Petroleum Geologist
Median pay: $183,000Top pay: $289,000
10-year job growth: 21.2%
Total jobs*: 33,800
What they do all day? Discovering
the next great oil play is the goal of
these geoscientists. You might
envision them in the field breaking
rocks with hammers, but they actually
spend the day in front of highpowered
computers, running
simulations and manipulating
geologic data to test their hypotheses
of where petroleum reservoirs can be
extracted.
How to get the job? Business acumen is as important as the ability to decipher
geophysical clues. The job isn't just finding where to drill and turn up oil -- it's finding the
location where a company can drill and make a great profit.
What's great? What's not? Petroleum geologists get to explore the wonder of the
dynamic Earth. But with a lot riding on their calculations -- oil and gas wells can cost
several hundred million dollars -- they must be able to handle high-precision work under
high-stress conditions. --G.W.
Comments
Post a Comment