Once considered among the most privileged careers and the highest-paid engineering degrees globally, petroleum engineering today seems more like a dinosaur profession, a prestigious giant slowly fading from the spotlight. I shall not going to discuss the reasons here, but simply want to share my own journey, sprinkled with life-long lessons. Admittedly, my story isn’t quite as adventurous as Paul Carter’s classic, “Don’t Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse” (a highly recommended read, if you haven’t!), but it might still entertain and offer younger engineers a glimpse into a profession once glamorously sought after.
My first leap into the unknown was moving to Australia more than 20 years ago—a leap less adventurous initially and more challenging. Yet, once safely across, life’s challenges appeared much smaller in hindsight. The petroleum engineer’s life, however, never disappointed. From culturally diverse Kuala Lumpur to luxurious Dubai, everything felt both exotic and, at times, deeply uncomfortable.
Life took on a calm rhythm after settling in Melbourne for a few years, but moving to Sydney marked my entry into an entirely new chapter. I vividly recall my first flight to Papua New Guinea. Missing the early boarding call resulted in an unusual escort onto the plane, only to be grounded shortly afterward due to sudden weather changes. Waking up disoriented on an unexpected tarmac was quite the introduction to PNG—truly the “Land of the Unexpected”.
I still remember telling my parents I was going to work in PNG, a country considered as high-risk as Iraq at the time. They didn’t speak to me for nearly a year.
FIFO life carries its unique lifestyle and charms, taking you through different countries, continents, or simply somewhere completely unexpected—as long as you knew your way back to an airport.
Beyond glamour and adventure, this career offered extraordinary opportunities to witness and learn from experiences rarely seen in mainstream media. I’ve witnessed many innovative engineering feats, such as suspending pipeline in challenging terrains.
Having grown up in a developing country, made a second home in a developed nation, and spent half my career in less-developed environments, I’ve learned invaluable lessons about perspective. Everything—from family values to social hierarchies and work ethics—appears drastically different when viewed through these diverse lenses. Engineers (yep, that’s me and many of you) naturally seek to rationalise things, but one of my most crucial lessons was learning when to stop. Standing helplessly on a remote well site while watching a local man driven by hunger and desperation confronted others who he believed had taken his livelihood. Unthinkable, isn’t it?
I treasure joyful memories like celebrating Christmas with a traditional Mumu feast or joining the excitement of lifting the Rugby World Cup (despite having no clue about rugby). Equally unforgettable are the heartbreaking moments, hearing about colleagues affected by tribal conflicts or losing someone to illness.
Navigating between these starkly different worlds has offered me invaluable lessons: first-world problems often feel trivial, while third-world realities can be astonishingly raw depending on which lens I chose to look through.
Life, ultimately, remains the greatest adventure. A petroleum engineering career simply amplifies those adventures.
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