Working for Schlumberger

Almost every Wireline field worker I know works in the US. They tend to hire folks in the particular country for where you work.

You *MIGHT* end up in Malaysia right now, but probably not.

You'll train around Houston, probably.

That salary is actually very good for them out of college. Also, their bonuses are usually excellent and can add another 10-20% a year in good years.

The trick for working for Schlumberger is get through the field work, get in a cool office job and stay along long enough to make management...GREAT bonuses and salary...plus a nice pension.

 

You're welcome... but... where is YOUR flair???

 

I hear that Field Engineers working for Schlumberger make a TON of money!!! I talked to a FE that was working in Saudi Arabia and he told me about how income earned overseas is tax-free (up to $80,000). The fact that he still paid taxes tells me that he made upwards of $80,000 , which is really good for a young guy with just a Bachelor's degree.

But one thing to keep in mind is the fact that while money is important, it isn't everything. You do not want to make a ton of money if you have nowhere to spend it and at the expense of your livelihood. Reading some of the posts, i suppose your nephew can do FE work for a few years and then move into an office somewhere, which I think is the best plan for when he has a wife and kids (assuming he doesn't have a family already).

 

I don't work for Schlumberger and therefore cannot say whether $80,000 per year is the norm or not. Maybe someone else here that worked/works for Schlumberger can answer that.

 

Ahem...I'm not sure that there is such a thing as "a cool office job", but let's let that slide. I did notice that SLB also had a penchant for making it very difficult for those workers near their pension to stick around long enough to get it. A lot of people ended up coincidentally quitting just one or two years shy of it.

If you are looking at working at SLB for the long term, I will mention that the two qualities most respected at SLB are elite university degrees and being French - not necessarily in that order. SLB does respect intelligence.

My boss had a MBA from Stanford on top of his EE degree (which he got from a top university in India), and his boss had a double Masters from MIT in Physics and Math. Oddly enough, both have left SLB in the last year.

Also, once you get that "cool office job", if you want to get anywhere, expect to work 12 hour days - that's what most of the up-and-coming managers do.

 

Harrisment's friend (my friend as well) has worked for Schlumberger for over 3 years now, and he loves it. He's IT as well, but deals with all types of users... it's a really laid back company and the people I've met from there are all cool... he's actually trying to get me hired on there as well, and I'd jump at the opportunity and I already have a nice paying/steady job.

When you work for industrial companies their benefits are generally much better then most of the business world, and the atmosphere is always a little more laid back because of the meshing of blue and white color workers.

 

I have friends from college who are now field engineers for Schlumberger. They make A LOT OF money but they work in places where you'd have a lot of trouble finding a pub .

 

Well, tell him good luck. My wife graduated college almost 3 years ago and still hasn't found a great job. It took her months just to find a job at all.

 

AggieRocket,
Like Harrisment mentioned above he is going to have a tough time finding another position like that unless he just gets lucky. Harrisment's wife is actually one of the few that did well in college and positions like these are few and far between. It's tough to get started with just a degree... crazy tough.

Praise be to allah that I'm a computer nerd.

 

I think he may grow to regret this decision, thats a very good opportunity to turn down. He may want to consider going back to school if he's not ready for a real job?

 

I bet there is a girl somewhere that helped him make this decision. Probably saying they would never see each other..... "Sex DOES make men stupid ...."

 

I think he is making a good decision. There is no point in working a job that you know is not for you. If he thinks that he isn't well-suited for Schlumberger, then more power to him and let him try something else.

Actually, I think he is showing a lot of maturity. A lot of new college grads look at a dollar figure and jump into a job solely based on that. From what I have heard, Schlumberger certainly pays you a pretty penny. But the flip side is that they make you earn every penny. Plus, I have recently heard that they are a terrible employer. They don't care about people and are only concerned with their bottom line.

Kudos to the nephew!