What are the pros and cons of becoming a petroleum engineer?

Question

What are the pros and cons of becoming a petroleum engineer?

Answer 1

Pro: You'll make alot of money.

Con: When we run out of oil, the party's over!

Answer 2

Depends on what you would consider a pro and a con.

In my opinion the pro's are:

- Generally higher starting salary

- Work for petroleum companies, who are highly stable employers

- The work is steady and challenging

The con's:

-Very competitive field and it's not easy to get hired directly out of college.

- Could require international travel for extended periods of time to work on projects. A lot of petroleum engineers work in the Middle East.

It's a great field. A good friend of mine retired from Chevron a few years ago. He was an exploration engineer. He played a vital role in locating oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Needless to say, he's doing quite well for himself financially.