23 Key Attributes Petroleum Engineers Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Ava Rodriguez

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

Petroleum engineers devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice.

The core tasks that petroleum engineers are likely to carry out include:

Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites.
Develop plans for oil and gas field drilling, and for product recovery and treatment.
Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys.
Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.
Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
Interpret drilling and testing information for personnel.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that petroleum engineers would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 95.6%

Having a strong preference for investigative work environments. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 95.29%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 90.2%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.4%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.8%

Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 85%

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.4%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.6%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 81%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.4%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80%

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%