Summer Internship

[BRPORSCHE]

Dear Pelican Braintrust,

It is now that time of the year. I am going to begin applying for my first summer internship. I am asking for any advice, pro's and con's, and also location I should begin looking.

Background:
I am in my second semester of college and hoping to major in Petroleum Engineering. I have held three jobs before. My first was at Dale's Auto. I was an apprentice mechanic learning not only the necessary mechanical skills, but also the business side. I worked at Subway for 6 months just as a school part time job during my senior year of highschool. I am now currently working for Space Center Houston as a tour guide of Johnson Space Center. I am an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.

Educational Background:
I have graduated from LSU Lab School in 2006. I am now attending San Jac CC with hopes of attending LSU next fall '07. I have covered my basic courses a college student covers. I have taken an extreme liking to Geology and am very interested in that field.

Thanks guys for any information. It is greatly appreciated. I am going to begin to look locally because of the major petroleum industry which is literally just up the street. I am not just looking for an engineering internship. I am open to any suggestions such as safety and bussiness.

[legion]

I couldn't get an internship until the summer between my junior and senior years. Most companies don't want to invest the time and money in someone who is early on in their college career and may switch majors. That being said, you should still pursue this. I got more experience interviewing for internships and being rejected earlier on in college which I felt gave me an edge later on.

[BRPORSCHE]

Thank you for the advice legion. I am considering any type of internship; paying or non paying. I am not going to be picky, I just need the experience.

[Rich76_911s]

If it were me and I was serious about finding an internship in the patroleum field, I would start looking at all the refiners, and natural gas companies web sites. There are a lot of large public nat gas and oil companies out there. A good place to start might be at yahoo finance and search for the components of these indeces'

XLE - energy ETF
OSX - Philadelphia oil service index
XOI - Amex oil index

there will be a fair amount of companies that are in all 3 of those, but it will give you a good starting place. Where you will find companies like El Paso a natural gas pipeline company ect. ect. Search the individual companies web sites and see what they offer in the way of internships. Valero is another company that seems like it might be up your alley. Contact the career councelors on your campus, they have contacts that you do not.

Good luck it is really smart of you to be chasing after this stuff, even if you are early the experience and attitude will help you when the time does come. I wish I wasn't such a jerk when I was in College. I made the mistake of taking hard classes during the summers, so I could focus my energy on one specific course. It was a mistake, I should have gotten at least one internship.

[BRPORSCHE]

Thanks Rich,
I will definitely go to the career counselours to see what they have to offer. My geology professor is retired from Schlemberge (s.p?), and I am sure if I asked him he would put me in touch with the correct leads. Also my father works for XOM, so maybe he can put me in touch with the correct people. I really don't want to use him though, I would prefer to do this on my own.

Thanks for the help guys it is very appreciated. By the way even if I am unsuccessful as legion pointed at getting an internship I will apply to work out on the rigs for the summer.

[MotoSook]

I'm a non-practicing geologist. Are you sure you want to be a geologist? There are less geologist in the oil and gas field than there are enigneers, and those geology jobs don't come up often in the industry. Most geologists end up working for the state geology survey or as environmental professionals for some other natural resource dependent firms. I interviewed with Schlumberge...and it was not the kinda life I wanted after college.

If you are sure you want to be a geologist, go visit the USGS (office or web). Go visit the geology or natural science department at the colleges in your area or the college yo wish to attend. A professor may have a summer grunt position for you and pay you from his grant money.

[BRPORSCHE]

I am interested in Geology Souk, but not enough to merit me majoring in it. I am almost postive that I will end up majoring in some form of Engineering. I like Geology as a science since I can actually see and touch what I am working with, also one of the reasons why I like working on cars, because I can visibly see what I am changing. Hence the strog motivation to become an engineer.

[MotoSook]

I see. I got the impression that you wanted to graduate as a geologist.

If you get an engineering degree and you live in Houston, you will not have a hard time finding a job. You will not have a hard time finding an internship in the oil & gas industry your Jr. year summer. Although the job market in that field has its downs, the ups are good. You can move quickly once you are in the industry. Most of the companys in Houston (oil & gas) won't bother to hire you as an intern before your Jr year. You can also look to the suppliers to those companies for summer jobs. Companies that service or sell product to the big companies. There are vendors out there who may want to pay you minimum wage to do office work for them. Those venders represent manufacturers of product used on the pipeline. Start researching vendors. Try key words, "regulators" "ball valves" "pipe fitting" "pigging" "pipeline construction" "natural gas measurement" ....etc... Lots of other methos. Feel free top to e-mail me if you want more ideas. I may not get back to you right away, but I'll try to help.

[BRPORSCHE]

Thanks for the leads guys. I am already googling like crazy. Lots of stuff I need to study up on to make sure I do this the correct way.

[M.D. Holloway]

Look at Valero as well as BP.

[BRPORSCHE]

Thanks lube! Somehow even with some of the comments you make I still highly respect you and many other guys opinion's on here. Thanks for the help man.

[lowyder993s]

Look here:


http://www.globalgeophysical.com/

I might be biased tho...check the bottom left of the page

[BRPORSCHE]

Thanks for the link Jim! I will definitely putting an application in.

[David]

UofH has a really good placement department. You could sign up for a summer class then you'd have access to it.

BTW, where in Clear Lake do you live? It'd be nice to have a fellow P-car guy to chat with.

[BRPORSCHE]

David, sent you a pm.