The oil and gas industry has been slow to adopt AI, but maybe that's a good thing? And here are a few tips for those on the job hunt after industry consolidation.
Transitions can be strange times to navigate. When outcomes are uncertain, making decisions can be challenging, but often, uncertainty is unavoidable. So, we have to learn to use the tools available to help us make moves, and hedge our bets, in the right direction. Let's take a look at two examples of transitions: a technology in transition toward mass uptake (maybe, or maybe not) and job shifts.
Sarah Compton
Editor, Enspired
Is AI the Next Dotcom Bubble?
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Unless you’ve been under a rock (admittedly, a substantial amount of this geology-loving crowd might have been happily under a rock or two in a different way 🙂), you’re aware of the AI-driven frenzy of the last five-ish years or so.
That frenzy hasn’t just been hype: a lot of time and real dollars have been spent on the AI revolution, but investors are starting to get antsy for returns, and financial analysts are whispering a dreaded word: “bust.”
Why it matters: the petroleum industry has the reputation—justified or not—of being slow adopters, but in this particular case, our reluctance may have buffered us from what some experts are saying could be a bubble ending in a painful pop.
We have been asking questions about AI for a long time:
Geologists have been wary of too much AI involvement in our tops-picking processes and petrophysical analyses.
Geophysicists have been utilizing and monitoring the effectiveness—sometimes the lack thereof—of AI in seismic data analyses, including inversions and stacking.
Geoscientists have been stewards of map-making algorithms and know models are only as good as the data sets that go into them.
Our industry has long known: AI has some promise and specific applications, but money should be invested with care.
What to watch:
Even if there is a bust, AI won’t disappear—just as the internet didn’t disappear with the dotcom bubble.
It’ll be interesting to see how these next few years play out with a technology whose rate of growth and infiltration has been exponential.
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This M&A season has been particularly active, with even the big boys gobbling each other up. Some geoscientists suddenly find themselves doing something they’ve not had to do for decades: job hunt.
There aren't many people looking in the classifieds anymore. There are some new job search tools available, and as someone who’s had an adventurous first decade of her career, I’m highly familiar with most of the technology available. Here are my thoughts:
Sites like Indeed or Zip Recruiter are basically virtual job boards. It’s nice to know your resume is actively being matched to open jobs, and since most of these boards pull the same data, they’ll have the same listings, so it’s fine to pick just one or two, upload your resume, and see what happens.
There are some industry-specific boards, such as Rig Zone, that I’ve found are often more for field-based (e.g. rig hands) roles than office-based roles, but if that’s what you’re looking for, dive in!
The “unemployment line,” is now online, and you should get on your state’s unemployment website to sign up immediately if you’ve been laid off. Despite being virtual, they still move at government speed, so there will be a delay (Read: a BIG delay). Unemployment is insurance paid by payroll taxes from employers, meaning your ex-employer paid into it for just this occasion, so sign up with no shame.
Networking is still the key to your job hunt, and it has been massively impacted by technology. LinkedIn is something I consider a must-use networking tool. It provides:
An opportunity to reach a huge number of people, and from that, your chances of making quality connections improve
The ability to stay top of mind among the people you know. In this world where there are so many highly qualified geoscientists looking for a job, your leg up is not just who knows you, but who is thinking about you at the specific moment when a geoscientist role opens up.
Headshot hint: For the love of rocks, put up a good, recent picture on your LinkedIn. You can have a professional take it if you want, but I took my own on my iPhone. Is it going to win awards? No. Does it make me and my profile seem more human? Yes.
This just scratches the surface of the technology involved in job hunting these days, but it’s a start! If you’re in need of this information, don’t lose hope and don’t view it as a reflection of your skills. Some of the best geoscientists I know have gone through long layoffs.
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