Things I wish I knew before joining the field as a female field engineer.

Recently, I have received many enquiries from females thinking about the opportunity of joining the field for oil and gas service industry. That is why I decided to write this article about the things I wish I had known about the industry’s reality before becoming a part of it.

1- Field work is totally about routine:

Maybe you've heard marketing campaigns suggesting that if you love challenges and dislike routine, a field job is the right fit for you. While it's true that there are challenges in this line of work, the idea that it's not routine is misleading. Field jobs often revolve around a repetitive routine, and your ability to cope with and adapt to this routine becomes crucial. You might find yourself spending a significant portion of your life following a cycle of working for 12 hours and then resting for another 12. The tasks at hand remain mostly the same, except for occasional challenges that, with experience, may become just another routine. The job tends to repeat itself from one assignment to another, the people you encounter are "almost" identical, and even in an international company, meeting employees from different nationalities might be rare depending on the location. The mindset, food, and available entertainment remain consistent, and as months go by, you may feel trapped in an unbearable routine that you don't know how to escape from.

2- Facilities and infrastructure will never develop:

Perhaps you're familiar with the traditional terms of the first world, second world, and third world, or the distinctions between developed and developing countries. While these terms are respectful in acknowledging developmental stages and societal norms, I'd like to introduce a concept I've coined for the field - the "fourth world," representing places that may not experience development.

Drawing from my experience in various rigs and locations, I've observed that the rig sites and their facilities, including offices, camps, and working units, often remain unchanged for 10 to 15 years or more since their inception. Although there is routine maintenance and cleaning, the facilities may not cater to female specific needs. As a female, you may be treated similarly to male counterparts, and while you'll be granted a private room in the camp for religious reasons, the increasing number of females in the field may lead to a loss of this privacy, which is often a unique benefit.

Prepare yourself to work in rigs with limited or no personal spaces and sometimes no accessible bathrooms. As a female field engineer, resilience and adaptability are essential, even when dealing with human physiological processes.

3- Field work is a combination of physical and analytical work:

It may seem apparent now, and you might wonder why you didn't anticipate these challenges earlier. While you were aware, the realization of the physical demands—such as cable heavy handling, forceful assembling, lifting heavy objects to elevated places, and potentially dealing with radiation sources (not applicable to all field jobs)—may not have been fully expected. At times, you'll have assistance, but often you may feel hesitant to ask for help from someone not directly involved in your tasks, leading to occasional guilt when putting a significant physical workload on your work-peer.

While my insights cover a range of aspects, I've outlined the key points I deem essential for any female entering this field. It's crucial to emphasize that these reflections solely represent my personal opinions and are unrelated to the company I worked for, which I hold in high regard. These observations are applicable to service companies in general and primarily pertain to the structural aspects of the field, highlighting the need for significant actions from all stakeholders to better accommodate and support female professionals. It's worth noting that this perspective may differ if you are employed by a client company, given the distinct systems and working styles they may have.