Engineer Moving to Refinery Operator Role
Engineer Moving to Refinery Operator Role
(OP)
Hello everyone,
My career as a mechanical engineer has been mostly in the EPC, mainly fabrication in O&G. Working with packaged equipment, pressure vessels, piping and structural for upstream and midstream onshore facilities. My previous employer was not any major coporation but a family business. Having only two years of experience I've had a very hard time in looking for jobs, either too much for entry-level or to little for mid-level. I've also looked outside O&G. So, for the past months I have been applying for an operator positions at refinery/petrochemicals around Houston in order to get my foot in there and then move up into an engineering position. Has anyone done this before? Is it a good idea? What other avenues may I be promoted to into as a operator, I am open to other roles not specifically engineer?
FYI: I got invited to take an assessment test for Valero as a refinery operator trainee.
My career as a mechanical engineer has been mostly in the EPC, mainly fabrication in O&G. Working with packaged equipment, pressure vessels, piping and structural for upstream and midstream onshore facilities. My previous employer was not any major coporation but a family business. Having only two years of experience I've had a very hard time in looking for jobs, either too much for entry-level or to little for mid-level. I've also looked outside O&G. So, for the past months I have been applying for an operator positions at refinery/petrochemicals around Houston in order to get my foot in there and then move up into an engineering position. Has anyone done this before? Is it a good idea? What other avenues may I be promoted to into as a operator, I am open to other roles not specifically engineer?
FYI: I got invited to take an assessment test for Valero as a refinery operator trainee.





RE: Engineer Moving to Refinery Operator Role
RE: Engineer Moving to Refinery Operator Role
RE: Engineer Moving to Refinery Operator Role
Energy corridor around Katy seems to have positions sporadically and there are always companies out of the ship channels. I'd recommend networking with recruiters to help open doors. Some places to start with for oil and gas would be Michael Page, Meador Staffing, Burnett Specialties, etc. We have a large list of options around here and you can specify an area you would like to work to avoid from driving from North Houston to South Houston or East to West, which on a good day can take an hour on a bad day 3 or more.
RE: Engineer Moving to Refinery Operator Role