas. My specialty involves using gravity and magnetic data to help image the deep Earth. Using seismic data, I put sound into the Earth and make recordings. Different layers reflect back at you in different ways.

I also design surveys to acquire the data, I facilitate processing of the data, and I interpret the data.

Depending on your interests, geophysics can lead you in one of two directions: geology or physics. I enjoy geology: I’m a ‘bang on the rocks’ kind of guy. I like the outdoors, I like nature, I go camping and hiking on my vacations. I like the tangible nature of geology. But you’re not outdoors all the time. If you have a graduate degree, this is primarily an office job. Think-tanking pays better than rock-banging.

I also like physics, which is a more math-oriented and theoretical science. I delve into the theoretical every now and then. But there are much more brilliant theoreticians than me. I like to take what I know and do more interpretation.

I fell into this career sort of by accident. I went to Rutgers University, where I planned to study economics and finance because it seemed practical. But I hated it, and I couldn’t visualize myself doing it for a living. Over two or three semesters, I found myself taking more and more geology courses. A friend of mine who was also studying geology suggested I major in it, and he took me to meet the faculty.

So I decided to major in geology. But I felt that a bachelor’s degree in geology would limit my career choices. I felt I would have to go into environmental science. This is an okay discipline. After six or seven years, you can become a project manager, and other people go out and do the field work.

But I wanted more options. So I took some classes in geophysics at Princeton, which is near Rutgers, and I loved it. In fact, my undergraduate thesis was a geophysics-oriented investigation of Newark Basin. This thesis helped me get into graduate school, which was very cool. At Virginia Polytech, my concentration was in reflection seismology.

My first job was in exploration geophysics with Amoco. Now I’m consulting with a large company. I facilitate their interpretation in-house.

In oil and gas, there are a limited number of places to live if you’re going to stay in the United States. I live in Houston. You’re going to live in Houston for the most part. There are good opportunities in oil and gas exploration right now. There aren’t enough qualified people to go around. Better yet, this drives salaries up. Of course, we could all be laid off tomorrow!

The oil and gas industry is perceived as tainted and dirty. I tried environmental work. I studied groundwater hydrology through a correspondence course after I got my master’s degree.

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