Ayesha Khory, Field Engineer, Weatherford Canada Partnership, Edmonton, AB
"My name is Ayesha Khory and I'm a Field Engineer with Weatherford Canada Partnership in Edmonton. I'm in charge of a three-person electric wireline crew. Our job is to use wireline to run different kinds of measuring and data gathering tools down into an open well while it is being drilled. The data tells us what kind of formation there is, and miraculously, from that, geologists in Calgary are able to figure out whether the well is producible.
I started with this company right out of university about a year and a half ago. What I like about my job is that it's gratifying to have a lot more independence and responsibility than you usually get so soon after school. When I'm out in the field, I make the decisions, and I have to improvise if there are problems. If something goes wrong, it's up to me to figure out how to fix it quickly. We get bonuses based on the number of jobs we do, so how hard you're willing to work influences how much you can make.
If there's one thing I would change about this job it's the hours. I can get called out at two or three in the morning. Drilling rigs are paid by the hour, so when they stop drilling, they want that test run right now, no matter what time it is. We work two weeks on and one off, and the first thing you learn is to pack enough food and to pack enough clothes to last two weeks. It's hard to get used to initially, but it grows on you, and you enjoy that week off that you get."
Base Salary: $50,000 - $62,000. Many companies also offer additional compensation in the form of a 'job bonus' or 'field pay- that can vary depending on activity levels.
Education: Bachelor's degree in engineering or geology
Advancement: After five years, management positions in data interpretation, sales, research and international activities.
Salary, education and advancement may vary from company to company.
06:00 -- Before setting off, I check in with the office because you do a lot of driving in this job -- to rig sites all over Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan. I drive between five and seven thousand kilometres on a two-week shift when it's busy during the winter. We try to do two jobs or as many jobs as we can in a day. I drive my pickup and my two operators drive the wireline truck. We spend so much time together that we end up a lot closer than people in most jobs.
08:45 -- The first thing I do when I get to a well site is meet with the geologist and find out what tools he wants run. Then I tell the crew what we need to set up.
09:15 -- Normally, I run the winch that runs out the wireline so that the crew can put the tools on. One of the nice things about being a Field Engineer instead of a Wireline Operator when it's -40 C in the winter, is that you get to sit in the nice warm recorder cab in the wireline truck. Actually, except for the computer stuff, all of the jobs we do on-site kind of amalgamate into one and we help each other out. We're a really tight team.
10:00 -- The most important thing about being a Field Engineer is making sure everything works. If the tools go into the hole and they don't work, it makes us look bad. You're the company's representative in the field, and the customer makes their judgment of the company based on what you do.
10:30 -- We're usually on-site about five hours, but the actual waiting and driving time can make it up to 13 hours per job. The operator takes over the winch and I watch the responses on the computer to make sure there are no problems, that the data's good and it makes sense. If there's something wrong, like some bad wiring in a tool or a leak on a line, it's my job to fix it. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty. I even learned how to solder wires since I started this job.
13:30 -- In the summer when the patch isn't so busy, we work more at our station in Edmonton. A lot of the training takes place in the summer, and a lot of my time is spent showing trainees what I've learned. I'll show them how to use the tools because it's important that before you power up a tool in the field you learn how to use it in the shop.
14:45 -- It's every Field Engineer's responsibility to make sure her tools are working properly. We're pretty diligent about checking up on our tools with the guys in the Tech Shop. We like to know what went wrong and caused us grief in the field.
16:00 -- When I did my first solo in the field I was pretty nervous, but I knew I could call the guys back in Edmonton for help if I had problems. A lot of the time, the experienced engineers help us out with technical interpretations of the data or in figuring out some response we have never seen before.
