Deciding on a Major? How About a Degree in Energy?
It’s Labor Day weekend and the summer is coming to its unofficial end. Millions of students are entering higher education for the first time; soon they will need to pick a major, and finding a job after graduation is often a primary challenge.
For many, the choice is a simple one – a degree in energy production. With a high demand for skilled workers, students across the country are finding opportunity right out of school, as the graduating class of 2014 can illustrate:
Tim Bradley is a case in point. A recently minted graduate of Lackawanna College’s School of Petroleum and Natural Gas, he quickly landed a job as a field pipeline technician, working on compressors, dehydration, pipelines and gathering lines. The salary from his pre-graduation internship alone was enough to let him purchase his first home. He’s upbeat about his own future -- and the industry’s.
“I see natural gas as having a positive impact on the world,” says Bradley. “It’s a step in the right direction on greenhouse gases.”
The School of Petroleum and Natural Gas at Lackawanna College was established in 2009 to help Pennsylvanians learn the skills needed for jobs on the Marcellus Shale. This year, as in years past, more than 90% of the graduating class’ students have already received a job offer. That placement rate contrasts starkly with the bleak picture for U.S. college graduates as a whole: more than 40% of recent college grads can’t secure jobs in their chosen fields, and nearly two million young Americans have given up looking for work altogether, according to recent research.
The energy industry’s growth is creating opportunities for this generation. Unconventional oil and gas development has created more than 1.7 million American jobs and will account for an estimated 3 million by 2020, according to the IHS. To help supply skilled workers for this boom, specialized training programs similar to Lackawanna’s have been established across the country – at McMurry Training Center in Casper, Wyo. and West Virginia Northern Community College in Wheeling, W.V.; at Broome Community College in New York and Ohio’s Youngstown State University; and at many other places in between.
Albert Castaneda, a California native, recently graduated with an engineering degree from Colorado School of Mines, where he appreciated the hands-on teaching environment. “Until you actually see what happens on a drill rig, you can’t put classroom teachings in perspective – so they get us on rigs quickly.” Castaneda, now working as an engineer in Colorado, finds inspiration in industry’s use of cutting-edge technologies to deliver a basic need. “People take it for granted that they can run their car or heat their home, but they don’t understand all of the work that goes into creating that power,” he added.
The job growth in the energy sector is also attracting graduates who previously might have sought careers in law or finance. Blake Garrett is one such graduate. Having earned an MBA several years ago he turned down a Wall Street job, uninspired by the prospect of spending his days cold-calling prospective clients. Instead, he enrolled at Texas Tech to pursue a degree in energy engineering. Now he’s working for Anadarko as a field office production engineer in Fort Collins, Colo. “I’m excited,” Garrett says. “In production, you’re exposed to the drilling and to the completion. You learn so much.”
And for many recent energy program graduates, a skilled job in natural gas means staying closer to home. Lackawanna graduate Megan Oliver was recently hired as an operations technician working in the midstream on gathering pipelines and compressor stations – applying lessons learned about hard work growing up on her parents’ Pennsylvania dairy farm. “Natural gas is going to change a lot of lives, especially around here. It is providing a lot of jobs to local people. That is why I wanted to get involved – I could see I could be part of that impact.”
Oliver’s position is indicative of another trend in the industry: according to IHS projections, the number of women employed as petroleum engineers, managers and professionals are expected to grow by almost 70,000 between 2010 and 2030.
At a time when many recent graduates are struggling to find work, the natural gas jobs engine is powering the American Dream for a new generation of American men and women. That’s something to think about.
TUNE IN
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