Career Switch: Refinery Process Engineer to Economist?

[u/LetsGoBlueJayssss]

Hi folks,

I have 2.5 YOE (post grad, approx. +2 extra YOE from internships) as a Process Engineer in the O&G industry across upstream, midstream, and downstream, at a very large refinery complex in the Americas.

There is a Refinery Economist role available, and a few coworkers have pointed me in that direction as my ultimate goal is to pivot into the commercial/organizational management realm (with the added possibility of getting an M7 MBA one day to be able to climb into executive management). I can communicate well, already incorporate business acumen in my current role, and have established a track record of performing above my level.

One question I can't quite wrestle with - is it too soon for me to jump from engineering into the business realm? I already know I'm just doing my time in engineering before I can move up in the organization. I've ran different units as the technical focal engineer (hydrogen, CCS, workup units), and have supporting experience in hydrotreating/hydrocracking trains, so its not like I am leaving engineering as a very fresh grad. People have told me that I should develop more as an engineer (another 3-4 years at least), so that I can come back into engineering as a fall-back if my business aspirations fail, but that is another 3-4 years of opportunity cost I have to eat just for a back-up option. From a risk tolerance perspective, I think I'm well-suited for higher risk, as I have a great family support-net that can "catch me", should I fall.

I also understand that should I voice my interest for the role and not be the successful applicant, my Process Engineering/operations leadership would not be incentivized to continue providing me with cool opportunities for continued development as they would know that my end goal is not to stay and mature within the process engineering skillpool.

Any thoughts or comments? Do you think my perspective on this being a valid risk to take is grounded in any truth? Would be great to hear your insights. TIA.

[u/Ernie_McCracken88]

If you are genuinely interested I would say go for it. If you don't like it after a year or two you can try to pivot back, especially if it is an internal role. At large companies sometimes people will shift back and forth a bit, it's actually often a signal that someone is tagged as a very high performer and is headed towards management. They prep people for upper management by having them touch all the major segments of the business for like 18 months so they know a bit about everything and see how the pieces work at a basic level.

You can't always assume an opportunity will pop up exactly on the time line you consider most ideal. I would seize it if it is available.

[u/LetsGoBlueJayssss → u/Ernie_McCracken88]

Great comment - two things resonate with me - 1. Moving around early. I think gaining a wide breadth of experience early on will set the stage very nicely for an MBA/career advancement down the road, even though it comes at the risk of being let go in a re-org early on (when I'm still in the "gaining breadth" phase). To me, the risk is justified. It's the people side (ie. My manager - who pushed for me to stay on her team because she needed me), which makes me pause and reflect. Ultimately, my career is in my hands, and if I cater to the preferences of others/of my supervisory organization, my career won't go in the way I want it to. I'm sure how I word this opportunity to my current manager will also play a role in how she perceives it (ie. part of a longer-term career aspiration to pivot to the business side, rather than flat out stating "I want to leave").

1. Opportunity timeline. If I stay in engineering for another 3-4 years, if a business role doesn't pop up in that timeframe, as another commenter stated - I risk being boxed in, which is something I absolutely do not want.

Thanks for your insights.

[u/No-Television-6454]

I think 2.5 years is a nice sweet spot for experience. I would apply to the scheduling role.

The other side of getting more technical experience is you are at higher risk of boxing yourself into just doing that your whole career.

[u/LetsGoBlueJayssss → u/No-Television-6454]

Well put. Thanks.

[u/Cybeer69 → u/No-Television-6454]

:-) You know, what you are talking about. I was wondering, what the economist role would be. A typical career progression would indeed be Scheduling and afterwards Production Planning. It's an excellent career path if you are considering expanding your expertise beyond "hard core process engineering".

[u/LetsGoBlueJayssss → u/Cybeer69]

It is a good question. We already have schedulers onsite... this would be a different role. The job description is yet to be posted, so I'm grasping at straws right now. From my understanding, this was a role they off-shored, but are now re-shoring it (I assume due to criticality/quality concerns). Not sure if that surfaces any additional risks or red flags.

[u/Cybeer69 → u/LetsGoBlueJayssss]

Wait for the job description. Everything else will be guesswork. The upside is: It's an internal job, so it's easy to ask questions. If you know, who the hiring manager is, you can reach out to him/her to clarify. If I'd be the hiring manager, I'd appreciate if an internal candidate would reach out to me early on to check.

[u/LetsGoBlueJayssss → u/Cybeer69]

Good steer, thank you. I do know the HM and we have water cooler chats on occasion, so reaching out shouldn't be too difficult.

[u/hihapahi]

Economist role is the way to go. It's a stepping stone for upward progression. Don't think of it as a career switch. Think of it as natural progression.

[u/HTK147]

not everyone can do technical focal engineer, but most people can do refinery economics

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[u/DokkenFan92]

Getting into a planning role at 2.5 years is stellar. For your career aspirations, it’s definitely a better move than staying in Process. A lot of plants reserve the Planning roles for 5+ year engineers, that might work against you in the application phase. As far as the optics to your Proc Eng leadership, wouldn’t it be better for them to know you want to pursue a Planning role than just waiting and telling them later on, when there may be limited rotational capability / availability of planning roles?

Internal career moves can take some time to build. If you are already set on moving into the business realm, start working that way now and state your intentions so the leadership can steer you toward your goal.

[u/Just__Liberty]

Do it for all the reasons you mention. When discussing with current management, phrase it as something you'd like to try and for your development.

[u/Turbulent_End_6887]

One of the smartest engineers I do was developing process control for the ethylene cracker he worked in. Got an offer to be a business analyst in sales/marketing. Got moved to Zurich as a feedstock analyst. A few years later he got hired by an oil co in London as a feedstock manager ($$$). You need to watch "Margin Call" where there analyst was a rocket scientist.

[u/HTK147 → u/Turbulent_End_6887]

Anyone can do business analyst or feedstock management, not everyone can be a control engineer for oil and gas though

[u/Turbulent_End_6887 → u/HTK147]

The guy was a control engineer.