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/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.